"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

lubo.тАЭ

His face and hands seemed to turn to ice, cold and numb and stiff. He looked up to find the room filled
with Wildfolk, staring at him solemnly, some wide-eyed, some sucking an anxious finger, some
gape-mouthed with terror.

тАЬEvil men did this, didnтАЩt they?тАЭ
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They nodded a yes. In the fire a towering golden flame leapt up, then died down to a vaguely human
face burning within the blaze.

тАЬHelp me,тАЭ Nevyn said to the Lord of Fire. тАЬI want to get that corpse outside in here, and then burn it
and this pitiful thing both. Then both souls can go to their rest.тАЭ

Sparksshowered in agreement.

Nevyn slipped the lead plate into his pocket, lest melting it cause Maryn some harm. He gathered his
gear and loaded up his mount, then untied the horse and led it about a quarter mile down the river, where
he tethered it out in safety. When he got back to the lodge, he found that the fire had already leapt from
the hearth to smolder in the woodpile. With the Wildfolk pulling as he pushed, Nevyn got the rotting log
that bore the corpse free of the ground and hauled it inside. He positioned the corpse and log as close to
the fire as possible, then laid the mutilated baby on the desecrated breast of the man whoтАЩd tried to save
it. Although he felt more like vomiting than ever, he forced himself calm and raised his hands over his
head to invoke the Great Ones.

тАЬTake them to their rest. Come to meet them when they go free.тАЭ

From the sky outside, booming around the lodge, came three great knocks like the claps of godly hands.
Nevyn began to shudder, and in the fire, the flames fell low in worship.



Even though Nevyn had asserted, and quite calmly, too, that there was no danger, none of the silver
daggers were inclined to believe him. After the men had tethered out the horses and eaten dinner,
Caradoc gave orders to scrounge all the dry wood they could find and build a couple of campfires.
Maddyn suspected that the captain was as troubled as any man there by this talk of a haunt and wanted
the light as badly, too.

тАЬFull watches tonight, lads,тАЭ Maddyn said. тАЬShall we draw straws?тАЭ

Instead, so many men volunteered that his only problem was sorting out who was going to stand when.
Once the first ring of guards was posted, some of the men rolled up in their blankets and went to
sleepтАФor at least pretended to in a fine show of bravadoтАФbut most sat near one fire or another,
keeping them going with sticks and bits of bark as devotedly as any priest ever tended a sacral flame.
After about an hour, Maddyn left the prince to CaradocтАЩs and OwaenтАЩs care at one of the fires and went
for a turn round the guards. Most were calm enough, joking with him about ghosts and even making light