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

‘Not as long as my head was on straight, I wouldn’t.’



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Crystal Gorge




2
At first light the following morning, the farmers of Veltan’s Domain began carrying large amounts of
food down to the beach to stock the ships of the two fleets. There was a steely quality about that early
morning light that always made Red-Beard’s instincts seem more intense. ‘This might be a good day for
hunting,’ he said to Longbow as they watched the farmers come down the hill.

‘I don’t think Veltan would like it much if you started shooting arrows at his farmers,’ Longbow replied.

‘Funny, Longbow, very funny,’ Red-Beard said. ‘There’s something about this first light before the sun
comes up that always makes me feel that this might be one of those perfect days - you know, a day when
nothing can go wrong.’

Longbow looked up at the still colorless sky. ‘You might be right, friend Red-Beard,’ he agreed, ‘and if
you’re very lucky, things won’t start to fall apart until mid-morning.’ He looked out at the ships of the
Trogites and Maags. ‘It’s likely to take them most of the morning to load all that food on their ships,’ he
said. ‘Let’s go talk with Zelana and find out if there’s something she wants us to do before we leave
Veltan’s territory.’

Zelana and her two brothers were watching the farmers from a hill-top some distance back from the
beach when Red-Beard and Longbow joined them.

‘I’m not trying to tell you what to do, baby brother,’ Zelana told Veltan, ‘but I think you might want to
consider a bit of “tampering” to get Gunda and Ekial down to Castano as quickly as possible. We won’t
know for sure exactly where the creatures of the Wasteland will mount their next attack until one of the
children starts dreaming. It’s only a short distance from here to Aracia’s Domain, so Narasan should
arrive there in just a few days, and it’s just a short voyage from Aracia’s temple to the Isle of Akalla
where Trenicia’s warriors live. It’s much farther from here to Dahlaine’s Domain. Sorgan’s ships are
fast enough to reach that part of the Land of Dhrall in plenty of time, but you’ll be spending quite a few
days in Castano hiring Trogite ships and more days sailing on down to the land of the Malavi. Then
you’ll have the long voyage from there to Dahlaine’s country on those wallowing Trogite ships.’

‘I’m very good at tampering, dear sister,’ Veltan told her with a faint smile. ‘Mother Sea is lovely at this
time of the year, and I’m sure that the Malavi will enjoy their voyage enormously, but sightseeing isn’t
really all that important right now, so we’ll hit a few high spots and hustle right along. It’s going to seem
to Ekial’s Malavi that big brother’s Domain isn’t really all that far north when they get there, but that’s
not particularly important.’ Then he turned to look at his older brother. ‘Will the local people in your


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