"David Eddings - The Dreamers 03 - Crystal Gorge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

Crystal Gorge




PREFACE
And now were we confounded, for even as had happened in the land of the sunset, our migration into
the land of longer summers had met with disaster. The man-things of that region had proved to be even
more cruel than those we had encountered in the land of the sunset, and our dear Vlagh shrieked in
agony as we swiftly bore her away from the broad water which grew larger and larger with each passing
of that which brings light to her realm.

For behold, the man-things of the land of longer summers brought forth water, even as the man-things of
the land of the sunset had brought forth the hot light which had spewed up from the mountains, and the
loss of the servants of our beloved Vlagh had been even greater than our loss in the land of the sunset.

And the overmind of which we are all a part shriveled because of this loss, for we were all made less.

And great was our grief by reason of this.

Now those of us which seek knowledge are much different from those whose sole task is caring for the
mother which spawned us all, for we have gone forth into the lands of the man-things and have seen
much that may prove useful. Those which care for mother move only by instinct, while we who seek
knowledge have gone beyond instinct, and now we have reached the land of thought.

Much have we discovered in the land of thought, and we faithfully presented this to the mother which
spawned us all, and the overmind shared what we told to mother.

At first the overmind which guides us all was much confused by what we had found. Horrified was the
overmind to discover from what we told it that the man-things can perform tasks even when they are not
under the control of any thought other than their own. More horrid still was the knowledge that those
man-things which had defeated us again and again were potential breeders, rather than potential egg-
layers such as we are. Truly, the man-things are an abomination which should no longer be permitted to
exist, for, as all the world knows, breeders should have no task other than the mating with those which
lay the eggs which expand the number of the servants of the she which has spawned them all.

There is yet still another peculiarity among the man-things. They make noises by which they give others
of their kind information. Some of those who seek knowledge have duplicated those noises, but they
soon discovered that the man-things will often make noises which are not true. And it came to us that if
the man-things have no way to know which noises are true and which are not-true, we could make the
not-true noises also, and thereby could we conceal truth from the man-things, and this could give us

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 Crystal Gorge

great advantage.

As we have learned, much to the sorrow of the overmind, the man-things have many sticks with teeth
with which they can cause hurt - and even death - to the servants of the Vlagh, but these sticks with teeth
are not parts of their own bodies, but are separate and may easily be carried away by those of us which