"Boreal Moon - 02 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

The two of them straggled up to the dike track at last, where the others were already dismounted and scanning the turbulent river downstream in search of the approaching barge, the knights shouting to one another in order to be heard above the loud noise of the water. The Malle was almost a quarter of a league wide in this place, and made a slight bend below the creek, where willow and alder thickets obscured the view. Finally a tall red-and-gold-striped sail hove into sight from behind the trees. Then they saw the royal barge with its flashing oars, fighting against the current, constantly altering course to avoid the perilous places where great dark rocks thrust up from the white pother.
Prince Somarus had pulled a little spyglass from his belt pouch and used it to search the boat and the waters surrounding it. УBy the Great Starry GobletЧ Honigalus and his two sons are perched right above the boatТs prow!Ф He thrust the slender brass tube at the baron. УHave a look, Cuva.Ф
УI see them,Ф the dour nobleman said. УNothing unusual out on the water yet. But perhaps the ambushers will wait to spring the trap until the barge is above the eddy. If I were running the show, thatТs what IТd do.Ф He lowered the instrument and handed it back to Somarus. УDo the most damage with the least effort expended. Classic tactics.Ф
Somarus lifted the glass again. УThen weТve got a bit longer to wait. The eddyТs rather hard to see from here. It lies a bit to our left, just upstream from the worst of the rocks. The river deepens suddenly at that point, and itТs skipper beware! Just when you think youТre free and clear of the rapids, the whorl takes hold and flings you about like a berry basket in a riptide. Of course, experienced river pilots skirt the thing easily enough. It mostly takes small craft coming downstream who happen on it unexpectedly.Ф
He swung the glass away from the boat and searched the riverТs opposite shore.
УWhat are you looking for, Highness?Ф Cuva asked.
УA certain sorcerer,Ф the prince replied grimly, Уon whom all my hopes ride. IТm certain heТs out there somewhere, but I donТt think IТll find him.Ф

seventeen
As the three notes of the trumpet sounded the alert for approaching white water, Queen Bryse took the drowsy baby girl from her breast and handed her over to the nursemaid. УCasya should be quiet enough now. Go sit with her in the forward part of the saloon, where you can get fair warning of bumps and bounces. And hold her in your arms as we go through the rapids, rather than putting her in her cradle. I want her to feel comforting arms about her in case my ladies become affrighted and start a commotion.У
УYes, Your Majesty.Ф The maid Dala wore a superior smile. She herself was afraid of very few things now that horrible old King Achardus was dead, and no longer able to threaten her with skinning alive and boiling in oil if she should shirk her duties towards the royal offspring. She took Princess Casabarela from the queen, wiped the babyТs tiny mouth, and patted her back to raise a bit of wind. УThatТs a good little madam! Now letТs find a cozy place up front.Ф
The saloon was a very large cabin, gorgeously appointed with gilded woodwork, damask draperies, and the finest Incayo carpets, raised above the main-deck and situated just behind the stout mast of the barge. Used variously as a sitting, dining, and presence chamber during the progress, it had glazed casement windows all around to provide the best possible view of the passing scene. These were now firmly shut in anticipation of water being shipped aboard, and the external galleries on either side, which allowed the passengers to stand in the fresh air and watch the laboring oarsmen below, were deserted. Most of the queenТs highborn attendants had gathered in the stern of the saloon, where heavy curtains had been drawn to shield delicate eyes from the sight of the tempestuous river. Shrill exclamations and giggles attested to the ladiesТ strained nerves, and pages were kept busy passing out scented pomanders, handkerchiefs, and flagons of witch-hazel rosewater to those who already felt faint. A few of the women sipped wine or spirits from lidded drinking vessels. A stack of silver basins stood ready in a corner to accommodate the queasy.
