"Leaving Dohru by Jonathan L Fesmire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fesmire Jonathan L)

Leaving Dohru
by Jonathan L. Fesmire

Garum plunged into the frigid river, certain they would die. He pulled against the rope binding his wrists; the stones dragged him quickly deeper.

_Think!_ said Vayin's voice in his mind. _You know how to untie the knot!_

Garum could almost stand the thought of dying alone, but he was a dual. If he did not try to survive, Vayin, the other within him, would die, too. The water pressed against him. He shook in agony. There was too little time.

Garum hit the river bottom on his back. Moonlight filtered hazily through the water's dark speckles, but he could not see the bridge from which the villagers had thrown him. Garum shook his head, jerking forward with a strong urge to exhale.

_Don't! Garum, you have to untie the rope!_

He felt Vayin lending him her mental strength, and the pain in his chest suddenly receded. Eyes shut, Garum arched his hand back toward the knot. One finger brushed against it, but could not secure a good hold. In frustration he struggled again, thinking about the unattainable air above. He slid slightly downward, then tried reaching for the knot again.

The pain in his chest leaped back into him; before he could resist, he released the air and inhaled.

_No!_

As Vayin's voice echoed in his mind, he grew still, waiting for a sign that they had died. Instead, he found himself breathing.

No bubbles rose, but he felt fresh air running through his mouth, into his lungs.

_What is that against your hand?_ came Vayin's thought.

_What? Oh._ Garum rubbed his fingers against something hard, with a smooth protrusion. He still dared not move. Perhaps what he touched magically supplied him with air. _What is that?_ he thought. He gently turned his hand, making sure he constantly touched the lump. He opened his eyes wider.

_It's a ring! And -- and this . . ._ He gently felt the small, soft limb.

_I know. A finger. Remove the ring, and put it on._

Garum worked it downward, off the bone, which still felt strongly attached to the hand. Surely they had found a fresh corpse. He slipped the ring on his left pinkie. _Vayin, how do you think this person died? With this ring, he should have survived. And it seems he must have had a reason for being down here, or why wear the ring?_

With enough air, Garum took his time to untie their bonds. He removed the rope from his hands, and then unbound his legs. Parts of words and phrases played in the back of his mind in Vayin's voice as she thought.

In the gloom, he touched the body's hard skull, then patted lower. Underneath clothing, he felt the softer mass of muscle and rope around the wrists, with stones interlaced, the same as his.

_Another lynching? The whole town came to see our execution, but this . . ._

_Looks like a private execution. He couldn't untie the knots, even with enough air. He must have starved._

_Or . . . died from lack of water._ Garum shivered at the irony.

_Aseris raised the whole town against us, Garum. What if he killed this person, too, but in secret?_

Garum felt the body again. Now he could see the flora a bit more clearly, waving with the river's flow. The victim's clothing lifted lightly from the body. Garum patted the legs, and moved up to the torso. He felt something hard, like metal, on the chest above a soft mass. _Is that -- _

_Yes. You're my other half; you should know just as well. It's a woman._

Garum lifted the metal object and felt the thin chain running behind the neck. He lifted the head, and removed the necklace.