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

Somarus scowled and began looking about again, muttering low-voiced oaths. УWhere is she? And that rascal Tesk?Ф
One of the younger knights smirked. УEarlier, I saw the wizard making sheepТs eyes at the Green Woman. Unlikely as it might seem for two such creatures to be smitten by loveТs thunderbolt here in a muddy morass, we canТt discount the notion.Ф
УThen let them swive amongst the frogs and midges and be damned,Ф Somarus said, Уfor I wonТt wait another minute for them.Ф He turned about, squelched up the creekside path to where they had left the horses, and swung into the saddle.
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The nursemaid Dala got up from her chair, holding drowsy little Princess Casabarela tightly against her breast, and watched in frozen disbelief from one of the saloon windows as the nightmarish dark creatures rose from the river. What were they? Not seals, not giant squid or octopods, not any kind of animal she had ever seen before. They roared with demonic jubilation as they attacked, and she knew that the frightful things were worse than dumb beasts: they were thinking beings bent on slaughter. The royal barge was their target, and the people aboard were their intended prey.
She wasЕ and the baby girl entrusted to her.
Sleek and greenish-black, red saucer-eyes glowing and enormous mouths wide-open, the monsters snatched the sweeps away from the oarsmen and began pulling the helpless men overboard to their doom. The barge lost momentum and began to swing broadside to the current. Dala saw King Honigalus and his sons clinging to the rails of the bow pulpit. She felt the vessel shudder, then lurch. A terrible rending sound filled the air, as though the stout wooden frame of the great barge were being torn apart.
She lost her balance and crumpled to the carpeted deck with the baby still in her arms. Unhurt but frightened by the fall and the jolt, the year-old girl began to cry. Without thinking, Dala snatched up a long knitted shawl that had earlier served to cover the baby and swathed the small body completely, head and all, in soft wool. Then she crammed herself and her precious burden into the small space between the heavy padded chair and the bulkhead and began to pray.
At the other end of the long cabin, the court ladies were screaming at the top of their lungs. Someone shouted, УWeТre sinking! God have mercy, weТre sinking!Ф
Because of the drawn draperies at the windows round about them, few of those in the stern of the saloon had any real idea of what was happening outside, nor did the queen seem to understand the atrocious nature of the peril that threatened them. She shouted vainly for all to remain calm, while the boat wallowed and heaved and furniture tumbled and women ensnared in long skirts fell about weeping and moaning.
УDala!Ф Bryse shouted desperately. УIs my little Casya safe?Ф
УI have her with me, Majesty,Ф the maid called out from her hiding place, which was nearly ten ells away from the queen and out of her eyeshot. УI can swim. IТll do my best to save her.Ф
УBless youЧФ Bryse began to say.
Her words were lost in a great crash as several of the casement windows shattered simultaneously. Boneless dark limbs, dripping blood and water, thrust through the billowing drapes and began ripping the thick fabric away with sharp talons. In moments all those within the saloon knew what was outside, trying to get in.
Dala, at least, had seen them from a distance. Most of the women caught unawares by the sight of the invading Salka fainted dead away from the shock. A few braver souls, including Queen Bryse, tried to escape by opening the doors leading onto the external gallery; but by then the barge was foundering, and a great gout of discolored, debris-laden riverwater flooded into the saloon, washing them back inside.
A rumbling noise now swelled amidst the human cries and the almost continuous roaring of the triumphant Salka. The barge vibrated like the sounding box of a titanic lute as the eddy currents strummed and whirled it in a narrowing spiral. Then came a crackling fusillade deep within the hull, loud as tarnblaze explosions, as the unbearable pressure of the water began to snap the dying vesselТs beams and planking.
Dala was too terrified to move, cringing away from the tangle of writhing tentacles flailing about in search of victims. A glistening black arm encircled the waist of Queen Bryse Vandragora and dragged her out through a broken window frame. With dreadful precision, the monstrous questing limbs sought out and found the noblewomen, the pages, the musicians, and the servants, those who lay senseless and those who frantically tried to escape, and hauled them all away.
The nursemaid no longer heard the human screams or the booming Salka howls. She was conscious only of the rising water now, and the fact that the barge was being engulfed stern first as it sank into the maelstrom. The forward section of the saloon where she and the baby hid still had most of its windows intact. Equally important, the massive chair had become wedged in a clutter of other furniture. It continued to shelter her, but no longer slid towards the submerged area where the Salka and the last of the victims continued their struggles. Even when the rising waters finally forced her to stand, Dala was able to conceal herself and the baby behind the sodden folds of the undrawn draperies near her. The childТs muffled wails could hardly be heard above the tumultuous racket made by the breaking hull.
Finally, the obscene snarl of probing tentacles withdrew from the saloon. She risked looking out through the window. The landscape spun like a demented carrousel, shore and water combined in a dizzying blur. On the tilted foredeck above her, Dala saw King Honigalus leap from the bow pulpit with his sons in his arms. A pack of Salka dived after him. Only three monsters still clung to the hulk of the barge, and as she watched they rolled easily into the water and were gone.
Working quickly, Dala unwound the long shawl from around the baby and used it to bind the small body tightly to her chest, making sure that the childТs head was above her shoulder. She studied the latch of the nearest casement. It was a simple thing, and when she turned it the window easily opened inward, letting water pour in. She waited, crooning УThe Blossom Moon SongФ to the baby. The water rose swiftly, and she climbed onto the chair seat, then onto the back, clutching at the drapes, keeping their heads in the air until the last possible moment.
Then she took a deep breath, ducked under, and pushed out through the open casement.
