"Stephen Lawhead - Pendragon Cycle 05 - Grail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lawhead Stephen)

Treont was showing a wide band of cracked mud and lumpy stone along
either bank, there was at least good water to be had in the long lake just to
the north.
There, we paused to rest for a few days. The animals could drink their fill
from the shallows, but the better drinking water was farther out, beyond
the green, stagnant pools; we had to use boats to get it - a labour which
exhausted most of the day - and the warriors were far from pleased about
the tedious occupation.
'Ferrying water casks in coracles is like herding geese on the back of a
pig,' declared Cai. He and Bedwyr stood on the bare rock shore watching
the small round boats struggling with their loads.
'I see it keeps your tongue wet,' observed Bedwyr sourly.
'Only just,' replied Cai. He watched the tipsy boats for a moment, then
said, 'I suppose we must be moving on again soon.'
'Nay,' Bedwyr replied. 'I am thinking we will stay here.'
'But Arthur said -'
'I know what Arthur said,' declared Bedwyr edgily. 'But he could not know
how hard it is to keep these people fed and watered.'
'Rheged is still some way to the north,' Cai pointed out, rubbing his
whiskered chin.
'And I am thinking this is far enough!' Bedwyr growled. 'God love you,
Cai, but you do know how to fret a man.'
The flame-haired Cai shouldered the affront with placid acceptance. 'I
merely suggest -'
'With this damnable drought, there will be no harvest in Rheged or
anywhere else,' Bedwyr explained sharply. 'Why go all the way to Rheged
when they can just as easily starve here?' Indicating the dark-wooded hills
beyond the lake, he said, 'At least here they can get water and whatever
can be had from the forest.'
'I see your point,' replied Cai.
'You do?' asked Bedwyr suspiciously.
'It is a good plan - as good as any other.'
'Also, the settlements hereabouts are not so many that the folk will be hard
pressed by the Vandali,' said Bedwyr, continuing his argument.
'Enough! I said it was a good plan. The sooner we settle these... these
people, the sooner we can head south. I am anxious for word of Arthur.'
'And I am not?' demanded Bedwyr. 'You are the only one eager for word
of Arthur, I suppose?'
'If it is a fight you are wanting,' Cai answered gruffly, 'go argue with Rhys
- no doubt he will oblige. Two of a kind, the both of you.'
Bedwyr flared, but held his tongue. He gave Cai a dark, smouldering look
and stormed away, grumbling to himself. Cai watched him stumping along
the lakeshore. 'And take your temper with you!' he called at Bedwyr's
retreating back.
I saw what had happened. 'Do not be angry with him,' I said, moving to
Cai's side.
'Am I angry?' he shouted. 'Am I the one biting the head off anyone who
happens by? Anyway, he started it - him and his foul mood.'
'The heat,' I suggested, 'is making everyone surly.'
'Och,' agreed Cai, clucking his tongue. 'By the Holy Three, I wish it would