"Andre Norton - Witch World - Warlock of the Witch World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

once heard, could not be forgotten.

Rasti ran here, right enough. They came upon us in a wave and Shapurn and Shil
stamped and danced in fury, while Ethutur’s lash cut again and again, firing the grass to
clear us a path. We met the Gray Ones at the mouth of the HaHarc road and there we
fought them. My blade cut flesh, jarred upon bone, and Shil screamed as raking claws and
gnashing teeth tore his hide. Once more I hurled at them those words and saw them
flinch from what became darts of flaming energy.
Then there came a sound, and before that all the other clamor of our fight was
nothing. For it was a blow which appeared to fall upon us all equally. I clung, weak and
deafened, to my seat on Shil’s back. Dimly I saw Ethutur’s arm drop limply to his side, the
force lash dead, only the stock gripped in his fingers. But I also saw the Gray Ones reel
back, the hand-paws pressed to their ears, their heads twisting to and fro as if in agony.

For how long we were so stricken I do not know. But at length my mind cleared and I
felt Shil trembling under me. The Renthan took one step and then another, and I raised to
see that he was following, as he had throughout that journey, his war chief Shapurn, and
that other one was walking, one step at a time, down the road to HaHarc. On his back
Ethutur sat with drooping head, as one who rode in a daze.

I wanted to turn my head and see if the enemy padded behind us. But trying, I found
I could not. It was not that I was too weak; it was rather in some way all my muscles had
been locked. When at last I was able to look behind I saw no sign of any pursuers. That
stench which had been with us since we had left the lake was also gone. But there was
another odor heavy on the air, a metallic scent I could not set name to.
When we were among the ruins Ethutur straightened and looked over his shoulder to
meet my eyes. He was very pale, but there was a set to his features I had not seen before.

“Do not so again!” His words were an order.
“I do not know what—”

“You evoked ancient powers back there and were answered. Do not bring your
witchcraft here, outlander. I had not believed that you might also evoke forces—”
“Nor did I,” I answered truthfully. “And I do not know why I did what I did. I am no
witch, but a warrior.”
I could not quite believe in what had passed, even though I had been a part of it. For
we were so confirmed in the belief, we of Estcarp, that only the Wise Women could control
the unseen, or communicate with it, that this was unnatural. Although it was true that my
father had had certain gifts, which even the Witches had not been able to deny. With my
mother, the Lady Jaelithe, he had shared strengths which were not of hand and body, but
of mind and will.

But me, I wanted no more of this. For I had wisdom enough to know that
experimenting with such matters, when one is untaught in the proper safeguards, is rank
folly, liable to harm not only he who rashly tries it, but those about him. Ethutur could be
sure I would not do so. Still I remembered that sound, which I could find no words to
describe, and I wondered what it was and from whence it had come.
It seemed to be effective in protecting our back trail, for, though we took every
precaution and backtracked to be sure, we had no pursuers. At last Ethutur was satisfied
and we went up that stair road which led out of HaHarc to come again to the boundaries