"Martin, George R.R. - Song Of Ice and Fire 03 - A Storm Of Swords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

Could there have been another woman in her fatherТs life? Some village maiden he had wronged when he was young, perhaps? Could he have found comfort in some serving wenchТs arms after Mother died? It was a queer thought, unsettling. Suddenly she felt as though she had not known her father at all. УWho is Tansy, my lord? Do you want me to send for her, Father? Where would I find the woman? Does she still live?Ф
Lord Hoster groaned. УDead.Ф His hand groped for hers. УYouТll have others . . . sweet babes, and trueborn.Ф
Others? Catelyn thought. Has he forgotten that Ned is gone? Is he still talking to Tansy, or is it me now, or Lysa, or Mother?
When he coughed, the sputum came up bloody. He clutched her fingers. У . . . be a good wife and the gods will bless you . . . sons . . . trueborn sons . . . aaahhh.Ф The sudden spasm of pain made Lord HosterТs hand tighten. His nails dug into her hand, and he gave a muffled scream.
Maester Vyman came quickly, to mix another dose of milk of the poppy and help his lord swallow it down. Soon enough, Lord Hoster Tully had fallen back into a heavy sleep.
УHe was asking after a woman,Ф said Cat. УTansy.Ф
УTansy?Ф The maester looked at her blankly.
УYou know no one by that name? A serving girl, a woman from some nearby village? Perhaps someone from years past?Ф Catelyn had been gone from Riven-an for a very long time.
УNo, my lady. I can make inquiries, if you like. Utherydes Wayn would surely know if any such person ever served at Riverrun. Tansy, did you say? The smallfolk often name their daughters after flowers and herbs.Ф The maester looked thoughtful. УThere was a widow, I recall, she used to come to the castle looking for old shoes in need of new soles. Her name was Tansy, now that I think on it. Or was it Pansy? Some such. But she has not come for many years . . .Ф
УHer name was Violet,Ф said Catelyn, who remembered the old woman very well.
УWas it?Ф The maester looked apologetic. УMy pardons, Lady Catelyn, but I may not stay. Ser Desmond has decreed that we are to speak to you only so far as our duties require.Ф
УThen you must do as he commands.Ф Catelyn could not blame Ser Desmond; she had given him small reason to trust her, and no doubt he feared that she might use the loyalty that many of the folk of Riverrun would still feel toward their lordТs daughter to work some further mischief. I am free of the war, at least, she told herself, if only for a little while.
After the maester had gone, she donned a woolen cloak and stepped out onto the balcony once more. Sunlight shimmered on the rivers, gilding the surface of the waters as they rolled past the castle. Catelyn shaded her eyes against the glare, searching for a distant sail, dreading the sight of one. But there was nothing, and nothing meant that her hopes were still alive.
All that day she watched, and well into the night, until her legs ached from the standing. A raven came to the castle in late afternoon, flapping down on great black wings to the rookery. Dark wings, dark words, she thought, remembering the last bird that had come and the horror it had brought.
Maester Vyman returned at evenfall to minister to Lord Tully and bring Catelyn a modest supper of bread, cheese, and boiled beef with horseradish. УI spoke to Utherydes Wayn, my lady. He is quite certain that no woman by the name of Tansy has ever been at Riverrun during his service.Ф
УThere was a raven today, I saw. Has Jaime been taken again?Ф Or slain, gods forbid?
УNo, my lady, weТve had no word of the Kingslayer.Ф
УIs it another battle, then? is Edmure in difficulty? Or Robb? Please, be kind, put my fears at rest.Ф
УMy lady, I should not . . .Ф Vyman glanced about, as if to make certain no one else was in the room. УLord Tywin has left the riverlands. AllТs quiet on the fords.Ф
УWhence came the raven, then?Ф
УFrom the west,Ф he answered, busying himself with Lord HosterТs bedclothes and avoiding her eyes.
УWas it news of Robb?Ф
He hesitated. УYes, my lady.Ф
УSomething is wrong.Ф She knew it from his manner. He was hiding something from her. УTell me. Is it Robb? Is he hurt?Ф Not dead, gods be good, please do not tell me that he is dead.
УHis Grace took a wound storming the Crag,Ф Maester Vyman said, still evasive, Уbut writes that it is no cause for concern, and that he hopes to return soon.Ф
УA wound? What sort of wound? How serious?Ф
УNo cause for concern, he writes.Ф
УAll wounds concern me. Is he being cared for?Ф
УI am certain of it. The maester at the Crag will tend to him, I have no doubt.Ф
УWhere was he wounded?Ф
УMy lady, I am commanded not to speak with you. I am sorry.Ф Gathering up his potions, Vyman made a hurried exit, and once again Catelyn was left alone with her father. The milk of the poppy had done its work, and Lord Hoster was sunk in heavy sleep. A thin line of spittle ran down from one corner of his open mouth to dampen his pillow. Catelyn took a square of linen and wiped it away gently. When she touched him, Lord Hoster moaned. УForgive me,Ф he said, so softly she could scarcely hear the words. УTansy . . . blood . . . the blood . . . gods be kind . . .Ф
His words disturbed her more than she could say, though she could make no sense of them. Blood, she thought. Must it all come back to blood? Father, who was this woman, and what did you do to her that needs so much forgiveness?
That night Catelyn slept fitfully, haunted by formless dreams of her children, the lost and the dead. Well before the break of day, she woke with her fatherТs words echoing in her ears. Sweet babes, and trueborn . . . why would he say that, unless . . . could he have fathered a bastard on this woman Tansy? She could not believe it. Her brother Edmure, yes; it would not have surprised her to learn that Edmure had a dozen natural children. But not her father, not Lord Hoster Tully, never.
