Archiwum
- Index
- 02 opengl 3.2 szablon aplikacji OpenGL
- Brooks, Terry Word 02 A Knight of the Word
- John DeChancie Castle 02 Castle for Rent
- Jay D. Blakeny The Sword, the Ring, and the Chalice 02 The Ring
- Celmer Michelle Królewskie zwišzki 02 Ksišżę i sekretarka (Goršcy Romans 893)
- Margit Sandemo Cykl Saga o czarnoksiężniku (02) Blask twoich oczu
- 115. Sherryl Woods Bogaci kawalerowie 02 Randka z przeznaczeniem
- Diana Palmer Big Spur,Texas 02 Passion Flower
- Johanna Lindsey Viking Family Tree 02 Hearts Aflame
- 0706. Davis Justine Poszukiwacz skarbów
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Seeds for a strain of wheat that can survive a spring snow. OldTech equipment
for fishing or farming. Or a refrigeration machine for the perch-packing
plant. My foster father said they had refrigeration machines in Feliss,
OldTech inventions that ran off sunlight..."
The Council Hall door swung open. Laughter ho-ho'd its way out to the porch.
Cappie gave me a look that made it clear what she thought of people who
laughed after taking bribes from Neuts.
Three seconds later, Teggeree and Rashid swaggered out, the mayor's arm
around Rashid's shoulders in much the same way that Rashid had walked so long
with Steck. Teggeree was saying, "If you really want to keep your identity
secret, Lord Rashid, we'd better..."
The mayor's voice died away as he saw Cappie and me sitting on the steps.
"We can keep secrets," Cappie said coldly.
"Good," Rashid smiled. "The council and I have come to an agreement, and it
would be better for all concerned "
"Better for the prosperity of the cove," Teggeree put in smugly.
"Yes," Rashid continued, "better for everyone if we don't spread rumors about
Neuts and other complicated issues."
"Then why not leave, and take Steck with you?" Cappie asked.
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"I'll leave tomorrow, after I see Master Crow and Mistress Gull," Rashid
replied. "In the meantime, we can disguise Steck conceal the nature of her
gender, at any rate so we won't upset the rest of the village. I want you to
swear you won't tell what's happened here tonight, till after I'm gone."
"You have to swear on the Patriarch's Hand," Teggeree added.
Cappie rose to her feet. "Why should I?"
"Cappie!" That was me, shocked. People didn't talk like that to our mayor.
But Cappie gave me a dark look and turned back to glare at Rashid and
Teggeree. "I'm only a foolish woman," she said in precise tones, "but perhaps
you might humor me."
The mayor's jaw dropped open. He stared at her, then let go of Rashid and
craned his neck toward the open hall door, where Leeta stood amidst the
Elders. Leeta took a shy step forward, lowered her eyes, and mumbled toward
the ground, "I've invited Cappie to become the next Mocking Priestess."
"It seems to me," Cappie said loudly, "that if the council has good reason to
permit strangers to observe Commitment Day the most central event in our lives
and the thing that makes us unique from everyone else on Earth it seems to me
if the council has good reason for this decision, there's no need to keep it
secret from other Tobers. If it's the right thing to do, everyone will agree
when you explain. They'll say, 'Yes, it's a good thing you're allowing a Neut
to mingle with our children. It's a good thing you've welcomed ascientist.' "
"Rashid is more than a scientist," Leeta sighed. "He'sthe scientist. King of
all other scientists on Earth. He's the Knowledge-Lord of Spark."
SEVEN
An Oath for the Patriarch's Man
Leeta's news set me back a pace. As far as I knew, we'd never had a Spark
Lord within a hundred klicks of Tober Cove. Spark law only allows fourteen
Lords at most, and an average generation has just five or six way too few to
visit every little village on Earth. On top of that, the Lords are too busy to
worry about peaceful places like our cove, because they spend their lives
stopping wars and fighting demons in more complicated parts of the planet.
Between battles, they have their hands full with other important work, making
medicines, organizing food shipments in time of famine, and leaning on
provincial Governors who get too uppity for the good of their people.
Tober Cove had never had the sort of trouble that warrants a Spark Lord's
attention. It made me wonder what kind of mess we were in, to get the
Knowledge-Lord now. But at least I knew why the Elders had welcomed Rashid
with open arms. All the stories about the Sparks drive one message home: they
get their way in the end, so you might as well give in right off.
I wasn't the only one unsettled by a Spark in our midst. Cappie's stern
expression wilted and she whipped away to face out into the dark. Anyone would
feel crestfallen to deliver her first homily as Mocking Priestess, then have
it swept aside by the intervention of a Lord; still, I fussed that Cappie had
just put me into that toss-up situation all men hate. Was I supposed to go
over and say comforting there-there's? Or should I leave her alone till she'd
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recovered from the disappointment?
Leaving her alone finally won out. If I tried to comfort her and she pushed
me away, I'd be embarrassed in front of important people.
"All right," I said, pretending to ignore Cappie's sulk, "we'll swear not to
tell anybody about tonight... at least till Lord Rashid leaves the cove."
"Then let's finish this," yawned one of the Elders Vaygon the Seedster.
"We're losing sleep here."
People chuckled. Vaygon had a reputation for sleeping twenty-two hours a day.
Any time you ventured into the seed storehouse, you'd find him sprawled across
burlap bags of wheat and corn, snoring as loud as a sow. Someone (maybe his
wife Veen) had spread the rumor it was good luck to have Vaygon sleep on your
seed. People would bring all kinds of unlikely things for him to use as
pillows sacks of potatoes, vines of hops, even bundles of cuttings from apple
trees all in the hope that a night under Vaygon's head would make the plants
flourish. A normal man might find it a challenge to sleep on apple branches,
but Vaygon was a master at his trade. If we didn't let him get back to bed,
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