Almost immediately, a powerful current took hold of her. She could see nothing, for the waters of the eddy were not only murky with sediment but also streaked and splotched by bizarre areas of moving light. She kicked and pumped her arms to no effect: swimming was impossible. She would have to let the river take her where it would.
But it was taking her down, down, tumbling her head over heels. The light was dimming and her lungs burned and dearest God what must be happening to the poor baby?Е
She struck something, felt a sharp pain in her upper leg, another as her elbow smashed into an unyielding surface. Rocks! The whirlpool was floored with rocks. Panic dug its claws into her pounding heart and she folded her arms protectively about CasyaТs fragile head.
Then her own skull was struck a glancing blow. White light flared in her brain. The hoarded air burst from her lungs, and she sucked in water almost with a sense of relief.
I tried, she thought, drifting into quiet darkness, feeling the motionless tiny body still bound tightly to her. I tried.
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The cry of a whooping swan, far away, and the rustle of wind in the reeds. A magenta sky. Softness beneath her aching head. More pain in legs and arms and a lingering rawness in her throat and chest. She was covered to the chin by a blanket.
УSheТs awake,Ф a soft voice said. Two faces appeared, smiling down at her: a handsome little blonde woman with brilliant green eyes, and a very ordinary-looking man who sniffled a little and wiped his nose on his sleeve.
УBaby,Ф she managed to whisper. УBaby!Ф Her voice broke and she began to cough.
УRight here beside you,Ф the man said, Уlying in a nest of dry grass and wrapped in her fine shawl, sleeping soundly.Ф
УDrink this,Ф said the green-eyed woman, lifting her head and holding a cup to her lips. She sipped a few drops of warm herb tea, sweetened with honey, then drank deeply and eagerly until the woman said, УEnough for now,Ф and let her lie down again.
УLittle Casabarela is quite well,Ф the woman said, Уsleeping off her ordeal as you were. I fed her a bit of mushy bread and cheese-curd. But sheТll wake betimes and need milk, so weТll have to move along and find a farmstead with a cow or goat. Parties from the castle will be searching the riverbank for survivors, too. And even though they wonТt be able to see us, we donТt want to leave too many traces of our presence to arouse suspicion.Ф
They were in a dense grove of small trees. Riverwaters gleamed through the leaves and the pungent smell of marshland mingled with woodsmoke in the air. Two small horses grazed nearby. A campfire burned briskly in a ring of stones. Hung up to dry beside it on an improvised frame of sticks was a black robe and a set of raggedy trews, evidently the outer clothing of the man, who was clad only in a long undershirt. A second drying frame held pieces of female clothing: her own! She realized that she was naked beneath the blanket.
УYou saved our lives,Ф she said to the man, overcome with amazement and gratitude. УYou pulled us from the water even though it was alive with ravening monsters!Ф
He ducked his head modestly. УYou drifted quite a way downstream from the rapids before the countercurrents brought you close to the bank and I was able to swim out and grab hold of you. The monsters are still lurking in the waters near Boarsden Castle. I was never in any danger from them.Ф
УAll the same, I owe you profound thanksЧmost especially for saving the dear child I had sworn to protect with my own life. May I know your name, messire?Ф
УIТm Tesk, an itinerant wizard by profession, and this is my friend Cray, who is also adept in magic.Ф
УIТm Dalaryse Plover, called Dala. I amЧI wasЧthe chief nursemaid to the Royal Family of Didion.Ф She was suddenly stricken at the thought of them. УBut you donТt know, do you? Something terrible has happened to the king and queen, and the two little princes!Ф
УWe know,Ф Cray said. УThe barge was sunk by the Salka monsters, and all aboard save you and Princess Casabarela have died abominable deaths.Ф
УAll?Ф Dala wailed.
УEveryone. And I admit that I never expected to find that you had survived along with the baby.Ф
УYou expectedЧФ Dala felt her senses begin to reel. УYouТre a magicker? You knew this terrible thing was going to happen and gave no warning?Ф
УYes,Ф Cray admitted freely. УIt was not my duty to issue warnings, nor would anyone have taken me seriously if IТd tried. I was sent here from a faraway place by another who is wiser than I, expressly to rescue Casabarela Mallburn.Ф
УIf the others of the royal family have perished,Ф Dala said slowly, Уthen the poor orphaned babe is the Queen of Didion.Ф
УSomeday she will be,Ф Cray said. УBut not now. There are dire things happening in your country and in other parts of High Blenholme Island. If it became known that little Casya were alive, scheming men would try to murder her. The monsters did not attack the royal barge by chance. They were incited by sorcerers who intend for Prince Somarus to take up DidionТs crown.Ф
DalaТs eyes widened. УBut howЧФ
УWeТll explain it to you later,Ф Cray said. УYou have a right to know everything, since it seems obvious that you were fated to be saved along with your tiny mistressЧalthough the Source neglected to mention the fact to me. And glad I am that youТre here, Dala! For I know much of magic but very little of child-rearing, and I admit my heart sank to my boots when the Source laid this strange charge upon me. But, thereЧitТll work out splendidly now, with you and dear Tesk to share the burden.Ф
The man nodded and smiled and went to the fire to feel the cloth of his robe. УJust about dry. IТll leave you ladies for a few minutes so Dala can get dressed. Then we must be off. WeТve a long way to travel.Ф He took his garments and disappeared into the bushes.
УWhere are we going?Ф Dala asked. УCan anyplace in Didion be safe from men so evil that they would kill an entire royal family, innocent children and all, in order to steal a throne?Ф