"Gray, Julia - Guardian 03 - The Crystal Desert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

Terrel sighed with relief.
'Thank you.'
'Thank Ghadira,' the matriarch said, smiling. 'She's the one who's been watching over you.'
Terrel remembered the girl now. She was Algardi and Bubaqra's eldest granddaughter. She was exactly the same age as Zahir, even though he was her uncle.
'Thank you.'
'I was glad to help,' Ghadira told him, with a cheeky grin. 'I might get burnt myself one day, and then you can look after me.'
'Stop flirting, girl,' Algardi admonished her. 'And go and fetch some food for our guest.'
Flirting? Terrel thought in bewilderment. With me? What was the old man talking about? The elder's words had been spoken in a good-natured, teasing tone, but Terrel fought hard to suppress a blush - which of course only made matters worse - and he couldn't help noticing that Ghadira was still smiling as she went to obey her grandfather's command.
'How long have I been asleep?' Terrel asked.
'Several hours,' Bubaqra replied. 'Whatever you did obviously exhausted you. It's close to dusk now.'
'In view of the circumstances,' Algardi added, 'we thought it best to delay our departure. We'll leave at first light tomorrow.'
'What about the Shiban?'
'We have look-outs posted, just in case, but I don't think we'll see anything of them for a good while yet.'
'Do you feel up to telling us what happened?' Bubaqra asked.
'I'm not sure I can,' Terrel replied, wondering just how much he should tell them. But he was saved from having to say any more when Ghadira returned with a wooden plate of curds and bread, and a cup of water. He accepted them gratefully, trying not to meet her gaze. After taking a long draught of water, he began to eat, and realized that he was very hungry. Having his mouth full had the added advantage of making it impossible for him to speak.
'You're the only one who can explain today's events,' Algardi pointed out. 'Tell us what you can, when you're ready.'
'Mlicki was beside himself when Kalkara came back like that,' Bubaqra added, watching with approval as Terrel ate. 'And no one knew where you were. Then someone remembered seeing the two of you go off together, so a few of the boys went to look for you. What were you doing out there in the first place?'
Terrel swallowed his latest mouthful.
'Didn't Zahir tell you?'
'Our youngest son is prone to exaggeration,' she stated dryly. 'We'd like to hear it from you.'
Terrel hesitated. He was aware that although some of the bustle inside the tent had started up again, it was quieter than it had been before, and many of its occupants were probably trying to listen to the conversation.
'Kala took me to see some animals,' he said eventually. 'They're called djerboas, I think.' As he went on to tell them about the strange, almost comical dance, the tent became quieter still, but Terrel found that he was now ready - even eager - to talk. This part of the story was relatively straightforward, and he wanted some information from his listeners in return. 'What's so special about what we saw?' he asked, once he'd finished his description.
'There are many legends connected to the djerboas' dance,' Algardi told him, 'but nothing that would explain Kalkara's plight. Generally witnessing it is thought to be a good omen.'
'For a woman it means she will be blessed with many healthy children,' Bubaqra explained.
'For a man,' Algardi went on, 'it means good fortune. "Full wells and many camels", as the saying goes.'
'And for a man and a woman to see it together means they're each other's true love,' Ghadira added, keeping a straight face for once, but raising her eyebrows in a silent question.
'Our granddaughter has a romantic nature,' Bubaqra said fondly, 'which probably explains her almost complete lack of common sense.'
Ghadira pretended to take umbrage at this remark, but a moment later her smile was back.
'These are only examples,' Algardi said hurriedly. 'There are all sorts of ridiculous tales.'
'But why is it so remarkable?' Terrel asked. 'Anyone could have gone to watch their burrow.'
'Djerboas are usually nocturnal creatures,' the elder explained. 'It's rare to see them in daylight, and even more surprising to see them in the morning. And it's said that each clan only dances like that once every three years, so the chances of anyone witnessing it are very slim.'
Terrel nodded. Now that he understood the nomads' reaction, he wondered whether Kala had just been lucky - or whether she had somehow known what was going to take place. But in the end that didn't really matter, and he was still left with the problem of what had happened next.
'But none of the stories mentions fire of any kind,'
Algardi went on, 'so we still don't understand how Kalkara came to be burnt.'
'Nor does it explain how you healed her so completely,' his wife added. 'We were hoping you could enlighten us.'
'I'm not sure I understand it myself.' Terrel knew that in a sense Kala had brought the injuries upon herself - but he couldn't really tell them that. In any case, he had no idea why she had imagined the flames. So what was he supposed to tell them? 'I didn't even know there was anything wrong at the time,' he said eventually. 'It was only when I was trying to heal her that part of what happened became clear.' He paused again, deciding to stay as close to the truth as he could. 'Kalkara did see a fire, but it was an hallucination, a mirage. There weren't any flames, but she thought there were. To her they were real, and that was enough to cause the burns. I didn't really heal her at all. I just had to convince her that the flames hadn't been real, and then she was all right again. In a sense, she had never been burnt.' He looked back and forth between the elder and his wife, wondering whether they would accept his version of events.
