"Naomi Kritzer - Dead Rivers 3 - Freedom's Sisters" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kritzer Naomi)

Once I was clean and dressed, I was escorted to one of the many interior gardens and left to waitтАжand waitтАж
and wait. The night sky was dark; the courtyard was lit with torches. TheyтАЩd dressed me in linen, with a light
wool shawl for warmth, and sandals. I realized that my last material link to Tamar had been severed. The little
talisman IтАЩd made for myselfтАФthreads from her clothing knotted around my wristтАФhad disappeared in the bath.
I rubbed my thumb against the palm of my right hand. We are blood sisters. They canтАЩt ever truly separate us.

My new clothes felt all wrong. Foreign. Everything was foreign. The night was warmer here than it had been
back on the steppe, and the breeze had a strange misty softness, rather than the brisk edge I expected. There was a
salty smell in the air, along with the perfume of the orange tree that grew beside the courtyard fountain and a
warm, spicy smell that wafted from the doorway. Tea, I realized a moment later. The guard there was drinking
tea.

I couldnтАЩt sit. I paced, instead, back and forth in the courtyard. In addition to the orange tree, there were copious
flowers, even this early in the year, including some blood-red blooms shaped like a candleтАЩs flame. I forced
myself to slow my step and study the flowers, as a way to calm my mind, but it did little good.

The guard in the doorway was female, I noticed. Last summer, Janiya had confided in me that she had once been
a guard employed by the Sisterhood of Weavers in Penelopeia; they had their own elite cadre of women guards. I
wondered how many of the people in the Koryphe were women. There was at least one manтАФKyrosтАФbut IтАЩd
seen no others. The sorceress IтАЩd studied with during the winter, Zivar, had permitted no men in her house, not
even slaves. Surely some of the sorceresses here were married, thoughтАж

The guard cleared her throat. I looked up, and she beckoned; it was time to go. She stood back to allow me to go
first, then followed behind, as if she thought I might flee. Maybe that means that there is somewhere to go? Or
perhaps she always does thisтАж Despite her boots, her step was quiet on the marble floors. The corridor was lit
with oil lamps. I wondered if they were tended by human servants, or aerika.

At the end of the corridor, we reached a closed door made from heavy wood. The guard rapped on the door and
someone inside swung it open. The room was warm, and moist with the smell of breath and sweat, as if it hadnтАЩt
been opened for days. There was a long table, with chairs clustered at the other end. Kyros sat in one, and a thin
older woman sat in the other. Her hands were folded over each other on the table. Her fingernails had been
allowed to grow extremely long, and had been painted; they made me think of bloodstained claws. Her face was
deeply lined. She was dressed in red silk that matched her claws, and had a gold bracelet that looked like a
serpent coiled around her upper arm.

Looking at her, I could see the cold fever lurking, but it did not master herтАФnot today.

file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry/Bureaublad/N...20-%20Freedom's%20Sisters/Krit_0553902784_oeb_c02_r1.htm (4 of 5)5-1-2007 1:01:39
 FreedomтАЩsSisters



тАЬSo,тАЭ she said. тАЬYou are the spy.тАЭ

I swallowed hard. тАЬKyros sent meтАжтАЭ

тАЬтАжto spy, yes, of course, yet you didnтАЩt just say yes, I am the spy. ThatтАЩs very interesting. Why didnтАЩt you?тАЭ