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

‘I wouldn’t be too sure about that, Longbow,’ Red-Beard disagreed. ‘It might just be working very well.
From what I’ve heard, anybody in her Domain who doesn’t want to do honest work joins the priesthood
and spends all his time adoring her.’

‘That’s what I’ve heard too.’

‘Soldiering is one kind of honest work, isn’t it?’

‘Not as hard as farming is, maybe, but it’s still harder than adoring somebody.’

‘If that’s the way things are in her Domain, doesn’t that sort of suggest that she doesn’t have anything at
all like an army over there? Wouldn’t that explain why she wants all the soldiers Zelana and Veltan
hired to come on over to her territory to protect her if the bug-people decide to come her way?’


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 Crystal Gorge


‘Very good, Red-Beard,’ Longbow said. ‘Maybe she’s not quite as irrational as it might seem. If her
Domain is totally undefended, she’ll need just about everybody with a sword or a bow to come there to
protect her. It’s very selfish, of course, but I don’t think that would bother her. She seems to believe that
she’s the most important thing in the whole world, so from her way of looking at things, we’re all
obliged to rush to her defense.’

‘There’s not much that we can do about it right now, friend Longbow - except possibly to suggest to
Zelana that she’d better keep a close eye on her big sister.’

‘I’m sure that Zelana already knows about her sister’s peculiarities, but we might want to caution Sorgan
and Narasan about this.’

‘You’re probably right. Should we go on back and listen to the screaming? or would you rather go
fishing?’

The squabbling of Dahlaine and Aracia continued for another half hour or so, and then Ara, Omago’s
beautiful wife, joined them on the balcony of the map-room. ‘Supper’s ready,’ she announced.

‘That’s just about the best news I’ve heard all day,’ Sorgan Hook-Beak declared. ‘Let’s go eat before
everything gets cold.’

They all trooped on down the hallway to Veltan’s impromptu dining-room. That was one of the
characteristics of the elder gods that Red-Beard had never fully understood. There was a certain
practicality involved in their lack of a need for sleep. If some kind of emergency came up, a sleeping
god might not be able to deal with it, but Red-Beard couldn’t for the life of him see why they didn’t eat.
They didn’t need nourishment, of course, but there was more to eating food than just satisfying the
grumbling in the belly. Dinners in particular were generally something along the lines of a social event
that brought people closer together and smoothed over various disagreements. Red-Beard was almost
positive that the elaborate dining-room in Veltan’s house hadn’t even been there before the outlanders
had arrived, and he was fairly sure that the dining-room Veltan had added to his house had originally
been Ara’s idea. Omago’s wife was quite probably the best cook in the entire world, but she was wise