Dragon Quest

Начало книги

Just as it always did in my dreams, dappled sunlight played over my face from the thin trees around me, and their branches sighed with the rising Sousa winds of the Plains.

Good, I thought. The sound of the breeze would hide my approach, and I took a careful step out from the straggly copse, towards where the tall grasses—like a blanket of gold and yellow—started.

My short bow was in my hands, and at my hip was my knife. I had everything I needed to complete the hunt…

There. A flicker of movement from the tall stalks. It went against the flow of the Sousa, I registered. My quarry was in there, trying to remain hidden. I crouched, trying to ease the excited hammer of my heart. My first solo hunt! If I could complete this—then everyone at the village could see that I was ready to start my responsibilities as the Imanu’s daughter. My mother would start teaching me the more complicated stories of the Daza, the tales that only the wise women and elders called the Imanu would share with each other. I would learn the true names and properties of the Twelve Sisters—plants and herbs whose use was restricted.

Читать дальше →