"Garry_Kilworth_Shadow-Hawk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kilworth Garry)

Shadow-Hawk (Mahatara's Hawk)
an extract from the novel
by Garry Kilworth

Part One: The White Rajah

The old rajah knew he was dying: he had seen a strange bird flying across the mouth of the Sarawak River. Witnessing the sight through one of the lattice-work windows of his white palace, he needed no bomoh to tell him the meaning of this omen, which could have been interpreted by a four-year-old child. Surprising to some, the rajah was not depressed about this state of affairs for he had been ill over a long period. Death, while not perhaps a blessing, was at least welcome.

The bird had been green and red in colour, flying as straight as a blow-pipe dart. These refinements told the rajah that something else was happening out there in the vibrant world. Something else was occurring which would be of benefit to his region of the sultanate ostensibly ruled from Brunei, but in practice virtually autonomous. He sent for one of the Malay princes, Ahmed Rimah, and asked him to describe what was going on in the world outside the palace grounds.

'My lord,' said the prince, in a quiet voice, 'it is market day in the city. The people have come from far and wide - Sea Dyaks, Land Dyaks, Chinese and Malays - they are bartering for goods, selling their wares, cheating each other.'

'And on the rivers?'

There were dozens of rivers like brown snakes writhing through the jade forests of Sarawak. Their banks were shared by red orang-utans and reticulated pythons, their waters by crocodiles and mosquito larvae. The surfaces of these meandering waterways, ruffled by frequent rapids, were human playgrounds for trade, travel and occasional war.

'The rivers are quiet, my lord.'

Breezes lightly lifted the prince's cream silken pantaloons and yellow brocaded tunic as he stood there wondering what was in the rajah's mind. The prince had a tightly-wound turban of green silk on his head with an enormous ruby brooch pinning it fast to his black hair. Below this turban a small frown marred his smooth, pale-skinned countenance. Harsh sunlight rarely touched the delicate complexion of Prince Ahmed's face.

'The sea? What of the sea?'

Again the prince's eyes were troubled. He did not know how to answer. In the end he decided upon the truth.

'There is a yacht cruising through our coastal waters. I am told it flies the flag of the British Navy.'

'Ahhhh,' murmured the rajah, sinking back onto his soft cushions. 'Please send for its captain, Prince Ahmed. I must speak with him.'

'Might I be permitted to know why you wish to see this British captain?'

'No, Prince Ahmed, you may not.'


Allen Starke stood on the deck of the Monarch, watching the coast of Sarawak slip by to starboard. Starke's face was lightly scarred down one side and he held his right arm tucked into his waist. These were the only indications of the hideous wounds he had received in India several years earlier, in 1840. Lieutenant Starke, as he was then, was riding with a message when he was caught in withering crossfire.

For many months Starke trod water between life and death. Eventually the ferryman decided death did not want him and left him to wash up on the bank of the living. Once he had recovered enough he returned to England, to his younger cousin Harriet's house, where she nursed him back to complete health. It was to Harry that Starke had announced his intention of travelling the world to try to find himself. Harry had instantly demanded to accompany Starke on his search for his destiny, saying that England was dull.

'You could leave me here, Allen. In which case I would die of boredom amongst flower gardens and old aunts, while you go off with a guilty conscience. On the other hand, you could earn my eternal gratitude by taking me with you,' Harry had said to him.

'But Harry, you know how shocked everyone would be. Ladies just don't go traipsing around far-flung countries. Apart from the danger how will you find a husband when you've been halfway around the world with your cousin?'

Both cousins knew there were no romantic feelings on either side, nor would there ever be. Starke was a confirmed bachelor and though Harry was very fond of him she had no wish to share a life with him as his wife, only as a companion. Harry was not a beautiful woman. In fact, many unkind mothers of pretty girls called her 'dark and plain'. She also had a fiery personality, too full of enthusiasm for the wrong pursuits. She loved riding fast unmanagable horses and tramping in the Cumberland hills. Most men of her class liked their ladies to be ormaments who sang prettily at the piano and painted water colour pictures on the lawn.

At twenty-eight Harry was past making a 'splendid match' and the best she could wish for was a husband who loved her. Hopefully the right man would see her fire and enthusiasm as assets, but he was not the sort of man she would meet in the drawing-rooms of Surrey. Finding a husband was not her reason for wanting to accompany her cousin however - she was not that eager to place her future in a stranger's hands - but Harry craved excitement in her life. Travel helped satisfy that craving, especially travel outside Europe, in the more exotic regions of the earth, where more or less anything could happen.

'I don't want to be Fanny Price, of Mansfield Park,' she told her cousin, 'I want to be Harriet Glendenning of No Fixed Address.'

'You saved my life,' he replied, exaggerating things just a trifle for the benefit of the shocked aunts, 'so how can I refuse you, Harry?'

During the time that he convelesced in Surrey the death of his father provided him with enough funds to purchase a yacht. It was a sleek racehorse of a craft which cut an elegant figure on the water. Because this vessel had belonged to the Royal Navy it had the same privileges as a man-o'-war and was authorized to fly the white ensign. Starke had decided that although he had been permitted to live, his military years were over, and he determined to set out and search the world to find a new purpose for his life. He set sail for Ceylon by way of Aden, cruised around the Maldives for a month or two, then went on to Singapore. He found the 'lion city' full of merchants and tradesmen, most of them expatriate Chinese. In search of more exotic company he moved on and so circumnavigated the Malay peninusula and cruised to Borneo.