Could Tansy be some pet name he called Lysa, the way he called me Cat? Lord Hoster had mistaken her for her sister before. YouТll have others, he said. Sweet babes, and trueborn. Lysa had miscarried five times, twice in the Eyrie, thrice at KingТs Landing . . . but never at Riverrun, where Lord Hoster would have been at hand to comfort her. Never, unless . . . unless she was with child, that first time . . .
She and her sister had been married on the same day, and left in their fatherТs care when their new husbands had ridden off to rejoin RobertТs rebellion. Afterward, when their moon blood did not come at the accustomed time, Lysa had gushed happily of the sons she was certain they carried. УYour son will be heir to Winterfell and mine to the Eyrie. Oh, theyТll be the best of friends, like your Ned and Lord Robert. TheyТll be more brothers than cousins, truly, I just know it.Ф She was so happy.
But LysaТs blood had come not long after, and all the joy had gone out of her. Catelyn had always thought that Lysa had simply been a little late, but if she had been with child . . .
She remembered the first time she gave her sister Robb to hold; small, red-faced, and squalling, but strong even then, full of life. No sooner had Catelyn placed the babe in her sisterТs arms than LysaТs face dissolved into tears. Hurriedly she had thrust the baby back at Catelyn and fled.
If she had lost a child before, that might explain FatherТs words, and much else besides . . . LysaТs match with Lord Arryn had been hastily arranged, and Jon was an old man even then, older than their father. An old man without an heir. His first two wives had left him childless, his brotherТs son had been murdered with Brandon Stark in KingТs Landing, his gallant cousin had died in the Battle of the Bells. He needed a young wife if House Arryn was to continue . . . a young wife known to be fertile.
Catelyn rose, threw on a robe, and descended the steps to the darkened solar to stand over her father. A sense of helpless dread filled her. УFather,Ф she said, УFather, I know what you did.Ф She was no longer an innocent bride with a head full of dreams. She was a widow, a traitor, a grieving mother, and wise, wise in the ways of the world. УYou made him take her,Ф she whispered. УLysa was the price Jon Arryn had to pay for the swords and spears of House Tully.Ф
Small wonder her sisterТs marriage had been so loveless. The Arryns were proud, and prickly of their honor. Lord Jon might wed Lysa to bind the Tullys to the cause of the rebellion, and in hopes of a son, but it would have been hard for him to love a woman who came to his bed soiled and unwilling. He would have been kind, no doubt; dutiful, yes; but Lysa needed warmth.
The next day, as she broke her fast, Catelyn asked for quill and paper and began a letter to her sister in the Vale of Arryn. She told Lysa of Bran and Rickon, struggling with the words, but mostly she wrote of their father. His thoughts are all of the wrong he did you, now that his time grows short. Maester Vyman says he dare not make the milk of the poppy any stronger. It is time for Father to lay down his sword and shield. It is time for him to rest. Yet he fights on grimly, will not yield. It is for your sake, I think. He needs your forgiveness. The war has made the road from the Eyrie to Riverrun dangerous to travel, I know, but surely a strong force of knights could see you safely through the Mountains of the Moon? A hundred men, or a thousand? And if you cannot come, will you not write him at least? A few words of love, so he might die in peace? Write what you will, and I shall read it to him, and ease his way.
Even as she set the quill aside and asked for sealing wax, Catelyn sensed that the letter was like to be too little and too late. Maester Vyman did not believe Lord Hoster would linger long enough for a raven to reach the Eyrie and return. Though he has said much the same before . . . Tully men did not surrender easily, no matter the odds. After she entrusted the parchment to the maesterТs care, Catelyn went to the sept and lit a candle to the Father Above for her own fatherТs sake, a second to the Crone, who had let the first raven into the world when she peered through the door of death, and a third to the Mother, for Lysa and all the children they had both lost.
Later that day, as she sat at Lord HosterТs bedside with a book, reading the same passage over and over, she heard the sound of loud voices and a trumpetТs blare. Ser Robin, she thought at once, flinching. She went to the balcony, but there was nothing to be seen out on the rivers, but she could hear the voices more clearly from outside, the sound of many horses, the clink of armor, and here and there a cheer. Catelyn made her way up the winding stairs to the roof of the keep. Ser Desmond did not forbid me the roof, she told herself as she climbed.
The sounds were coming from the far side of the castle, by the main gate. A knot of men stood before the portcullis as it rose in jerks and starts, and in the fields beyond, outside the castle, were several hundred riders. When the wind blew, it lifted their banners, and she trembled in relief at the sight of the leaping trout of Riverrun. Edmure.
It was two hours before he saw fit to come to her. By then the castle rang to the sound of noisy reunions as men embraced the women and children they had left behind. Three ravens had risen from the rookery, black wings beating at the air as they took flight. Catelyn watched them from her fatherТs balcony. She had washed her hair, changed her clothing, and prepared herself for her brotherТs reproaches . . . but even so, the waiting was hard.
When at last she heard sounds outside her door, she sat and folded her hands in her lap. Dried red mud spattered EdmureТs boots, greaves, and surcoat. To look at him, you would never know he had won his battle. He was thin and drawn, with pale cheeks, unkempt beard, and too-bright eyes.
УEdmure,Ф Catelyn said, worried, Уyou look unwell. Has something happened? Have the Lannisters crossed the river?Ф
УI threw them back. Lord Tywin, Gregor Clegane, Addam Marbrand, I turned them away. Stannis, though . . . У He grimaced.
УStannis? What of Stannis?Ф
УHe lost the battle at KingТs Landing,Ф Edmure said unhappily. УHis fleet was burned, his army routed.Ф