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

Maudrayne took a few more steps in pursuit of the swimmer, shouting threats, while Rusgann splashed to retrieve the empty coracle, which she deftly flipped onto the sand.
УWell done,Ф Maudrayne said. УOh, well done, my dearest friend!Ф She came ashore.
УAre you hurt, my lady?Ф
УScratches and bumps. The bastard didnТt get my necklace, but he left a smart welt trying to steal it.Ф
Rusgann used her drenched apron as a wash-clout on both of them, removing the worst of the blood, until Maudrayne said, УEnough. We can finish cleaning ourselves on board the lugger. Poor Dyfrig must be terrified and we must go to him.Ф
They launched the small craft and climbed into it, after helping themselves to Lukort WaterfallТs filleting knife and belt-wallet. A great mob of ravens and gulls had suddenly appeared and were wheeling in a cloud above the body, ready to begin feeding. The noise they made almost drowned out the sound of a distressed human voice.
УItТs that poor dolt, Vorgo,Ф the maid said, Уwanting us to pick him up. He knows heТll never make it swimming to the fishing boat. The ice-cold seawater is sapping his strength.Ф
УGo back to shore!Ф Maudrayne shouted to the youth. УGo back! If you strip off the soaked clothes draining your body heat, you may live.Ф
After a momentary hesitation, the floundering swimmer changed direction and headed towards land.
УThe airТs warm,Ф Maudrayne said to Rusgann with a grim smile. УHe knows the way to the steading, and he has his own pouch of magic trinkets to give him access to the sea-hagТs house. Mayhap Dobnelu will let him stay when she awakes. With us gone, sheТll need a new slavey.Ф

three
The prisoner in Zeth Abbey filled the hours of Solstice Eve with his usual quiet activities. In the early morning, before the sun made the enclosed garden too hot, he pulled weeds, and carried endless cans of water from the well in his strong arms so that the roses would not flag, and gathered whatever things Brother Herbalist had requested. Then, after eating solitary in his little apartment as became one banished from the routine of the Brethren, he retired to the great library to study. His choice of materials sometimes surprised the librarian, but Father Abbas had decreed that all things were to be at his disposal, as though he were still a Doctor Arcanorum in good standing in the Mystical Order of Saint Zeth.
After supper, as he often did, he held conversation in the bee-yard with his three friends; the clouds of busy, harmless insects ensured that no unwanted person would overhear their scheming. When the night-bell rang, he took to his bed more eagerly than usual and slept, and dreamedЕ and opened his mind to the invader.
Kilian. Vra-Kilian Blackhorse. Do you hear me?
УFinally, Beynor! IТm relieved to hear from you at last. You really should have contacted me earlier. I was becoming concerned. But never mind. My men in Gala Palace are ready. By the end of Midsummer Day, if all goes as IТve planned, they will have escaped from the city with the Trove of Darasilo! I hope that matters go similarly well with you.Ф
ThereТs a serious problem. I need you to postpone the Cala mission. Just for a short time.
УImpossible. My agents were given their orders months ago. By now all the arrangements are in place. ItТs imperative that the attack occurs early tomorrow, while those at the palace are sleeping off the previous dayТs festivities.Ф
Kilian, I need more time to complete my research here at the Dawntide Citadel. A week at the most. IТve laid my hands on a document in the Salka archives that could be vitally important. But translating it is no easy matter. When I skimmed the thing, I could understood only about one word in five. But I deciphered enough to know its tremendous significance. It dates from before BazekoyТs Conquest!
УI couldnТt stop the Gala mission from proceeding, even if I should want to. Vra-Garon has been sent off to Elkhaven on business by Abbas Noachil, and is also carrying out an important assignment of mine. He wonТt be back here until tomorrow. ThereТs no one else at Zeth Abbey whom I can trust to wind-speak my agents, and itТs too late to send them a message by conventional means.Ф
Kilian, I could windspeak your men and tell them to hold off. It wouldnТt be easy from this great distance, but I could do it. TheyТd listen and obey if you give me their signatures and the command password now, instead of waiting untilЧ
УNo! YouТll bespeak and windwatch them only when the trove is safely in my hands. Do you take me for a fool?Ф
You misunderstandЧ
УAnd donТt think you can circumvent my safeguards against your coercive talents by invading my agentsТ dreams! YouТll never countermand my orders that way. The Brothers were trained in my own somnial defensive techniques before they ever left the abbey. No one can speak to them in dreams unless they consent. But I daresay youТve already found that out for yourself, or you wouldnТt be trying to trick me!Ф
Kilian, please believe that IТd never betray our agreement and try to seize the trove for myself.
