"Robin Hobb - The Inheritance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

remained her own, and we left Bingtown, walking away in the dimness
while her friends were at dinner. She did not even bid them goodbye.
She felt she had lost all standing with them and could never be seen as
anything but a fool.тАЩ
I felt ill, dizzied with the dirty little story. It twisted my memories
of the gentle old woman I had tended for the last two years. I had
believed her contained and stoic. I had deemed it strength, that she had
endured my grandfatherтАЩs harsh ways, and tolerated the disrespect of




13
her step-son. Now it seemed something else. The implacable little voice
went on.
тАШShe left Bingtown. Just walked away. She said she did not care
what became of her, just so long as she could escape everyone telling
her she should confront Howarth. She came to the countryside, and
floundered through work as an inn-maid until she married a man she
did not love, to tend his son and bear him a daughter. Shortly after
your mother was born, she set me aside, for I was the final reminder of
the life she had abandoned.тАЩ The tiny face pressed its lips together in a
flat line. тАШI begged her to listen to me, even as she wrapped me in linen.
I could not stand to see her raise her daughter in submission to her
brutish father and that loutish boy of his. She should have her
birthright, I said. I told her it was not too late to go back and reclaim
her inheritance. But she muffled my voice and shut me away.тАЩ
I thought of all the years the pendant had waited in the box.
тАШWhy did you tell me this?тАЩ I asked it in a low voice.
For the first time, a question seemed to give the pendant pause.
It lifted its brows as if amazed I did not know. тАШBecause she lives on in
me, as do all the women of your line who have worn me. And I would
see things set right. I would see you regain what is rightfully yours.тАЩ
Rightfully mine. The concept seemed almost foreign. It frightened
me. тАШBut how? I have no proof, I do not know him, if Howarth still lives
and -тАЩ
тАШHush. I will guide you. You have the empty ring on your hand
and me at your throat. You need no more than this.тАЩ
My head so whirled with stories, I do not know how I slept that
night. But I woke, still clutching the wizardwood pendant in my hand.
Stiff in every joint, I rose, and donned the silver necklace and made my
way to Bingtown.
In the next few weeks, the pendant became my guide. My ears
swiftly became attuned to its soft whisper. The advice it gave me was
difficult to follow, and yet when I listened to it, I found that my life
progressed. In Bingtown, I sought and found a position caring for an


14
elderly Trader woman. The food at Trader RedofтАЩs table was better than