"Cooper, Susan - Dark is Rising 04 - The Grey King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cooper Susan)

The Grey King
The Pleasant Lake
The Warestone
The Cottage on the Moor
The Waking

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\bPrologue\b

'Are you awake, Will? Will? Wake up, it's time for your medicine, love...'

The face swung like a pendulum to and fro; rose high up in a pink blur; dropped again; divided into six pink blurs, all of them spinning madly like wheels. He closed his eyes. He could feel sweat cold on his forehead, panic cold in his mind. I've lost it. I've forgotten! Even in darkness the world spun round. There was a great buzzing in his head like rushing water, until for a moment the voice broke through it again.

'Will! Just for a moment, wake up...'

It was his mother's voice. He knew, but could not focus. The darkness whirled and roared. \iI've lost something. It's gone. What was it? It was terribly important, I must
remember it, I must!\i. He began to struggle, reaching for consciousness, and a long way off heard himself groan.

'Here we go.' Another voice. The doctor. A firm arm, propping his shoulders; cold metal at his lips, a liquid tipped deftly down his throat. Automatically he swallowed. The world wildly spun. Panic came flooding again. A few faint words flashed through his mind and away like a snatch of music; his memory clutched, grasping - \i'On the day of the dead\i -'

Mrs Stanton stared down anxiously at the white face, the dark-smudged closed eyes, the damp hair. 'What did he say?'

Suddenly Will sat upright, eyes wide and staring. \i'On the day of the dead\i -' He looked at her, pleading, without recognition, "That's all I can remember! It's gone! There was something I had to remember, a thing I had to do, it mattered more than anything and I've lost it! I've forgotten -' His face crumpled and he dropped back helplessly, tears running down his cheeks. His mother leaned over him, her arms round him, murmuring soothingly as if he were a baby. In a few moments he began to relax, and to breathe more easily. She looked up in distress.

'Is he delirious?'

The doctor shook his head, his round face compassionate. 'No, he's past that. Physically, the worst is over. This is more like a bad dream, an hallucination - though he may indeed have lost something from his memory. The mind can be very much bound up with the health of the body, even in children... Don't worry. He'll sleep now. And every day will be better from now on.'

Mrs Stanton sighed, stroking her youngest son's damp forehead. 'I'm very grateful. You've come so often - there aren't many doctors who -'

'Poof, poof,' said little Dr Armstrong briskly, taking Will's wrist between finger and thumb. 'We're all old friends. He was a very, very sick boy for a while. Going to be limp for a long time, too - even youngsters don't bounce back from this kind of thing very fast. I'll be back, Alice. But anyway, bed for at least another week, and no school for a month after that. Can you send him away somewhere? What about that cousin of yours in Wales, who took Mary at Easter?'

'Yes, he could go there. I'm sure he could. It's nice in October, too, and the sea air... I'll write to them.'

Will moved his head on the pillow, muttering, but did not wake.



\bPart One: The Golden Harp
The Oldest Hills\b

He remembered Mary had said, 'They all speak Welsh, most of the time. Even Aunt Jen.'

'Oh, dear,' said Will.

'Don't worry,' his sister said. 'Sooner or later they switch to English, if they see you're there. Just remember to be patient. And they'll be extra kind because of your having been ill. At least they, were to me, after my mumps.'

So now Will stood patiently alone on the windy grey platform of the small station of Tywyn, in a thin drizzle of October rain waiting while two men in the navy-blue railway uniform argued earnestly in Welsh. One of them was small and wizened, gnome-like; the other had a soft, squashy look, like a man made of dough.