"Norton, Andre - Solar Queen 02 - Plague Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

fanfare for a clan chieftain. And he continued to keep to the exact center of the road, Dane the regulation
one pace to the rear and left as befitted his lower rank.

"Houuu--" that blast from the throat of a Salarik especially chosen for his lung power was accompanied
now by the hollow drum of many feet. The Terrans neither looked around nor withdrew from the center,
nor did their pace quicken.

That, too, was in order, Dane knew. To the rank conscious Salariki clansmen you did not yield precedence
unless you wanted at once to acknowledge your inferiority--and if you did that by some slip of admission
or omission, there was no use in trying to treat face to face with their chieftains again.
"Houuu--!" The blast behind was a scream as the retinue it announced swept around the bend in the road
to catch sight of the two Traders oblivious of it. Dane longed to be able to turn his head, just enough to see
which one of the local lordlings they blocked.

"Houu--" there was a questioning note in the cry now and the heavy thud-thud of feet was slacking. The
clan party had seen them, were hesitant about the wisdom of trying to shove them aside.

Van Rycke marched steadily onward and Dane matched his pace. They might not possess a leather-lunged
herald to clear their road, but they gave every indication of having the right to occupy as much of it as they
wished. And that unruffled poise had its affect upon those behind. The pound of feet slowed to a walk, a
walk which would keep a careful distance behind the two Terrans. It had worked--the Salariki--or these
Salariki--were accepting them at their own valuation--a good omen for the day's business. Dane's spirits
rose, but he schooled his features into a mask as wooden as his superior's. After all this was a very minor
victory and they had ten or twelve hours of polite, and hidden, maneuvering before them.

The Solar Queen had set down as closely as possible to the trading center marked on Traxt Cam's private
map and the Terrans now had another five minutes march, in the middle of the road, ahead of the chieftain
who must be inwardly boiling at their presence, before they came out in the clearing containing the
roofless, circular erection which served the Salariki of the district as a market place and a common meeting
ground for truce talks and the mending of private clan alliances. Erect on a pole in the middle, towering
well above the nodding fronds of the grass trees, was the pole bearing the trade shield which promised not
only peace to those under it, but a three day sanctuary to any feuder or duelist who managed to win to it
and lay hands upon its weathered standard.

They were not the first to arrive, which was also a good thing. Gathered in small groups about the walls of
the council place were the personal attendants, liege warriors, and younger relatives of at least four or five
clan chieftains. But, Dane noted at once, there was not a single curtained litter or riding orgel to be seen.
None of the feminine part of the Salariki species had arrived. Nor would they until the final trade treaty
was concluded and established by their fathers, husbands, or sons.

With the assurance of one who was master in his own clan, Van Rycke, displaying no interest at all in the
shifting mass of lower rank Salariki, marched straight on to the door of the enclosure. Two or three of the
younger warriors got to their feet, their brilliant cloaks flicking out like spreading wings. But when Van
Rycke did not even lift an eyelid in their direction, they made no move to block his path.

As fighting men, Dane thought, trying to study the specimens before him with a totally impersonal stare,
the Salariki were an impressive lot. Their average height was close to six feet, their distant feline ancestry
apparent only in small vestiges. A Salarik's nails on both hands and feet were retractile, his skin was gray,
his thick hair, close to the texture of plushy fur, extended down his backbone and along the outside of his
well muscled arms and legs, and was tawny-yellow, blue-gray or white. To Terran eyes the broad faces,