"Sharon Green - Jalav 5 - To Battle The Gods" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Sharon)

yet they reached beings they had not envisioned. Strangers were they, who claimed kinship with us, who
then spoke of coming to "civilize" us in a manner unspecified, yet one which disturbed all who listened.
The males had retired to discuss the matter, paying no mind to the Midanna warriors who were about,
for the Hosta had been taken as captives by them, to be held and used as mere city slave-women.

And yet Jalav had shown that she was not one to be dismissed! Despite the agony of a lashing, I had
escaped over the wall of Ranistard with the burning need to bring others to help free the sister Hosta,
had survived, with the aid of the goddess Mida, wounds which should well have been crippling or fatal,
had withstood, with great difficulty, the capture of Ceralt and his Belsayah riders, only to be at last
brought before the goddess Mida to learn that the Hosta might not be freed. Jalav was meant to be war
leader to all nine of the other clans of sister Midanna, and could succeed only if the Hosta remained
captives, leaving Jalav as one who would not favor any clan above the others.

I shivered with the memory of my time with Mida. I had been brought to her by Ceralt, High Rider to
those village males called Belsayah, he who had attempted to claim and hold me as his own, and had not
known he moved to the will of the goddess. Ceralt thought to seek the aid of Sigurr, dark god of males,
against the coming strangers, and therefore we had all journeyed to Sigurr's Peak and the altar which lay
in the heart of it. Indeed we succeeded in finding the dark god, but his realm and Mida's lay side by side,
and both god and goddess wished me to lead their warriors against the coming strangers.

With heavy heart yet fierce determination, I had led the nine clans of sister Midanna against Bellinard
and had taken the city, then had I ridden to the land of the Sigurri, those male warriors who worshipped
Sigurr as Midanna did Mida. In Bellinard I freed four Sigurri captives, for I had been told by Sigurr and
Mida, they might lead me to their city so that I might raise their host to ride and fight beside Mida's. One
of the four had been Mehrayn, a red-haired male of great strength and odd humor, who had proven to be
a Prince of the Blood among the Sigurri, called Sigurr's Sword for he led the dark god's legions into
battle. Again there had been difficulty, as well as capture and enslavement, during which Chaldrin had
proven himself a true brother to me, yet we succeeded in returning Aysayn, the rightful Sigurr's Shadow,
to his proper place where he had gladly obeyed Sigurr's will and pledged the city's legions to stand
against the coming strangers.

It was then that I had learned that all of Mida's terms had not been met, that there was one additional
task I must attend to before I might return to my own. I had often called myself war leader to all
Midanna, but at the time, that was simply not so. Without the Silla, who lay in capture to the males of
Ranistard along with the Hosta, the clans of enemy Midanna also numbered nine. It became my task to
assume the leadership of these Midanna as well, yet I could not ride toward their lands alone as I had
wished to do. Each time I had turned about I had found another in my path, among them Mehrayn and
Chaldrin and S'Heernoh. Mehrayn desired me as Ceralt had, Chaldrin had pledged himself to stand
beside me in battle, and S'Heernoh-S'Heernoh had appeared from out of the forests, had joined our
traveling set, and had given more assistance than he, unarmed, should have been able to do. Also was
S'Heernoh a Walker, one who was able to reach the White Land and walk the Snows of what-shall-

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 Jalav 5: To Battle The Gods

occur, and therefore had been able to aid those of the then-enemy clans as well. At last I had
accomplished the will of the goddess and had become war leader to those who were no longer enemies,
and then had they and I and the Sigurri legions and the males who led them, all made the journey to
Bellinard, where the balance of my warriors waited.