"Hearn,.Lian.-.Otori.03.-.Brilliance.Of.The.Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hearn Lian)

and sickles. I recognized some of them: they were farmers from the nearest
village. The warrior at the rear made a rush at them, sword flailing, and they
fell back slightly but did not disperse, maintaining their threatening stance in
a tight half circle.
The leader of the horsemen flung a look of contempt at them and then called
toward the gate in a loud voice.
УI am Fuwa Dosan of the Otori clan from Hagi. I bring a message from my lords
Shoichi and Masahiro for the upstart who calls himself Otori Takeo.Ф
Makoto called back, УIf you are peaceful messengers, dismount and leave your
swords. The gates will be opened.Ф
I already knew what their message would be. I could feel blind fury building up
behind my eyes.
УThereТs no need for that,Ф Fuwa replied scornfully. УOur message is short. Tell
the so-called Takeo that the Otori do not recognize his claims and that this is
how they will deal with him and any who follow him.Ф
The man alongside him dropped the reins on his horseТs neck and opened the
container. From it he took what I dreaded to see. Holding it by its topknot, he
swung his arm and threw IchiroТs head over the wall into the temple grounds.
It fell with a slight thud onto the petaled grass of the garden.
I drew my sword, Jato, from my belt.
УOpen the gate!Ф I shouted. УI am going out to them.Ф
I leaped down the steps, Makoto behind me.
As the gates opened, the Otori warriors turned their horses and drove them at
the wall of men around them, swords sweeping. I imagine they thought the farmers
would not dare attack them. Even I was astonished at what happened next. Instead
of parting to let them through, the men on foot hurled themselves at the horses.
Two of the farmers died immediately, cut in half by the warriorsТ swords, but
then the first horse came down, and its rider fell into the pack around him. The
others met a similar fate. They had no chance to use their swordsmanship: They
were dragged from their horses and beaten to death like dogs.
Makoto and I tried to restrain the farmers and eventually managed to drive them
back from the bodies. We restored calm only by severing the warriorsТ heads and
having them displayed on the temple gates. The unruly army threw insults at them
for a while and then retired down the hill, promising in loud voices that if any
other strangers dared approach the temple and insult Lord Otori Takeo, the Angel
of Yamagata, they would be dealt with in the same way.
Makoto was shaking with rageЧand some other emotion that he wanted to talk to me
aboutЧbut I did not have the time then. I went back inside the walls. Kaede had
brought white cloths and water in a wooden bowl. She was kneeling on the ground
beneath the cherry trees, calmly washing the head. Its skin was blue-gray, the
eyes half-closed, the neck not severed cleanly but hacked with several blows.
Yet, she handled it gently, with loving care, as if it were a precious and
beautiful object.
I knelt beside her, put out my hand, and touched the hair. It was streaked with
gray, but the face in death looked younger than when I had last seen it, when
Ichiro was alive in the house in Hagi, grieving and haunted by ghosts yet still
willing to show me affection and guidance.
УWho is it?Ф Kaede said in a low voice.
УIchiro. He was my teacher in Hagi. ShigeruТs too.Ф
My heart was too full to say more. I blinked away my tears. The memory of our