"Gray, Julia - Guardian 04 - The Red Glacier" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gray Julia)

'And do you?'
'Ah, now that would be telling,' Kjolur replied with a smile. 'You have to allow me a few trade secrets.'
'I'm sorry. Curiosity is one of my vices.'
'What are the others?' the islander asked, still looking amused.
'Now you have to allow me some secrets,' Terrel said, grinning back.
'Tell me, as you've never been to Myvatan before, how do you know about Savik's Whale?'
Coming so soon after their good-natured exchange, the question sounded abrupt, and it caught Terrel off-guard. He began to suspect that this was exactly what Kjolur had intended.
'I didn't know it was called that,' he said, stalling for time so that he could collect his thoughts.
'Savik is the god of stone and earth,' the islander explained. 'Who else could have carved a life-size whale from a granite cliff? You haven't answered my question, though.'
'I saw it in a dream.' Terrel's honesty was instinctive. There had been times in the past when he'd had to disguise his real motives Ч as much to avoid ridicule as for any other more sinister reason Ч and he had come to recognize that
deception or dissembling were sometimes necessary. On this occasion, however, he saw no reason to lie. And he had learnt from experience that telling the truth whenever possible caused fewer complications later on.
'Are you a seer yourself, then?'
'No, not really. But dreams are sometimes meant to show us things.'
'I wouldn't argue with that,' Kjolur said, surprising Terrel again. 'Still, what makes you so sure you want to go ashore there?'
This question was not as easy to answer. The truth was that once Terrel and the ghosts had determined that there might be another of the elementals on Myvatan, Shahan and Muzeni had returned to their study of the Tindaya Code and discovered a passage referring to 'a land ice-carved and sea-girt'. The same section of the ancient inscriptions also described an ocean voyage that would end by alighting 'where the rockbound giant of the sea guards the gateway to a forbidden realm'. When Terrel had seen the sculpture in his dream, and confirmed its existence in the real world, he'd been in no doubt that this was his intended destination. Explaining all that to Kjolur would be much too complicated, though. He needed something simpler.
'I have a task to do here,' he said. 'And that's the starting point.'
'What is your task?'
'I don't know yet.'
'Then perhaps you need to dream some more.'
Terrel wasn't sure whether Kjolur was being serious or sarcastic. Not knowing how to respond, he glanced up and saw the Amber Moon, two thirds full and waxing. Against the azure of the midday sky it looked like a coin of pale gold.
'Which moon do you follow?'
Once again the conversation's sudden turn disconcerted Terrel, and he sensed that the question was important. Ostan had asked the same thing but hadn't waited for an answer. Kjolur, he knew, would be more patient.
'All of them,' he replied eventually.
'All ofЧ!' the islander exclaimed, apparently caught off-guard for the first time. Then he was silent again.
'Did I say something wrong?' Terrel asked.
'I don't think you understood my question. We all fall under the influence of a particular moon. It decides our allegiances, our place, our whole lives. There must be one - just one - for you. Which is it?'
Terrel was aware that he was on dangerous ground now. More might depend on his answer than he realized. Yet he obviously had to say something. He followed his nature once more, thinking it better to suffer the consequences of the truth rather than a lie.
'The Dark Moon, I suppose.' It had always been the one he felt a strong connection to.
'Black, then,' Kjolur said. 'That makes sense.' He seemed relieved. 'We should be natural allies, at least.' He unbuttoned and lifted an epaulet on the shoulder of his coat. Underneath was a small circular patch of red cloth.
'So the red and black are allies?' Terrel queried. 'In the war?'
Kjolur looked startled.
'Surely you know that much,' he said.
Terrel shook his head.
'Tell me.'
Over the next half an hour, Terrel learnt more about Myvatan than he had in all his previous conversations put together. And almost all of it was unpleasant.
'Akranes is in the Red Quarter, of course,' the islander
concluded. 'I wouldn't be on board if we weren't heading for one of our ports. You'll find a welcome there if you can't persuade Ostan to take you to Whale Ness.'
'Which quarter is that in?' Terrel asked.
'Theoretically it's in the Black, which would be good for you, but ownership of the headland is disputed, which is why it's a forbidden zone. You still want to risk landing there?'
After what he'd been told, Terrel's doubts were growing. But then he remembered the words from the Tindaya Code and knew he had no choice.
'Yes,' he said. 'If Ostan will give me a chance.'
Kjolur looked thoughtful.
'Do you think you could persuade him for me?' Terrel ventured.
'I don't think my word counts for much with the captain,' the merchant said apologetically.
'More than mine, at a guess,' Terrel muttered.
'I wish you well, though,' Kjolur added. 'Every man must follow his own path, no matter where it leads.'
Increasing cloud cover and a lack of strong moonlight made that night darker than usual, but Terrel was fascinated to see patches of almost luminous colour Ч white with traces of pale green Ч floating upon the waves around the ship. He eventually realized that they were chunks of ice, and the discovery made him shiver in spite of his warm clothing.
As he went below decks to try to get some sleep, he wondered whether Kjolur might really prove to be an ally in his quest. The merchant was difficult to read. Terrel still didn't know whether the islander had believed his own answers, nor did he know whether everything he had been told was true. Had Kjolur's version of events been the whole story?
Terrel continued brooding once he was settled in his gently swaying hammock. Just before he fell asleep, it occurred to him that although he had been told quite a lot about Myvatan, and had in turn revealed a good deal about himself, he had learnt almost nothing about the merchant -or his trade. Had they both been hiding things from each other?
Chapter Four