"Fritz Leiber - Gather, Darkness!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

JarlesтАЩ anger flared anew. The mines! Worse than the fields, or even the roads! Surely the man
must know. And yet, when he had heard, he had looked gratefulтАФthat same fawning look the old
books were always attributing to a faithful domestic animal of the genus Canis, now extinct.
Jarles wrenched his gaze away, again skipping the same face, now third in line. It was that of a
woman.
The sinking sun sent rich shadows across the Great Square. The crowd was thinning. Only the
tailends of a few wards were still waiting to hear what the work lists held in store. Here and there
smocked or bloused commonersтАФthe men in clumsy leggings, the women in heavy skirtsтАФwere
gathering up the leftovers of homemade goods they had brought to barter or sell, loading them onto
their own backs or those of small, burly mules, then trailing off into the narrow, cobbled streets of
the commonersтАЩ section. Some wore broad-brimmed hats of a coarse felt. Others had already
pulled up their hoods, although the chill of evening had not yet arrived.
Looking toward the commonersтАЩ section of Megatheopolis, Jarles was reminded of pictures he
had seen of the cities of the Black Ages, or Middle AgesтАФor whatever that period of the Dawn
Civilization had been called. Except that the houses here were mostly one-story and windowless,
and everything was very neat and clean. Although he was only a priest of the First Circle, he knew
that the resemblance was no coincidence. The Hierarchy did not tolerate coincidence. It had a
reason for everything.
An old crone in ragged garments and a peaked hat hobbled past. The other commoners drew
away from her. A small boy yelled, тАЬMother Jujy! Witch! Witch!тАЭ shied a stone at her and raced
off. But Jarles smiled at her faintly. And she smiled backтАФan unpleasant grimacing of wrinkled
lips over toothless gums during which her hooked nose and jutting chin seemed about to meet.
Then she was on her way again, feeling with her cane for secure places between the cobbles.
In the other direction, Megatheopolis was magically different. For there rose the gleaming
buildings of the Sanctuary, topped by the incredible structure of the Cathedral, which fronted the
Great Square.
Jarles looked up at the Great God, and for a moment felt fingering through his anger a touch of
the same pious fear that vast idol had awakened in him when he was only a commonerтАЩs childтАФ
long before he had passed the tests and begun to learn the secrets of the priests. Could the Great
God see his blasphemous rage, with those huge, searching, slightly frowning eyes? But such a
superstitious fancy was unworthy even of a novice in the Hierarchy.
Without the Great God, the Cathedral was still a mighty structure of soaring columns and
peaked windows tall as pine trees. But where one might expect a steeple or a pair of towers, began
the figure of the Great GodтАФthe upper half of a gigantic human form, terrible in its dignity and
serenity. It did not clash with the structure below. The heavy folds of its drapery became the
columns of the Cathedral, and it was built of the same gray plastic.
It dominated all Megatheopolis, like some unbelievable centaur. There was hardly an alley from
which one could not glimpse the stern yet benignant face with the glowing nimbus of blue light.
One felt that the Great God was minutely studying every pygmy creature that crossed the Great
Square, as if he could at any moment reach down and pick one up for a closer scrutiny.
As if? Every commoner knew there was no тАЬas ifтАЭ about it!
 But that massive figure did not rouse in Jarles one atom of pride at the glory and grandeur of the
Hierarchy and his great good fortune in having been chosen to become part of it. Instead, his anger
thickened and tightened, becoming an intolerable shell about his emotionsтАФas red and oppressive
as the scarlet robe he wore.
тАЬSharlson Naurya!тАЭ
Jarles flinched at the name chirruped by Brother Chulian. But now the moment had arrived; he
realized he would have to look at her. Not to, would be cowardly. Every novice priest experienced
great difficulties before he finally succeeded in breaking all emotional ties that linked him to the
commonersтАФto family and friends, and more than friends. Face the fact: Naurya could never mean