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

front of their shack. Cleis was not there. Probably at the site. No matter
. Jane took her time unloading the supplies, nervous about seeing
Cleis again.
Then there was nothing left to do; she had even washed the
enamel plates that had been lying on the tableтАФthe same plates she
and Cleis had eaten from the night before she had left for Benque
Viejo. She tried not to worry. Cleis had probably been eating
straight from a can, too busy to take the time to prepare anything.
She checked the shack one last time, then set off for the ruins.
The waterfall fell peacefully, a flock of black-and-orange
orioles wheeled about the crown of a tree at the edge of the
clearing, but there was no Cleis.
тАЬCleis!тАЭ The call echoed back, and Jane remembered the last
time she had called to Cleis here. Had something else happened,
something worse?
She ran through the ruins, calling, ducking in and out of
half-excavated buildings. Nothing. Maybe she was at the village,
talking to Ixbalum.
Two women stood at the well, a man plucked a chicken on his
doorstep. They looked up when Jane ran into the clearing. тАЬCleis?тАЭ
she asked. They frowned. тАЬCleis?тАЭ she asked again, pantomiming
curls falling from her head. тАЬAh,тАЭ they said, and shook their heads.
Jane ran to IxbalumтАЩs hut. The door was closed. She banged
on it with her fist. No reply. She banged again, then pushed her
way in.
Without the candles, the hut was cool and dark. There was no
one there. Jane brushed aside bunches of herbs on her way back to
the door, then turned around again and plucked a leaf from each
bundle. She could look at them later, see if any matched the ritual
leaf on the glyphs.
She was just putting them in her pocket when Ixbalum came
in.
The Mayan woman stood there with her arms folded, looking
at Jane, looking at the floor where one leaf lay in the dirt. Jane
picked it up and put it in her pocket with the others. This woman
had already seen her naked, and drunk, and she was too concerned
for Cleis to feel any shame at being found in IxbalumтАЩs hut. тАЬI
want to know where Cleis is.тАЭ
 Ixbalum said nothing. Jane could feel herself being studied.
This time she did not cringe.
тАЬIf you know where she is, I want to know. SheтАЩs pregnant,
and I think that fall was more of a shock then she knows. I want to
take her away from here.тАЭ Do I? тАЬIтАЩm asking for your help.тАЭ
Ixbalum moved so suddenly that Jane thought she was going
to strike her, but Ixbalum reached up past JaneтАЩs left ear and drew a
leaf from one of the bunches. She held it out to Jane.
тАЬI donтАЩt understand.тАЭ But she did.
Ixbalum shook the leaf in front of JaneтАЩs face. The message
was unmistakable: Take it. Jane did. Ixbalum nodded, very slightly,
then made a Go now gesture and turned her back.