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

think that being “chief would be unbearably tedious, take a long, hard look at being “god”. Just like you,
I didn’t want any part of that, so I ran away. I spent thousands of years in my pink grotto composing
music, writing poetry, and playing with my pink dolphins. Then my big brother brought Eleria to me,
and my whole world changed.’

‘You love her, though, don’t you?’

Zelana sighed. ‘More than anything in the whole world. That’s what Dahlaine had in mind when he
foisted the Dreamers on us in the first place. In a certain sense, it was very cruel, but it was necessary.’

‘Well, I’m not really all that necessary where the tribe’s concerned. They can find somebody else to sit
around being important.’ Then a thought came to Red-Beard, and he suddenly burst out laughing.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘I know who’d make the best chief the tribe’s ever had,’ he replied.

‘The tribe might not like it very much - at least the men wouldn’t - but Planter really should be the chief.’

Zelana smiled. ‘She already is, Red-Beard. She doesn’t need the title. The tribe does what she wants
done, and that’s what really counts, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Not out loud, I wouldn’t,’ Red-Beard replied.

The wind was coming out of the east when Sorgan Hook-Beak’s fleet of longships rounded the first
peninsula jutting out from the south coast of Veltan’s Domain, and when that wind caught the sails, they
billowed out with a booming sound. It seemed to Red-Beard that the longships almost flew toward the


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Crystal Gorge

west. He had a few suspicions about that. Zelana and her family frequently spoke of ‘tampering,’ and a
wind coming from the east was very unusual. West winds and south winds were fairly common at this
time of the year, but east and north? Not too likely.

The Seagull rounded the third and last peninsula on the south coast of Veltan’s Domain a few days later,
and then the Maag fleet turned north. The weather seemed to have a faint smell of early autumn now,
and Red-Beard began to feel that seasonal urge to go hunting. Autumn had always been the time to lay
in a good supply of food to get the tribe through the coming winter.

He was standing near the slender bow of the Seagull with Zelana’s older brother about midmorning one
day when Sorgan Hook-Beak came forward to join them. ‘I got to thinking last night that it might be a
good idea for me and my men to know a bit about the people of your Domain, Lord Dahlaine,’ he said.
‘My cousin Skell discovered that it’s not a good idea to turn Maags loose on the natives of this part of
the world when they haven’t got the faintest idea of what the local customs are.’

‘You could be right about that, Captain,’ Dahlaine agreed. ‘I suppose a little conference in your cabin
might be in order along about now. There are few peculiarities in my Domain that you should all know
about.’