The Serpentwar Saga. Raymond E. Feist

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ said, ‘It was a very good trick, then, for I felt nothing of it.’ He smiled as if this was a major feat. Then he grinned. ‘Bet it was as soon as we moved from the barrow. Bet you there is no tunnel there. It must be an illusion.’ He shook his head. ‘Now I really want to go back and look.’

      Calis said, ‘Some other time. How far to Maharta?’

      Praji shrugged. ‘By caravan from Palamds to Port Grief, a month. No one goes from there to Maharta overland – they take a ship. But there is that old coast road, if you don’t mind the bandits and other low-lifes that haunt it.’

      ‘Where’s our best course?’ asked Calis.

      Praji rubbed his chin a moment. ‘I think we send Sho Pi and Jadow that way,’ he said, pointing down the slope near the gorge, ‘to see if there’s a trail down nearby. If so, we take it. If we follow the river, we should be less than a week from Palamds. We can find a caravan or buy horses, and then we ride to Port Grief. From there a ship, and we’re on our way to wherever you need to go.’

      ‘I need to get back to Krondor,’ said Calis, and several of the men nearby cheered when they heard that.

      Nakor said, ‘No, first we must go to Maharta, then to Krondor.’

      ‘Why?’ asked Calis.

      ‘We haven’t stopped to ask why the Emerald Queen is taking the river cities.’

      Vaja said, ‘Good question.’

      ‘Hatonis, Praji, you have any ideas?’ asked Calis.

      Hatonis said, ‘Conquest for its own purposes is not unknown in this land – for booty, to enlarge one’s domain, for honor – but this simple taking of everything …’ He shrugged.

      Praji said, ‘If there was something I wanted in Maharta, and I couldn’t trust to have those other cities at my back …’

      Erik said, ‘Maybe it has to do with getting every sword under one banner?’

      Calis looked at him for a long minute, then nodded. ‘They plan on bringing the biggest army in history against the Kingdom.’

      Then Roo said, ‘How are they planning on getting there?’

      Nakor slowly grinned as Calis said, ‘What!’

      Roo looked embarrassed as he repeated, ‘How are they planning on getting there? You needed two ships to get us here, with stores and all. They’ve got, what? A hundred thousand, two hundred thousand soldiers? And a lot of horses and equipment. Where are they going to get the ships?’

      Hatonis said, ‘The shipbuilders at Maharta are the finest in Novindus. Only the shipwrights in the Pa’j-kamaka Islands are their equal. Our clan has long purchased our ships in Maharta. It is the only shipyard that could possibly produce enough transports in a short time, perhaps in two years or so.’

      Calis said, ‘Then we must make a stop there.’

      Nakor said, ‘Yes. We must burn the shipyards.’

      Hatonis’s eyes widened. ‘Burn … But the city will be under siege. They will have put hulks into the harbor mouth to keep the Emerald Queen’s ships from sailing in, and it will be impossible to get within twenty miles of the city for the patrols on both sides.’

      ‘How long will it take to rebuild those yards if they’re destroyed?’ asked Calis.

      Hatonis shrugged. ‘The yards are massive, and have been built up slowly over the last few centuries. It would take years to restore them. Lumber must be harvested up here and in the Sothu and Sumanu mountains and shipped downriver or carried in wagons. The great keels take a year or more to be cut and brought down, at great expense.’

      Nakor almost danced, he was so excited. ‘If we burn the yards, we get five, six, maybe as many as ten years before ships can be built here. Many, many things can happen in that time. This Emerald Queen, can she keep her host together that long? This I think unlikely.’

      Calis’s eyes seem to light with the prospect. Then he fought back his enthusiasm and said, ‘Don’t sell her short, Nakor.’

      Nakor nodded. The two had spoken at great length about what they had seen, and knew they were dealing with the most dangerous foe since the Tsurani invasion of the Riftwar. ‘I know, but men are men, and unless the Pantathian magic is so powerful as to make their hearts change, many of these soldiers of hers will forsake her banner without payment.’

      ‘Still,’ said Hatonis, ‘denying her the shipyards would be a major victory. My father ran the most successful trading consortium in the City of the Serpent River. We can send men to the Pa’jkamaka Islands and ensure they do not sell her ships. I will personally guarantee no shipwright in the City of the Serpent River will work on her behalf.’

      Calis said, ‘You know that after Maharta she will march on you? It’s logical.’

      ‘I know we shall have to fight her. If we must, we can abandon the city and live again in the wild. We men of the clans were not always city men.’ Hatonis smiled a dark smile. ‘But many of her greenskins will die before that day comes.’

      Calis said, ‘Well, first things first. Jadow, Sho Pi, see if you can find us a way down from here.’

      The two men nodded and trotted back along the trail, looking for another way down.

      ‘As long as we wait,’ said Nakor, opening his bag, ‘anyone want an orange?’ He grinned as he pulled out a large one and stuck his thumb in, squirting juice on Praji and de Loungville.

      They found a trail down, a narrow rocky pathway as treacherous as the first one had been kind. Three men fell to their deaths when a ledge of stone, seemingly solid, had collapsed under their feet. Now the remaining sixty men huddled in a narrow defile, huddled around two campfires, vainly trying to withstand the cold as a sudden change in weather sent the temperature below freezing.

      Calis and another three men had gone hunting, for the remaining rations were gone, but could only come back reporting no game was near. The company was too large, said Calis, and game was staying clear. He said he’d leave before first light and try to get as far down the trail as possible, to see if he could find a deer or other large game.

      Praji said there were bison roaming the plains and many of them lived in the woodlands of the foothills. Calis said he’d keep that in mind.

      Erik and Roo sat shoulder to shoulder, holding out their hands to the fire, while others huddled miserably as close together for warmth as they could.

      The only exception was Calis, who stood a short distance away, unmindful of the chill.

      Roo said, ‘Captain?’

      Calis said, ‘Yes?’

      ‘Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?’

      De Loungville, from near the next fire, said, ‘Keep your mouth shut, Avery!’

      Roo spoke through chattering teeth. ‘Hang me now and get it over with, why don’t you? I’m too cold to mind.’ To the Captain he said, ‘You and Nakor have been thick as fleas СКАЧАТЬ