"Sharon Green - Jalav 3 - Chosen Of Mida" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

Jalav 3: Chosen of Mida
by Sharon Green
CH 1. Journey's end-and the blood of enemies
The lanthay moved easily through the trees, pacing itself, taking into its mouth those leaves which came
near it in its passage. Unlike much of our journey till then, the land about us was lush and bountiful, warm
during the, light of each fey, cool and comfortable throughout each darkness. No longer had we snow
and chill, empty forests to pass as best we might, and the lanthay, more a beast of the snows and cold,
nevertheless seemed to enjoy the warmth as much as I. We had come a far distance in the hands of feyd
we had traveled, a distance so great I no longer knew how many feyd I had been upon the trail. The
journey had been long-and solitary-yet my thoughts had used the time well to settle about the explanation
of what had occurred, understanding each facet of it so that I might more clearly understand where now I
stood.

I sighed as I again considered my position, yet the ever-present anger deep within me stirred. From what
point would one consider the beginning of the thing? From the time Mida's Crystals were stolen, from the
time my clan-sisters the Hosta were taken by males of Ranistard, from the time I, myself, was claimed by
the male Ceralt-or the time I was chosen by Mida and dread Sigurr, dark god of males, to stand in their
names and see their will done? Each of these things was a beginning of sorts, a beginning of pain and
shame and disaster and loss, a beginning of new, misunderstood occurrences which nevertheless were
linked one to the other. My understanding was now complete, yet at what cost?

I reined in the lanthay and dismounted, tethered it to a tree where it might feed, took a cut of meat from
its pack for myself, then placed myself where I might watch all about me as I fed. With my return to lands
where game was plentiful, it was necessary to recall that predators were also plentiful, children of the wild
whose teeth and claws would make short shrift of the unwary. Not three feyd agone had I slain a large
yellow zaran, my spear taking it in the chest as it leaped up to strike at my tethered lanthay. The lanthay
had nearly torn loose from its rein, so violent was its fear, yet the leather had held and I had been able to
calm it. Surely Mida continued to watch over her warrior, for without the lanthay my journey would have
been much longer.

I took a slow bite from the meat held in my hand, raw and bloody nilno, freshly killed, sweet and
satisfying, chewing the thought as I chewed the meat. Ever had I been wont to think of myself as beneath
Mida's protection, yet now the conviction brought many memories of recent happenings and revelations,
few of them pleasant. I, who was Jalav, war leader of the Hosta, greatest clan of all the Midanna, had
been chosen by Mida as the sole warrior to do the work she had envisioned for me. My sisters of the
Hosta she had allowed to be taken by the males of Ranistard as mates so that Jalav alone would be left
to lead all of the other clans of Midanna, unprejudiced in this leadership through the absence of all other
Hosta. My pain remained great that the Hosta might not be freed of their bondage to males till the
strangers had been seen to, the strangers who would come from the skies to touch our lives with the
power of their wills. I still knew naught of what they wished of us, yet Mida had assured me they were no
other thing than evil.

Evil. Had we true need of evil, there was little need to look further for it than he called Sigurr, dark god
males were fond of cursing by. Sigurr, too, had that which he wished me to do, the raising of his male
warriors the Sigurri, and in this Mida had concurred. I was to raise the Sigurri as Sigurr wished, to assist
in battle against the strangers, yet when the battle was done, the Midanna were then to turn upon the
Sigurri and destroy them, doing them before they might do us so. Sigurr knew naught of these designs of
Mida, also knowing naught of the hatred for males which Mida had sought to breed in me by placing me
in the capture of males, theirs to do with as they pleased. Much had such hatred begun to grow in me at
the doings of the male Ceralt-till I discovered that the shame and humiliation given me was deliberate, to