"01 - The Lion of Farside" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

УLet me put a spell on you, and afterward IТll tell you. It will make it easier for both of us.Ф
I squirmed in my chair. УWill it take long? I thought maybe the two of us could go to bed early.Ф
She laughed, the same young-girl laugh IТd heard since I was a little boy. УIt wonТt take long. And itТs as good as an hourТs sleep anyway.Ф
It took me half a minute to say yes, but I knew right away IТd do it. I mean, IТd trusted her so far, and sheТd trusted me, and weТd bound ourselves together till death us do part. And what was I scared of? SheТd never do me any harm. Besides, it seemed to me sheТd spelled me that night sheТd taken me to her house, and that had worked out just fine. УOkay,Ф I told her, УIТll do it.Ф
УThank you, darling,Ф she said, and pulled her chair up closer. УNow look in my eyes.Ф
That was always easy to do, but this time was different. It was like they drew me right in, and I went limp, but after what seemed like ten, fifteen seconds I came back to normal again. УSorry it didnТt work,Ф I said, thinking sheТd be disappointed. But she laughed.
УLook at the clock.Ф
I looked, and my mouth must have dropped open. WeТd sat down at ten to eight, and now it was a quarter after. УWhat happened?Ф I asked.
УYou and I did what was necessary. Told your body not to get old; that itТs got the ylvin genes. And got you ready to start learning.Ф She came over and knelt down beside me, and kissed me sweeterТn honey. Old Junior started to swell up right away, and Varia began to purr. УDo you still want to go to bed early?Ф she asked me.
We both of us stood up then, her laughing, and off we went. I didnТt get to sleep by nine that night, but I felt fine when she woke me up at four. IТd been dreaming up a storm, and none the worse for it. Part of the dream was being a hundred years old and still young. Strange dream, but not near as strange as it would have been if I wasnТt married to Varia.
The next evening we did something different. She laid a lighter spell on me that left me awake but relaxed. Then she taught me to do what she called meditate. IТd always thought УmeditateФ meant to think about something, but this was different. She told me afterward she hadnТt thought itТd go that well, first time. The spell had helped, but she told me my breeding was showing itself. It turned out weТd sat like that, straight-backed in two kitchen chairs, for half an hour.
When we were done, she began telling me things. I listened, but I didnТt really believe. I mean, part of me said she wouldnТt lie to me about things like that, but what she told me was flat-out unbelievable. My great-great-grampa had come from her world, she said, where her Sisterhood was breeding up strains of people for special purposes, like we breed up hogs and cattle and horses. This was because they were always in danger from Уthe ylver,Ф who had a lot more power than the Sisterhood, and the only way her people could survive was to get stronger and smarter, and be better at magic.
Anyway, Great-great-grampa had been an experiment, and itТd worked real well. Except for one thing: he hadnТt wanted to do what they told him. He was to breed a lot of different sisters, but heТd fallen in love with one of them, and her with him, and he didnТt want to keep on living as a stud horse. So the boss sister took her away, sent her off somewhere.
To make a long story short, he ran off to the nearest gate and went through it into Kentucky, coming out in Muhlenberg County. Afraid of being followed and caught, he headed north and crossed the Ohio River into Indiana, where he got work deadening timber long enough to make a stake and get married. Then he went on north again to Washington County, where he homesteaded the land our familyТs worked ever since.
TheyТd bred up other studs besides him, but back in Yuulith whereТd heТd come from, his progeny proved out specially good, so they tracked him by following his trace in what Varia called the Web. That was something theyТd just learned to do; only a few knew how. Then they sent her to bear children by Will.
ThatТs what she told me, and knowing what I know now, I know itТs true.
Only now, she told me, it had all gone to waste. Most of the Sisters had been killed and the rest scattered. She didnТt know if any of her children were alive. The whole story seemed a little more real to me when she said that, from the way her eyes welled up. SheТd never seen her children beyond a couple weeks old, except in the pictures IТd found, but they were hers, all she had.

After that she spelled me often, and did drills with me, twenty or thirty minutes at a time. To open up my magical powers, she said. I told her thatТd be a waste of time, that I didnТt have any to open up, and anyway I didnТt want magical powers. I had my brain and my two hands and my muscles, and everything else I needed. She was magical enough for both of us.
She looked at me long and seriously. IТd never seen her more serious. УDarling,Ф she told me, Уyou do have them. They showed up more when you were little. Do you remember once when you were seven or eight, and you looked up at the corner of the ceiling, where IТd looked? Before Idri, my Evansville contact was my favorite sister, Liiset, and now and then sheТd look in on me. Something Idri couldnТt do.
УShe wasnТt there physically, but you sensed her spirit and translated it to her physical appearanceЧher face. You couldnТt have done any of that if you didnТt have the talent.Ф
I remembered, for the first time since that day. ItТd been too spooky. УSeems like IТve lost it since, though,Ф I said.
She shook her head. УHow did you find the pictures? How did you even know enough to look?Ф
УBut what if I donТt want magical powers?Ф I asked her.
She didnТt answer right away. Then she said, УIf you were blind, and didnТt entirely believe in sight, you might be uncomfortable if I said I wanted to open your eyes.Ф
I didnТt have anything to answer, so I nodded and told her fine, letТs do it. It would make her happy, and I figured she wouldnТt do something bad for me. My problem, I told myself, was I was scared of what I didnТt know. IТd been scared that night the transparent Varia took me home with her, too, and look how much IТd liked that after we got there! But I still felt uncomfortable about Уopening my magical powers.Ф