'A mirage, you say?' Algardi said after a short silence.
'I don't know how else to describe it.'
'We've all seen plenty of mirages in the heat of summer,' the old man commented, 'but I've never known one to have that sort of effect.'
'Kalkara is a singular girl in many ways, dearest,' Bubaqra said. 'Who knows what goes on inside that pretty head of hers?'
'And she's not likely to tell us, is she?' Ghadira remarked.
'How did you convince her the flames weren't real?' Algardi enquired thoughtfully.
'I ... I just pointed out that I'd been there too, and I wasn't burnt,' Terrel improvised.
The old man nodded, apparently satisfied.
Terrel was left in peace then to rest again, but once he was alone with his own thoughts he knew that sleep would be a long time coming. Various ideas had occurred to him - none of which were pleasant - and even though he knew he'd have to face them eventually, he was trying to put that moment off for as long as possible. He told himself this was because he was tired, and not because he was a coward, but the argument didn't even come close to being convincing.
To try to take his mind off his troubling thoughts, Terrel watched the bustle within the tent. Although there were several children of both sexes inside the dwelling, most of the adults present were women. When Terrel had first come to live with the Toma, all but the youngest and oldest females had worn veils over the lower part of their faces. He had assumed that this was simply part of their normal attire, perhaps designed to protect them from the rays of the sun, which could be fierce even in the cooler seasons. Later he had realized that the coverings were being worn because there was a stranger in their midst - himself. He had found that odd, and it had made him feel uncomfortable - especially as some of the women also seemed reluctant to talk to him. Even if he discounted Alyssa's intermittent presence, it was undeniable that women - especially Ysatel and Esera - had become his closest friends during his travels. To find his newest acquaintances hidden away, as if he were a potential danger to them, seemed unnatural. However, after only a few days, when it became clear that he had been accepted as an honorary member of the clan, the veils were put aside and all reticence had since disappeared. The fact that the women in Algardi's tent were all more or less ignoring his presence, and going about their business as normal, made him feel almost like one of the family.
Some of them were busy mending the woven curtains that divided the interior of the tent and allowed a certain measure of privacy. Others were sewing saddlebags and cushions. One of the older aunts was telling stories to a group of small children, while several of the older girls, including Ghadira, were preparing food. However, most of the activity - as well as laughter and a good deal of ribald banter - was centred on a young wife who had recently produced the newest member of the clan. Her son had been born four days earlier and, much to Terrel's relief, it had been an uncomplicated delivery which had not required any assistance from him. The baby was currently being washed in camel urine before being rubbed with salt. He would suffer this indignity every evening for the first sixteen days of his life - half a cycle of the White Moon - and he was clearly enjoying the attention of so many of his relatives, if not the process itself. When Terrel had asked the purpose of this apparently disgusting ritual, he'd been told that it would protect the child against infection while he was at his most vulnerable. It seemed an unlikely theory, but it appeared to be working because the baby was indeed thriving.
Algardi's family - and the Toma as a whole - seemed to be able to function as a close-knit team in conditions that would normally produce a great deal of friction, and Terrel could not help but admire them for it. His own experiences of being part of a family had only come when he'd been forced into exile - and even then most of what he'd learnt had done little to counteract the cynicism he harboured as a result of having been abandoned at birth. Even when he'd seemed to become part of an apparently stable household, something had always happened to undermine the hopeful beginnings of his newly acquired faith. He could only hope that the same thing would not happen here.
Terrel was keenly aware that, to some extent at least, his own presence had been responsible for the problems he'd encountered - and that, inevitably, led him back to wondering about his role within the tribe and, in particular, to the disturbing events of the morning.
His joy at Alyssa's return had been at least partially overshadowed by what had happened to Kalkara. He had convinced himself - and subsequently Kala too - that Alyssa had meant her no harm, but how could he be absolutely sure that was true? Was it possible that Alyssa had somehow been antagonistic towards the little girl? And if she was, could that have contributed to what Kala saw - or thought she saw? Terrel still refused to believe that Alyssa would have hurt the child deliberately, but what if she had done so inadvertently, by displaying an antipathy that Kala had mistaken for something much worse? Who was she? Alyssa had asked, and Terrel tried to remember the tone of her voice. She had sounded both curious and dismissive when she'd commented about Kalkara having 'flames in her eyes', but that didn't prove