"David Eddings - The Dreamers 01 - The Elder gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

to take gold from them. Apparently, Dahlaine’s assessment of the
outlanders had been correct. They were interested in gold, though Zelana
could not quite understand why. The Seagull, it seemed, might be too
good an opportunity to pass by. Now that Zelana could understand the
speech of the outlanders, and if things went as the one called Cap’n
seemed to hope they would, Zelana would be able to observe the
outlanders who called themselves Maags in action. Should they prove to
be suitable, their ship would make things very easy. A word or two with
Mother Sea could produce a current which would sweep the Seagull to
the west coast to the Land of Dhrall almost as fast as the wind could carry
a mote of dust.
The more she thought about it, the more Zelana came to believe that
these Maags might be exactly what she was seeking. She would need to
watch and listen, though, and that suggested that she’d probably need to
be somewhere inside the floating house called Seagull. That wouldn’t be
a problem of any magnitude. There were ways she could make herself
inconspicuous while she watched and listened. Then, if these Maags
proved to be suitable .. .


They all seemed to have peculiar names that were descriptive, though
not always flattering. The one they respectfully called ‘Captain’, or
‘Cap’n’, was Sorgan Hook-Beak. Zelana, walking fly-like across the
ceiling of the low-roofed structure at the rear of the Seagull, noticed that
Sorgan did have a nose that was much like the beak of an eagle - or
maybe a vulture. The one known as ‘Ox’ had shoulders like a bull, and
there was another who gave orders who was called ‘Kryda Ham-Hand,’
although ‘Bear-Paw’ might have served as well. ‘Ham-Hand,’ Zelana
noticed, gave orders with his fists, and nobody seemed inclined to ignore
him.
Among those who took orders from Cap’n, Ox, and Ham-Hand were
‘the Fat Man’, who prepared their food, ‘Ado the Slow’, who appeared to
be almost as bright as a tree-stump, and ‘Kaldo Tree-Top’, who was very
tall. There was also a ‘Big-Feet’, a ‘Buck-Teeth’, a ‘Jug-Ears’, and a
small, wiry one known only as ‘Rabbit’.
The tree that grew up out of the middle of the Seagull was called a
‘mast’, and the sheet of heavy fabric the Maags attached to the mast was
called a ‘sail’. Zelana didn’t quite grasp the significance of the sail until
she saw the Maags raise it to catch the morning breeze the next day. The
Maags, it appeared, were clever enough to let the wind do most of their
work for them. Zelana was fond of the wind herself, so she approved of
the notion.
It was about mid-morning of that day when Ox shouted. ‘Sail ho,
Cap’n!’ and there was an immediate flurry of activity. The Maags
brought out their weapons - metal knives with long blades they called
‘swords’, large axes, spears, and various other implements that appeared
to have been designed to hurt people.
The Seagull raced across the water and soon overtook another ship,
and the Maags stood along the Seagull’s rail brandishing their weapons
and howling threats at the men on the other ship.