"Bruce Holland Rogers - In the Matter of the Ukdena" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rogers Bruce Holland)

"Enemies. Powerful enemies!"
"Where?" Walks the River asked them. "Where are these enemies?"
"Far," said the Ukdena. "Numerous. Growing. Dangerous, dangerous enemies!" They danced their
dance and glittered and burst into flames that didn't harm them. They roared like a forest on fire. "Hate
them! Murder! Blind! Burn! Hate and live!"
Scales flashed. Claws opened and closed. The gaze of dark Ukdena eyes made Walks the River
shiver and sweat in his sleep as their glittering bodies curled and knotted and slithered apart in the sky.
He rose quietly and dressed, slipping out of his wife's house before she and her daughters could wake
up to repeatedly ask no one in particular when the council would be over.
He went to watch the river. There was, as far as he could see, no right way to act. If he continued to
argue, he brought discord into the council house. And, in truth, he did not love the Ukdena. Walks the
River had always been a man of peace.
He went to his sister's lodge to eat breakfast. There was no talk of the council there, but there was no
talk of anything else, either. Walks the River was not sure if he was losing the support of his clan or not.
With the men who were catching fish, it was the same. Walks the River watched them dam the fishing
stream, and then a man named Runner threw ground horse chestnuts into the shadowed pools of still
water where the fish hid themselves.
"The other clans are in agreement," Walks the River said. "We are the only holdouts. I begin to feel
that we are not behaving well."
The men waiting for the fish asked him if his dreams had changed, and he said that this time the
Ukdena had spoken, had warned him of distant enemies.
"You must do what is right," one of the young men said without looking up from the water. He offered
no elaboration.
"Yes," Walks the River agreed. "I must do what is right."
The first of the paralyzed fish floated to the surface. The young men began to choose the ones they
wanted and loaded them into baskets. Soon they had all they wanted.
Walks the River looked through the foliage, seeing light from the ridge line glint between the trees. He
had never seen the Ukdena in the waking world, but the priests saw them all the time. "People grow
impatient."
"Do not stand aside until you are almost moved to anger," advised Runner. He opened the dam, and
fresh water rushed into the pools. The remaining fish soon recovered and dove back down into the
deeper water. "As long as you do not become angry," another man said, "there is only a little shame. We
can bear it."
So it was that on the sixth day of the council Walks the River sat in the circle of seven Beloved Men
with his resolve unbent. Behind him sat the people of the Wild Potato clan, and he felt supported by
them, at least in some measure.
In the center of the circle of Beloved Men stood the principal priest, the second priest, and Red Fox,
who was the secular officer.
As if he had not already put the question to them a score of times already, the principal priest said, "In
the matter of the Ukdena and a third priest, how are we resolved?"
"As we have heard," said Woods Burning, the Beloved Man of the Deer clan, "The Ukdena are
growing fewer." He looked at Walks the River and the Wild Potato clan behind him. "We acknowledge
that this is true. And fewer priests train to control the energies of the Ukdena. That also is true. But is this
bad? The Ukdena are dangerous, so it is a good thing that there are fewer of them. And since there are
fewer of them, we need fewer priests to control them. Therefore, in the matter of a third priest for the
village who would learn the ways of the Ukdena and carry the objects that control them, let it be resolved
that we shall not support such a priest. We have two priests already. That is enough."
The other Beloved Men spoke in turn. For the Wolf clan and the Long Hair clan, they spoke. For the
Paint clan and the Blue clan and the Bird clan. All agreed that the village would not support a third priest,
that maintaining the Ukdena was too costly a task for a village of their size to take on.