Over several weeks, I couldnТt see we were making any progress. Varia said it was a little like putting a pot of water on the stove to boil: You wait and wait, and nothing seems to be happening, and suddenly there it is boiling. I couldnТt help wondering, though, if maybe the wood in my firebox was piss elm, and wouldnТt burn.
One evening when weТd finished, her eyes didnТt have their usual steadiness, and I asked her if anything was wrong.
УNot with you,Ф she said.
УWith what, then?Ф
УI guess IТm just tired.Ф
УLooks like more than tired. Looks like worried.Ф
She smiled. УSee? Your powers are coming back. I was thinking about my children; all forty-one of them.Ф
Yeah, I thought to myself, maybe my powers are coming back, Тcause I can tell youТre lying to me. I really didnТt believe they were; just a look at her face told me. But I wasnТt going to badger her. УIТll have the plowing done tomorrow morning,Ф I said. УMaybe you and I ought to take the rest of the day off. Go in to Decatur and walk through the stores. Buy some ice cream, and celebrate. Maybe Morath will even divide my cows up between his daughters to milk in the evening, and we can blow twenty cents on a movie.Ф
She came over and kissed me, tears in her eyes. УCurtis, youТre so nice, I love you more than you know. If anything ever happens to me, I want you to remember that. Regardless of anything. And tomorrowЧtomorrow IТd love to go to Decatur with you when youТre done plowing.Ф
ThatТs Varia for you, always thinking, always trying to do the right thing. I still didnТt realize how well IТd married. A good good woman.

Anyway, when tomorrow got there, and IТd milked and had breakfast, her tune had changed. УBefore we blow any money on ice cream and a movie,Ф she said, Уthere are things I need to do to this house. Let the plowing wait till this afternoon.Ф She handed me a list. УI want you to get these things for me right now. I need to civilize this kitchen.Ф
I stared at her. She was standing there kind of like Ma did in front of Pa sometimes, when she didnТt want any argument. I looked at the list: red and white checkered oil cloth, paint, and eight or ten other things she had every right to want, or even have. But none of it seemed very important, and IТd have to chase all over town to get it. УOkay,Ф I grumped. IТd never been grumpy before with Varia; I didnТt even give her a kiss, sad to say. How many times I felt bad about that.
I went out to the truck, gave it a crank, and drove off to Decatur. It was almost noon when I got back. By that time IТd convinced myself sheТd gotten pregnant; IТd heard how women can get notional when theyТre pregnant. When I walked into the house, she wasnТt in the kitchen, and I felt a little pang. УHoney!Ф I called out, УIТm back! I got your stuff!Ф
She didnТt answer, and I got a sick feeling. Two weeks before, IТd have told myself I was scared sheТd gone off and left me because I hadnТt given her that kiss, but now I hardly glanced at the idea. It was something a lot worse. УMaybe sheТs out in the privy,Ф I muttered, but didnТt believe that either, not even enough to go out and call to her. Instead, somehow or other I went into the pantry, and there on the counter was some folded tablet paper held down by a stove-lid handle. I unfolded it and started reading, though somehow I knew what had happenedЧnot the details, but the main thing.
Sweet darling Curtis, the gate is going to open again soon, and they are coming to take me away, Idri and some men. The Sisterhood still exists. ItТs been butchered and forced to flee, but it still exists. Idri must have tracked me, and then gone back to Evansville for help.
I sensed them coming yesterday, and this morning I felt them again while I was cooking breakfast. TheyТll be here very soon. It wouldnТt do any good for us to run away. They would only follow. ThatТs why I sent you to town. IТm sure sheТs supposed to take us both, but sheТd find an excuse to kill you. I know her too well.
DonТt forget to take the money out of the honey jar. ItТs yours.
Darling, it hurts so much to leave you like this. But youТll get over it. It was beautiful to be your wife this short time. IТll remember you and love you forever.
Reading it, it was like IТd been there watching her write it, tears running down her face like mine were, and for a minute, when I was done, I felt helpless, like a wooden man. But only for a minute.

4: Conjure Woman
I stopped at MorathТs long enough to tell Miz Morath I wouldnТt be able to milk for them awhile. That my wifeТs relatives had come and stolen her away, and I was going after them. I left my team there; Morath could use them or rent them out, to pay for their keep. Then I headed south on Route 51, and before I got forty miles, the truck quit on me. I figured it was the carburetorЧIТd had trouble with it beforeЧbut fooling with it didnТt help, so I gave up and hiked on into Assumption, where I hired myself a tow. The fella at the garage there fussed with it awhile, and I ended up getting a new one put on. All in all, it cost me more than three hours. I didnТt know whether to swear or cry.