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

enough to know that getting people together and establishing friendships was even more important than
eating. There were several peculiarities about Ara that Red-Beard didn’t fully understand - yet.

He was still working on it, though.

Oddly, Veltan and Zelana were accompanying them to the dining-room. Since they didn’t need - or want
- food, they obviously had something else on their minds.

The conversation at the dinner table was fairly general, but after they’d all eaten - more than they really
needed, of course - Zelana and Veltan took Sorgan and Commander Narasan aside and spoke with them


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at some length.

Red-Beard nudged his friend Longbow after supper. ‘I could be wrong about this, I suppose, but I think
Zelana and Veltan might have come up with a way to make peace in their family, and it’s probably
going to involve Sorgan and Narasan.’

‘What a peculiar sort of idea,’ Longbow murmured.

‘You saw it too, didn’t you?’

‘It was just a bit obvious, friend Red-Beard. I think it might disappoint Holy Aracia a little, though.’

‘What a shame,’ Red-Beard said with a broad grin.

‘That’s a nasty sort of thing to say.’

‘So beat me.’

When they returned to the map-room, Sorgan Hook-Beak cleared his throat as a sort of indication that he
was about to make a speech. ‘Narasan and I talked this over, and I think we might have come up with a
way to deal with the problem that’s been nagging at us here lately,’ he announced. ‘Since we can’t be
certain sure exactly where the bug-people will strike next, we’ll have to cover both possibilities. Since
Lord Dahlaine’s territory is farther away than his sister’s is, Narasan and I pretty much agreed that I
should cover that part of the Land of Dhrall - not because my men are better warriors, but because our
ships move faster than Narasan’s can. Of course, that’s why we built them that way. Chasing down
Trogite ships and robbing them is the main business in the Land of Maag, but we can talk about that
some other time. Since my people will cover the north, Narasan’s will cover the east.’ He gestured down
toward Veltan’s “lumpy map”. ‘If that map’s anywhere at all close to being accurate, it’ll only take
Narasan’s fleet a few days to reach Lady Aracia’s territory, and he can protect that region. That means
that we’ll have people in place to hold the bug-people back in either the east or the north, and our
employers can zip from here to there in no time at all. If the attack strikes the east, I’ll sail on down
around the south end and join up with Narasan in just a couple of weeks. But, if the bug-people come
north, my people will be able to hold them back until Narasan arrives to help me. When we add the
horse soldiers in the north and the women warriors in the east, we’ll have enough people to bring any
bug invasion to a stop. Then, when the rest of our friends arrive, we’ll be able to stomp all over the