Dala settled herself and baby Casya in a big, cushioned chair facing forward, where she could see not only the expanse of rapids but also King Honigalus and his two sons, perched bravely above the bowsprit in their small, railed platform. Behind her, the court musicians began to play, but after a few minutes the soothing melody was almost drowned out by the growing roar and hiss of the water. To relieve the tension, Queen Bryse commanded all the ladies to sing with her, leading them in a clear soprano through the many long verses of УThe Blossom Moon Song.Ф
Rosebud, spring rosebud, tight and green,
No soft, fragrant rose petals eТer to be seen;
When will you open wide to me?
When shall I my true love see?
In Blossom Moon, in Blossom Moon, it will surely be.
Dala hummed along, rocking Casya gently, and the baby slept even as the barge began to rear and plunge like a rampaging living thing. The noise of rushing water swelled to thunder. Some of the womenТs voices faltered, but none of them dared to wail or weep so long as the queen kept singing; and this she did, keeping her back turned resolutely away from the tumult outside. The barge surged on, expertly steered by its skipper and powered by the muscles of the forty valiant oarsmen, evading boulders and monstrous standing waves, skirting each rocky patch and climbing the foaming chutes like a huge homing salmon.
As the last verse of the song began, with only Queen Bryse and two of the bravest ladies still singing, a faint huzza came from the men on deck outside. Dala saw that the Whitewater was ending. Only the eddy, a broad, swift-spinning gyre of foam and floating debris some twenty ells in diameter, now blocked their way. The skipper steered far towards the heavily wooded right bank to take them safely around it, then guided the barge proudly up the deceptively glassy-looking center of the Malle, where the current ran swift and the waters were dark and deep.
The queenТs song ended and the relieved women clapped and cried out for joy. The cheering of the deckhands intensified and was augmented by glad shouts from male courtiers swarming out of the sterncastle and racing forward to call out congratulations to King Honigalus and the two princes for having held steadfast throughout the passage.
==========
УWell,Ф said Duke Ranwing Boarsden to the Archwizard Fring, Уthat was mildly exhilarating to watch, but hardly the momentous spectacle you hinted at when you convinced us to ride out here. Just what did you think was going to happen, wizard?Ф
FringТs brow was spangled with sweat and his jaws clenched tightly together. His gaze was fixed not on the barge but on the smooth expanse of river just ahead of it, where his talent perceived something moving just beneath the water. In the bow pulpit, little Prince Bartus seemed to see something as well. He pointed at it and gave a high-pitched scream as loud and penetrating as the cry of an eagle.
Fring said quietly, УThere. Half a dozen ells in front of the boat. They look something like smooth rocks just breaking the surface of the water. But theyТre not rocks.Ф
==========
УNothing!Ф Prince Somarus raged. УNothing at all happened to Honigalus and his barge! Where are the damned Salka hiding? What are they waiting for?Е Tesk! Tesk? Curse that sneaky wee magickerЧwhereТs he got to, now that I really need him to scry out whatТs going on?Ф
Baron Cuva cast a swift glance around the shore near the Boar Creek bridge where the princeТs party stood watching the river, but the little black-robed adept was nowhere to be seen. УNot a sign of him, Highness. And the Green WomanТs gone missing as well. I wonderЧФ
УShite!Ф whispered Somarus. His sturdy form went rigid as he stared out onto the river, aghast. УFather Sun and Mother MoonЧwill you look at that?Ф
==========
The bargeТs skipper set the helm over, steering towards the left bank, and signaled for a last great pull of the sweeps to bring the barge out of the mainstream current and into the backwaters above the landing stage at Boarsden Castle.
The dark heads of the Salka rose from the water.
