"Katherine Kurtz - Heirs 1 - Harrowing of Gwynedd" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

would have wanted, so he can carry on his work. Or we bring him out of it and
he dies anywayтАФwhich at least releases him to the normal cycle of life and
death. Or we can't bring him out of it, and things stay the same.
"But we can't just leave him here, in limbo, not knowing whether we could
have made a difference. And what if he's somehow trapped in his body? We
certainly couldn't bury him, not knowing."
Joram nodded grimly, unable to refute that argument, at least. "The last is
certainly a factor," he agreed. "I can't imagine anything much more terrifying
than regaining consciousness in a tomb and realizing you'd been buried alive."
"I can," Evaine murmured, not looking at him. "Being bound to a body that
really, truly, is deadтАФdecaying."
Joram shook his head and suppressed a shiver. "There's no sign of that, at
least. It's something more than just the cold, too. Almost as if RhysтАФas if one of
the Healers had put a preservation spell on it," he amended awkwardly.
"Jebediah's bodyтАФ isn't in this condition."
"No, and the real Alister's body isn't in this condition, and there was a
preservation spell on him,'" she said quietly. "But DeathReadings were done on
Alister and Jebediah. We know they're dead."
Sighing, Joram nodded. "And we couldn't Read Father," he murmured.
"Ergo, he isn't dead. Or it could just be the blocks he would have set, to
preserve the identity of his alter-egoтАФ"
"From us?" Evaine interjected. "Joram, it isn't that there's nothing to Read.
It's that something won't let us Read. He knew we would be there soon. Do you
really think he would have cut us off that way?"
"No."
"Neither do I." She looked at him oddly. "Something else is bothering you,
though."
Joram cleared his throat, looking decidedly uncomfortableтАФ but in a
different manner than before.
"Well, yes. How can I explain this to you without sounding as if I think it's
true?" He cocked his head at her, searching for just the right words.
"Do you remember how, when everyone thought Father had been killed and
they wanted to canonize him, we didn't dare produce his body, for fear it would
be discovered that Alister had died instead of him? The bishops said he had
been 'bodily assumed into heaven,' and used that as part of the rationale for
declaring him a saint. But if saints aren't taken directly into heaven, what other
thing sometimes happens to their bodies?"
"They don't decay," Evaine breathed. "They remain incorruptible."
"Exactly. And right now, his body is incorruptibleтАФfor no logical reason that
we can offer.'' Joram glanced at the shrouded body with a mixture of disbelief
and awe.
"Evaine, what if he really is a saint?"


chapter one
 Every purpose is established by counsel.
тАФProverbs 22:18