"Smith, Wilbur - [Egyptian 03] - Warlock(txt)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Wilbur)

Road was the onerous test of horsemanship and weapons that few
warriors attempted. It was an ordeal that drained, exhausted and often
killed even a strong man in his prime and trained to near perfection.
Nefer was a long way from that day.
Then Pharaoh's forbidding expression softened and he gripped his
son's arm in the only show of affection he would allow himself before
his troops. ‘Now it is my command that you go with Taita into the
desert to capture your godbird, and thus to prove your royal blood and
your right one day to wear the double crown.

Nefer and the old man stood together beside the shattered walls
of Gallala and watched the column fly past. Pharaoh led it, the
reins wrapped around his wrists, leaning back against the pull
of the horses, his chest bare, linen skirts whipping around his muscular
legs, the blue war crown on his head rendering him tall and godlike.
Next came Lord Naja, almost as tall, almost as handsome. His mien
was haughty and proud, the great recurved bow slung over his shoulder.
Naja was one of the mightiest warriors of this very Egypt and his name
had been given to him as a title of honour: Naja was the sacred cobra
in the royal uraeus crown. Pharaoh Tamose had bestowed it upon him
on the day that, together, they had won through the ordeal of the Red
Road.
Naja did not deign to glance in Nefer's direction. Pharaoh's chariot
had plunged into the mouth of the dark gorge before the last vehicle in
the column went racing past where Nefer stood. Meren, his friend and
companion of many illicit boyhood adventures, laughed in his face
and made an obscene gesture, then raised his voice mockingly above the
whine and rattle of the wheels. ‘I will bring you the head of Apepi as a
toy,' he promised, and Nefer hated him as he sped away. Apepi was the
King of the Hyksos, and Nefer needed no toys: he was a man now, even
if his father refused to recognize it.
The two were silent for long after Meren's chariot had disappeared,
and the dust had settled. Then Taita turned without a word and went
to where their horses were tethered. He tightened the surcingle around
his mount's chest, hiked up his kilts and swung up with the limber
movement of a much younger man. Once astride the animal's bare back
he seemed to become one with it. Nefer remembered that legend related
he had been the very first Egyptian to master the equestrian arts. He
still bore the title Master of Ten Thousand Chariots, bestowed upon
him with the Gold of Praise by two pharaohs in their separate reigns.
Certain it was that he was one of the few men who dared to ride
astride. Most Egyptians abhorred this practice, considering it somehow
obscene and undignified, not to mention risky. Nefer had no such
qualms and as he vaulted up on to the back of his favourite colt,
Stargazer, his black mood started to evaporate. By the time they had
reached the crest of the hills above the ruined city he was almost his
usual ebullient self. He cast one last longing glance at the feather of
distant dust left on the northern horizon by the squadron then firmly

turned his back upon it. ‘Where are we going, Tata?' he demanded. ‘You