Carbuncle-red eyes blazing, spiky crests uplifted, maws agape, and crystal teeth flashing in the low sun, the monsters came rocketing downstream toward the barge in a broad inverted-V formation before a single person aboard could give warning. The creatures on the flanks closed in on the sweeps. Their powerful tentacles ripped the oars from their housings with sharp cracks, rending the stout timbers of the hull. Some of the Salka began to pluck howling rowers from their benches, flinging them overboard to other monsters who waited with open jaws. The barge slewed violently as its motive power was lost and began to drift downstream towards the eddy. Some of the shore observers gave cries of horror as they discerned huge shapes massed at the sides and stern of the vessel, beginning to clamber aboard. An explosive noise signaled that the rudder had been ripped away by main force. A few valiant souls on the boat, having armed themselves with swords and pikes, tried to beat off the inhuman attackers, but the Salka on deck hurled screaming boatmen and courtiers aside as though they were dolls. Black tentacles tipped with clawed digits lashed the air like flexible tree-trunks, making a shambles of the standing rigging and toppling the mast with its square sail.
Then the broken barge reached the rim of the eddy and slowly began its death spin. Terrified men jumped from the fast-settling stern, which the Salka had abandoned in favor of a concerted attack on the glass windows of the saloon cabin. The openings were too small to admit the enormous bodies of the amphibians, so they groped inside with their tentacles in search of prey. Those onshore gasped at the sight of King Honigalus, menaced by three bellowing monsters on the foredeck, taking a small son under each arm and leaping off the bow pulpit into the whirling water. The barge circled faster and faster until it was sucked beneath the surface of the water and disappeared from view.
==========
УFutter me!Ф Somarus exclaimed. His ruddy features had turned the color of chalk. УThat was grim. At the end, the great brutes were going after the women. I could hear them screaming.Ф
Baron Cuva only shook his head, speechless. The knights stood in small groups, cursing or dazedly silent, staring upstream at the place where the great boat had vanished.
Then one man pointed to the rapids below the eddy. УI see floating wreckage coming down towards us. The whirlpool has spat it out! Could it be that some have survived the disaster?Ф
УYou think so?Ф another said somberly. УLookЧthe cursed fiends are cavorting out there among the rocks, tossing things to one another in some hideous game! Those who drown will be the fortunate ones.Ф
The others uttered cries of abhorrence and pity.
УIt happened as Beynor promised,Ф Somarus whispered, his eyes glittering. УAs the renegade Royal Akhymist Kilian planned it, so that no man could lay the deed at my doorstep.Ф
УNo, Highness.Ф Baron CuvaТs voice was steady. УThe tragedy cannot be ascribed to you. But the former Conjure-King and Kilian Blackhorse are perhaps not so easily exonerated. It would be wise to keep that fact in mind.Ф
Somarus was silent.
УWhat will you have us do now?Ф the baron asked, after some minutes had passed.
УItТll be a while before those at Castle Boarsden dare to send search parties out on the water,Ф the prince decided, Уalthough land patrols may begin combing the banks for survivors rather soon. It wonТt do for anyone to discover us loitering here. WeТll have to return to the highway as quickly as we can, then ride back the way we came to the road leading to Boarsden Town. It should be safe to wait there in some handy alehouse until word of the disaster is cried about the city streets.Ф
УYou might be recognized,Ф Cuva warned.
УWhat does it matter? This is my tale: I came out of the Elderwold intending to present my respects to King Honigalus as he held court at Boarsden Castle. If I had actually conceived such a saucy notion, dear Cousin Ranwing would not have turned me away, loving a good row as he doesЕ So IТm properly appalled at the awful news, and I vow vengeance against the devils responsible, and wait with the duke and his people to see whether any of the royal family has survived.Ф
УWhat if one or more of them did?Ф Cuva asked softly.
УThen Beynor and Kilian Blackhorse will have their work cut out for them. But I donТt think we need worry overmuch. IТll deplore this lamentable tragedy, while at the same time you will make a great show of thanking Providence that the Crown of Didion passes not to a weakling child, as it would have done if Honigalus alone had perished, but rather to a mature warrior ready and able to lead our nation in these difficult times.Ф
Cuva inclined his head. УHighness.Ф His smile was sardonic. УYou must forgive me if I postpone styling you СMajestyТ until the time is ripe. IТm not as audacious as the Green Woman Cray in such matters.Ф