"Norton, Andre - No night without stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Andre Norton)

"The seeing has signed that our paths now run together." Her eyes were very
bright. They caught his gaze. He did not like her calm assumption that he was
some tribesman under her command.
"I do not know what a seeing may be." With determined effort he broke that
linkage of eyes. "What I seek is my own affair."
She frowned as if she had not believed he could withstand her control any more
readily than the hissing beasts by her side. That she had tried to control him
in some unknown manner he was now certain.
"What you seek," she returned, a sharper note in her voice, "is the knowledge of
the Before Men. That is what I must also find, that my people may be avenged. I
am Fanyi, one who talks with spirits. And these be Kai and Kayi who are one with
me where there is need. My protection lay over Padford, but it was necessary for
me to go to meet the Great Moon. And while I was gone"--she made a slight gesture
with her hand--"my people were slain, my faith to them broken. This should not
be!" Her lips drew back in a snarl as marked as Rhin's. "The blood debt is mine,
but for its paying I must draw upon the Before Ones. I ask you, smith, have you
knowledge of where what you seek lies?"
He longed to say yes, but there was something in her gaze, which, though he
would not allow it to bind him, compelled the truth.
"I am Sander. I seek one of the Before cities. Such may be to the north along
the sea--"
"A Traders' tale perhaps?" She laughed and there was a note of scorn in that



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sound, angering him. "Traders' tales are not to be depended upon, smith. These
seek always to deceive, not revealing what they deem their own hunting grounds.
However, for once, this is partly right. To the north--and the east--there lies a
great place of the Before Men. I am a one of Shaman Power--to us remains some of
the ancient knowledge. There is a place--"
"To the northeast," Sander countered, "lies the sea. Perhaps your city is wave
buried now."
She shook her head. "I think not. The sea has eaten deep into the land in some
places; in others it has drained from ancient beds, leaving land long hidden
once more revealed. But," she shrugged, "of that we cannot be sure until we see.
You seek, I seek--but in the end our quest is not too divided. I want knowledge
of one kind, you of another, is this not the truth?"
"Yes."
"Well enough. I have powers, smith. Perhaps more potent than you carry in your
hands." She glanced at the weapon he held. "But to fare forth into the
wilderness alone, that is folly, if there are those who travel in the same
direction. Therefore, I say to you--let us journey together. I will share my
certain knowledge of where the Before Place lies."
He hesitated. But he believed that for some reason she was in earnest. Why she
made such an offer he could not quite understand. She might have been reading
his thoughts, for now she added:
"Did I not say that I had had a seeing? I know little of your people, smith, but