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

loyal to the Sisterhood.

If I were talkative enough, could I convince them I really had stayed loyal to Kyros?

TheyтАЩll believe me. Of course theyтАЩll believe me. I knew it was the cold fever whispering in my ear, but I
embraced it because the alternative was despair. TheyтАЩll believe me because I am the one meant to free the rivers.
I can only do that if IтАЩm alive.

тАЬCan you see the towers yet?тАЭ Kyros asked.

тАЬTowers?тАЭ

тАЬWell, youтАЩve been to Casseia, you know the sort of thing IтАЩm talking about. Casseia has one tower, built very
tall by aerika. Penelopeia has over twenty towers like that. You should be able to see them soon.тАЭ

I leaned a little farther out the window and squinted. I could see something, up ahead, barely visible against the
blue sky. As we got closer, I could see the towers more clearlyтАФfirst two, then six, then more. They spiked up
toward the sky like glittering needles, and as we grew closer I realized that some were partially shod in polished
copper and brass. They must have aerika who do nothing but polish the metal. It was an appalling display of
power. Zivar had told me once that she never felt that she had enough aerika, though she lost a bit more of herself
every time she did a binding. I was certain that the metal-polishing aerika had not been bound by women like the
high magia, but by their apprentices and lesser sisters, acting on orders.

The sun was low in the sky. We were slowly descending now, and I thought I could see the KorypheтАФthe palace
where the high magia and some of the other most highly placed Sisterhood members lived. White marble walls,
partly clad, like the towers, in polished metal. A half dozen of the towers rose from within the outer walls; one
had a glowing light inside like a beacon, and I wondered if the fire was tended by a human or a djinn. An aeriko;
I need to remember to use the Greek words. My ears ached and felt as if they were filled with water; then I
swallowed, and they cleared with a jolt of pain.

The aeriko set the palanquin down gently in the courtyard. Slaves were already waiting to help each of us out. I
felt a little light-headed and accepted the arm offered to me. We were in an inner courtyard of the palace, large
enough to accommodate several more palanquins. A fountain splashed lightly in the center, and the walls were
decorated with mosaic pictures of olive trees.

Kyros was having a quiet conversation nearby; then he stepped over and said, тАЬIтАЩve arranged for you to have a
bath before youтАЩre presented to the magia.тАЭ

Presented to. Like a gift. I followed a slave who led me to a room of warm water and herb-scented steam. If I had


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any hope for an opportunity to run later, I needed to restrain the impulse to run now. There is nowhere to run to
anyway. I am in Penelopeia, in the Koryphe. I wondered what Tamar was doing. The realization of how far away
she was made me slightly dizzy. WeeksтАжmonths of travel. I tried to tell myself that I would see her again, but for
the moment, all I could do was submit to the ministrations of the slaves as I was immersed in water, scrubbed
clean, and picked free of lice.