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.' Bayaz had made it down into the village now.Quai and Longfoot weren't far behind with the cart and the horses.'Far tooslow.We stick to the track.We'll see anyone coming in good time out here.Plenty of time.'Luthar didn't look convinced.'If we see them, they'll see us.What then?''Then?' Bayaz raised an eyebrow.'Then we have the famous Captain Luthar toprotect us.' He looked round at the ruined village.'Running water, andshelter, of a kind.Seems like a good place to camp.''Good enough,' muttered Logen, already rooting through the cart for logs tostart a fire of their own.'I'm hungry.What happened to those birds?'Logen sat, and watched the others eat over the rim of his pot.Ferro squatted at the very edge of the shifting light from the campfire,hunched over, shadowy face almost stuck right into her bowl, staring aroundsuspiciously and shoving food in with her fingers like she was worried itmight be snatched away any moment.Luthar was less enthusiastic.He wasPage 56ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlnibbling daintily at a wing with his bared front teeth, as though touching itwith his lips might poison him, discarded morsels lined up carefully along theside of his platter.Bayaz chewed away with some relish, his beard glisteningwith gravy.'It's good,' he muttered around a mouthful.'You might want toconsider cookery as a career, Master Ninefingers, if you should ever growtired of& ' he waved his spoon, 'whatever it is you do.''Huh,' said Logen.In the North everyone took their turn at the fire, and itwas reckoned an honour to do it.A good cook was almost as valued as a goodfighter.Not here.These were a sorry crowd when it came to minding the pot.Bayaz could just about get his tea boiled, and that was as far as he went.Quai could get a biscuit out of the box on a good day.Logen doubted whetherLuthar would even have known which way up the pot went.As for Ferro, sheseemed to despise the whole notion of cooking.Logen reckoned she was used toeating her food raw.Perhaps while it was still alive.In the North, after a hard day on the trail, when the men gathered around thelong fires to eat, there was a strict order to who sat where.The chief wouldgo at the top, with his sons and the Named Men of the clan around him.Nextcame the Carls, in order of fame.Thralls were lucky to get their own smallfires further out.Men would always have their place, and only change it whentheir chief offered, out of respect for some great service they'd done him, orfor showing rare good bones in a fight.Sitting out of place could earn you akicking, or a killing even.Where you sat round the fire was where you stoodin life, more or less.It was different out here on the plains, but Logen could still see a patternin who sat where, and it was far from a happy one.He and Bayaz were closeenough to the fire, but the others were further than comfort would have putthem.Drawn close by the wind, and the cold, and the damp night, pushedfurther out by each other.He glanced over at Luthar, sneering down into hisbowl as though it was full of piss.No respect.He glanced over at Ferro,staring yellow knives at him through narrowed eyes.No trust.He shook hishead sadly.Without trust and respect the group would fall apart in a fightlike walls without mortar.Still, Logen had won over tougher audiences, in his time.Threetrees, TulDuru, Black Dow, Harding Grim, he'd fought each one in single combat, andbeaten them all.Spared each man's life, and left him bound to follow.Eachone had tried their best to kill him, and with good reasons too, but in theend Logen had earned their trust, and their respect, and their friendshipeven.Small gestures and a lot of time, that was how he'd done it.'Patienceis the chief of virtues,' his father used to say, and 'you won't cross themountains in a day.' Time might be against them, but there was nothing to begained by rushing.You have to be realistic about these things.Logen uncrossed his stiff legs, took hold of the water-skin and got up, walkedslowly over to where Ferro was sitting.Her eyes followed him all the wayacross.She was a strange one, no doubt, and not just the looks of her, thoughthe dead knew her looks were strange enough.She seemed hard and sharp andcold as a new sword, ruthless as any man that Logen could think of.You wouldhave thought she wouldn't throw a log to save a drowning man, but she'd donemore than that to save him, and more than once.Out of all of them, she wasthe one he'd trust first, and furthest.So he squatted down and held the skinout to her, its bulbous shadow flickering and shifting on the rough wallbehind her.She frowned at it for a moment, then frowned up at Logen.Then she snatched itoff him and bent back over her pot, half turning her bony shoulders on him.Not a word of thanks, or a gesture even, but he didn't mind.You won't crossthe mountains in a day, after all.He dropped down again beside the fire, watched the flames dancing, castingshifting light across the grim faces of the group.'Anyone know any stories?'he asked, hopefully.Quai sucked at his teeth.Luthar curled his lip at Logen across the fire.Ferro gave no sign that she had even heard.Hardly an encouraging start.Page 57ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html'Not any?' No reply.'Alright then, I know a song or two, if I can rememberthe words,' he cleared his throat.'Very well!' cut in Bayaz.'If it will save us from a song, I know hundreds ofstories.What did you have it in mind to hear about? A romance? A comedy? Atale of bravery against the odds?''This place,' cut in Luthar.'The Old Empire.If it was such a great nation,how did it come to this?' He jerked his head over at the crumbling walls, andwhat they all knew lay beyond.The miles and miles of nothing.'A wasteland.'Bayaz sighed.'I could tell that tale, but we are lucky enough to have anative of the Old Empire with us on our little trip, and a keen student ofhistory to boot.Master Quai?' The apprentice looked up lazily from the fire.'Would you care to enlighten us? How did the Empire, once the glitteringcentre of the world, come to this pass?''That story is long in the telling,' murmured the apprentice.'Shall I startfrom the beginning?''Where else should a man ever start?'Quai shrugged his bony shoulders and began to speak.'Almighty Euz, vanquisherof demons, closer of gates, father of the World, had four sons, and to each hegave a gift.To his eldest, Juvens, he gave the talent of High Art, the skillto change the world with magic, tempered by knowledge.To his second son,Kanedias, went the gift of making, of shaping stone and metal to his ownpurposes.To his third son, Bedesh, Euz gave the skill of speaking withspirits, and of making them do his bidding.' Quai gave a wide yawn, smackedhis lips and blinked at the fire.'So were born the three pure disciplines ofmagic''I thought he had four sons,' grumbled Luthar.Quai's eyes slid sideways.'So he did, and therein lies the root of theEmpire's destruction.Glustrod was the youngest son.To him should have gonethe gift of communing with the Other Side.The secrets of summoning devilsfrom the world below and binding them to one's will.But such things wereforbidden by the First Law, and so Euz gave nothing to his youngest son buthis blessing, and we all know what those are worth.He taught the other threetheir share of his secrets and left, ordering his sons to bring order to theworld.''Order [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]