"Robin Hobb - Liveship 2 - Mad Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

At an opportune moment, Sessurea wrapped Maulkin's lacerated body in his
own and snatched him from the midst of the enraged tangle. He fled with
Maulkin in his grasp, and Shreever was glad to break off the battle and follow
him. The others did not pursue them. In their poisoned frenzy, the other
tangle turned upon their comrades, roaring insults and challenges. Their cries
were rote sounds, uttered without sense as they tore and lashed. Shreever did
not look back.
Some time later, as Shreever smoothed healing slime from her own body onto
Maulkin's lacerated flesh, he spoke to her. "They have forgotten. They have
forgotten completely who and what they were. It has been too long, Shreever.
They have lost every shred of memory and purpose." He winced as she nudged a
flap of torn skin into place. She sealed a layer of mucus over it. "They are
what we will become."
"Hush," Shreever told him gently. "Hush. Rest." She twined her long body
more securely about him, anchored her tail against a rock to secure them from
the current. Entangled with them, Sessurea already slept. Or perhaps he was
merely silent and impassive, prey to the same discouragement that gnawed
Shreever. She hoped not. She had barely enough courage left to shore up her
own determination. Sessurea would have to rally himself.
Maulkin concerned her the most. Their encounter with the silver provider
had changed him. The other providers that moved within both the Lack and the
Plenty were merely sources of easy feeding. The silver one had been different.
Her scent had wakened memories in all of them, and they had pursued her,
certain that her fragrance must lead them to One Who Remembers. Instead, she
had not even been one of their own kind. Still hoping, they had called to her,
but she had not answered. To the white serpent who begged from her, she had
given flesh. Maulkin had turned aside from her, proclaiming that she could not
be One Who Remembers and they would follow her no longer. Yet, in the tides
since then, her scent had always been present. She might be out of sight, but
Shreever knew she was no more than a brief journey away. Maulkin still
followed her, and they still followed him.
Maulkin gave a dull groan and shifted in her grip. "I fear it is the last
time any of us will make this journey as anything more than beasts."
"What do you mean?" Sessurea demanded abruptly. He twisted awkwardly until
his eyes met theirs. His own injuries were many, though none were serious. A
deep score adjacent to one of his poison glands just behind his jaw hinge was
the worst. If it had penetrated, his own toxins would have killed him. Sheer
luck had kept their tangle intact.
"Search your memories," Maulkin commanded hollowly. "Search not just the
tides and the days, but the seasons and the years, back decades upon decades.
We have been here before, Sessurea. All the tangles have swarmed and migrated
to these waters, not just once but scores of times. We have come here to seek
those who remember, those few entrusted with the memories of all our kind. The
promise was clear. We were to gather. Our history would be restored to us, and
we would be led to a safe place for our transformation. There we would be
reborn. Nevertheless, scores of times, we have been disappointed. Time upon
time, we have swarmed, and waited. Each time, we eventually gave up our hopes,
forgot our purpose, and finally we returned to the warm southern waters. Each
time those of us who have a handful of memories have said, 'Perhaps we were
mistaken. Perhaps this was not the time, the season, and the year for the