"Ursula K. LeGuin - The Barrow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Le Guin Ursula K)

head and muttered prayers.

тАЬYou pray too,тАЭ said Freyga, looking at the stranger. He ducked his
head and began to mumble, glancing at Freyga now and then from the
corner of his eye.

There was little warmth in the Keep except at the hearth, and dawn
found most of them still there: Father Egius curled up like an aged
dormouse in the rushes, the stranger slumped in his chimney corner, hands
clasped across his belly, Freyga sprawled out on his back like a man cut
down in battle. His men snored around him, started in their sleep, made
unfinished gestures. Freyga woke first. He stepped over the sleeping
bodies and climbed the stone stairs to the floor above. Ranni the midwife
met him in the ante-room, where several girls and dogs were sleeping in a
heap on a pile of sheepskins. тАЬNot yet, count.тАЭ

тАЬBut itтАЩs been two nights nowтАФтАЭ

тАЬAh, sheтАЩs hardly begun,тАЭ the midwife said with con-tempt. тАЬHas to
rest, hasnтАЩt she?тАЭ

Freyga turned and went heavily down the twisted stairs. The womanтАЩs
contempt weighed upon him. All the women, all yesterday; their faces were
stern, preoccupied; they paid no attention to him. He was outside, out in the
cold, insignificant. He could not do anything. He sat down at the oaken table
and put his head in his hands, trying to think of Galla, his wife. She was
seventeen; they had been married ten months. He thought of her round
white belly. He tried to think of her face but there was nothing but the taste
of bronze on his tongue. тАЬGet me something to eat!тАЭ he shouted, bringing
his fist down on the board, and the Tower Keep of Vermare woke with a
jump from the grey paralysis of dawn. Boys ran about, dogs yelped,
bellows roared in the kitchen, men stretched and spat by the fire. Freyga
sat with his head buried in his hands.

The women came down, one or two at a time, to rest by the great
hearth and have a bite of food. Their faces were stern. They spoke to each
other, not to the men.

The snow had ceased and a wind blew from the mountains, piling
snowdrifts against the walls and byres, a wind so cold it cut off breath in the
throat like a knife.

тАЬWhy has GodтАЩs word not been brought to these mountain folk of
yours, these sacrificers of sheep?тАЭ That was the potbellied priest, speaking
to Father Egius and the man with sores around his eyes, Stefan.

They hesitated, not sure what тАЬsacrificersтАЭ meant.

тАЬItтАЩs not just sheep they kill,тАЭ said Father Egius, tenta-tively.