"Nicola Griffith - Yaguara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Griffith Nicola)

into the pool and dived underwater.
Jane watched the ripples. She knew she could not swim naked
in that pool. Not today. But she could, at least, get drunk.


The sun was sinking when she woke. She sat up, and her head
thumped. There were mosquito bites on her legs and one already
swelling on her left breast. She looked around. CleisтАЩs clothes were
gone.
She knelt down and splashed her face with water, trying to
think. Beer bottles clinked. She gathered them up, then felt foolish
and put them down; counted them. Twelve. And Cleis had had
three, four at most. She swayed and realized that she was still
drunk. But she never got drunk.
тАЬCleis!тАЭ She climbed carefully up the western slope to the
purdah house. тАЬCleis!тАЭ She listened, walked south toward the
glyph-covered walls, stopped. She heard something, a vague
scrabbling coming from the tumbled remains of a masonry wall.
Cleis was half lying, half sitting against a stack of newly fallen
stone. Her left arm hung useless and bloody. She was swearing,
very quietly, and trying to push herself upright.
тАЬCleis?тАЭ
Cleis smiled lopsidedly. тАЬFucking thing.тАЭ She sounded
cheerful. Shock, Jane decided.
Jane peered at her eyes. They were glassy. тАЬDo you hurt
anywhere except your shoulder?тАЭ
тАЬShoulder?тАЭ Cleis looked at it. тАЬOh.тАЭ
тАЬYes. Do you hurt anywhere else? Did you fall, bang your
head?тАЭ CleisтАЩs left arm was broken by the looks of it, and the
gashes on her shoulder would need stiches. There was no sign of a
head injury, but you could not be too careful.
тАЬтАж fucking thing knocked the wall down on purpose. Kill
that fucking thingтАжтАЭ
It was getting dark. She needed to get Cleis to a safe place.
First she needed to make a sling.
She touched the buttons of her shirt, hesitated. Does it matter?
Oh, yes, it still mattered. But there was no real choice. She
shivered, despite the heat, then wrenched it off, trying not to
imagine a grainy telephoto image of her breasts appearing on
newsstands around the country. She draped the shirt around CleisтАЩs
neck, tied the sleeves together. тАЬHelp me, damn it.тАЭ But Cleis was
lost in a world of shock and pain. Jane thrust the arm into the
support.
Later, Jane never really knew how she managed to get them
both back down the trail safely. She womanhandled Cleis out of the
rubble and laid her on the smooth grass. Cleis was too heavy to
carry far, Jane could not drag her by the armsтАж She took off her
belt, slid the leather tongue under the small of CleisтАЩs back, under
and around CleisтАЩs belt, then threaded it through the buckle.
Tugged. It should hold.