"Jack Mann - Her Ways Are Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mann Jack)

тАЬMY FOREBEARSтАФlater to be called NaylorsтАФhad won pardon of a sort from the Norman
authorities and settled somewhere near here before HugoтАЩs son was granted this manor,тАЭ Naylor went
on. тАЬThat Hugo, remember, was descended from Wulfruna and Sigurd. My forebears were descended
from Oger Ogersson and WulfrunaтАФyou see?тАЭ
тАЬThere wasтАФwell, a sort of removed cousinship,тАЭ Gees commented.
тАЬThere was the deadliest of enmities,тАЭ Naylor said emphatically. тАЬAlso, on their side, the tendency
toтАФpossibility of, ratherтАФthe use of witchcraft against us Naylors, as I will call us from this point
onward, and on our side the intermittently occurring curse of running baresark.
тАЬAs instance. In the time of the first Henry a witch developed among the de Warennes of Troyarbour,
and set her wits to ruining the family of Naylors of that dayтАФSaxons, by Norman reckoning, and
freemen holding a stead in tenure under a neighboring manorтАФbetween here and where Blandford now
is. The cattle and sheep died and the crops failedтАФit was all in pursuance of the old feud between the
two families that began when Oger killed SigurdтАФand then the eldest son of that Naylor wasted away
through her spellsтАФтАЭ
тАЬGot tuberculosis, most likely,тАЭ Gees interposed.
тАЬAs may be,тАЭ Naylor said, making the remark utterly skeptical. тАЬWhether that were so or no, one
night the boyтАЩs father went baresark, and instead of going out as a freeman of those days should, took an
axe and flint and steel and tinder, and went off alone. He fired the gatehouse of these de WarrennesтАФit
was a wooden structure, apparentlyтАФand killed three men before his fit wore off. A naked man with an
axe against three or more armed men, remember.
тАЬNowтАФand here comes the part of the story that countsтАФthe kingтАЩs justiciar of those days judged
the caseтАФHenry Beauclerc was strong on forms of law. This was a case of Saxon rebellion against
Norman authority, on the face of it, and the Norman in question a sort of connection of the great William
de Warenne. YetтАФyet!тАФthe baresark Naylor was not hanged, or subjected to torture as one might
expect, such as being broken on the wheel or pressed to death. He was let off with the loss of his right
eye and right hand, and lived to be a very old man.
тАЬMeanwhile Ira de WarenneтАФthe first woman of the family to be given that nameтАФwas burned at
the stake as a witch, although she was allegedly of noble birth. Condemned, not by the justiciar, but by
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and as I say, burned at the stake. Unique, I believe.тАЭ
тАЬPossibly.тАЭ Gees made it a non-committal comment. тАЬIs any part of thisтАФthis family history, call
itтАФdocumented?тАЭ
тАЬIn other words, you think I am telling fairy tales.тАЭ Naylor accused with acrid coldness. тАЬIt was all
documented, up to the time of the Civil WarтАФabout the time of the siege of Corfe, it would be. The
Naylor of that day was a Parliament manтАФhe served with some distinction under IretonтАФand the
WarennesтАФas they had then become, having lost their title during the Wars of the RosesтАФwere
Royalists. Naylor got here with a troop, and managed to sack and burn the castle that stood where this
house stands now, and most of the old records went up in smokeтАФthe Parliament men were all
iconoclasts, as you know. But that Naylor left children who knew the tale, and most of it is available to
me in old letters and diaries. One has to read between the lines to a certain extent, but to usтАФto me,
since I am the only one surviving, nowтАФit is all clear.тАЭ
тАЬI see.тАЭ There may have been a tinge of skeptimism in the rejoinder. тАЬAnd still, all this is story. I donтАЩt
see the point, yet.тАЭ
тАЬI am coming now to the point,тАЭ Naylor said. тАЬIt is that once in so many generationsтАФonce in a
century, perhaps, or it may be once in two centuriesтАФa Warenn, father or mother or both, names a
daughter Ira, as if they had prescience, foreknowledge, of what was to come in the lifetime of that
daughter. SimultaneouslyтАФwithin a few years either way, that isтАФa son is born to a Naylor, and on him
is the baresark curse. It is no less than a curse, believe me. And the old feud is renewed.
тАЬThe Ira Warenn, descended from Sigurd and Wulfruna, sets herself to destroy the descendant of