УOf course you would, my boy. Neither of us has ever trusted the other. That will never change until weТve successfully divided DarasiloТs sigils, and overcome the obstacles that now prevent either of us from utilizing their sorcery.Ф
Just listen to me. Let me explain why I need more time. I donТt want to offer our bargain to the Salka until I learn more about the Unknown PotencyТs effect upon the Beaconfolk themselves. The stone does more than liberate sigils from the LightsТ control and abolish bonding. IТm certain of that. This ancient document tablet that IТve found may reveal why the Potency was created in the first place. ThereТs something in it about an intention to sever the LightsТ ability to meddle in the affairs of earthbound beings such as ourselves.
УDepriving us of Beaconfolk sorcery altogether? I donТt much like the sound of that!Ф
IТm more interested in the possibility that the tablet might confirm what weТve only assumed must be trueЧthat the UnknownТs power may enable me to utilize liberated sigils with impunity!
УAnd so you shall. I thought you were already convinced of it. If the Lights lose their ability to feed on the pain of sigil-wielders, if theyТre compelled to deliver sorcery without demanding a price, there is no way they can harm you. Their curse is effectively annulled.Ф
I must make certain. What good will my half of DarasiloТs Trove do me if the curse still holds good? IТll tell you one thing: if I canТt have mine, I wonТt help you get yours. And neither will I free you of your iron gammadion!
УCalm yourself.Ф
Once I leave Dawntide Citadel, IТll never have access to these Salka archives again.
УThen take the tablet in question along with you when you go. Puzzle out its contents later, on the voyage to Didion.Ф
I canТt take the bloody thing away. I can hardly lift it. ItТs a stone slab the size of a cart wheel, jam-packed with inscriptions, and if the monsters knew IТd stolen it theyТd probably slaughter me out of handЕ or do worse.
УCopy the wording.Ф
I havenТt the proper materials to make a rubbing, and thereТs too much on the tablet to simply write it down. The only sort of parchment available in this benighted place are the fragile sheets I make myself from baby sealskin. I have only a few of those left.
УDonТt forget that DarasiloТs Trove includes two arcane books written in the Salka tongue, in addition to the large collection of inactive stones. The booksТ subject matter deals with sigils, beyond a doubt. I could tell that from the illustrations, even though IТm unable to read the Salka language. One of those books may very well contain the information you seek.Ф
Why should I take a chance? IТm going to postpone leaving here until I translate the tablet. ThatТs final. You do as you please and be damned.
УBeynor, youТve forgotten the other important reason why we dare not delay. The King of Didion and his family will begin their progress upriver from Holt Mallburn on the day after the Solstice, as they do every year. ThereТs only one suitable spot for our ambushЧjust below Boarsden Castle at Boar Creek, where there are fierce rapids and an exceptionally deep eddy. It will take the royal party no more than six days to reach that point in their voyage, making the traditional stops along the way. Six days, Beynor! Barely enough time for you and the Salka assassins to get there and organize yourselves, since they wonТt be able to swim at full speed once theyТre in the river. If our amphibian friends arenТt in place, ready to attack, weТll be forced to revise the Didion part of our scheme drasticallyЧor abandon it altogether.Ф
Getting the Salka to kill King Honigalus and his family is a needless complication, Kilian. IТve said that from the beginning.
УAnd IТve told you why itТs an absolutely essential step in the destruction of the Sovereignty.Ф
WellЧ
УPull yourself together and keep your mind concentrated on the great goal thatТs finally within our grasp! IТve done what I promised to do, putting my agents into Gala Palace without getting caught. Your task dealing with the Salka has been more difficult, IТll grant you, but youТre the bravest, most audacious young man IТve ever known. This is why IТve been willing to place my own life and hopes in your hands. Listen to me, Beynor! We may never love one another as father and son, yet we are bound together by our mutual ambition more closely than by any tie of blood. Only together can we exploit DarasiloТs Trove. Only together can we dupe the Salka into assisting us to bring down ConrigТs Sovereignty. Only together can we rule.Ф
Damn your eyes!
УBless yours, my boyЧand may you use them to see straight ahead and avoid distractions! I have every confidence in you. DonТt let me down.Ф
Е Very well. IТll arrange to meet with the Four Eminences immediately.
УExcellent. I know youТll convince them. Put your mind at ease.Ф
Huh! ThatТs hardly possibleЧgiven that I must shortly confront a pack of inhuman brutes who may well decide to torture me in creatively gruesome ways, rather than strike a bargain.
УSalka minds work more slowly than ours and are deficient in imagination. ItТs more likely that the monsters will pretend to accede to the proposal while planning to break faith with you later. We can deal with that easily enough. DonТt take it amiss, but itТs a good thing that the Salka think you a pathetic failure, cursed by the Lights, with only a few puny magical powers left. The arrogant boobies are bound to underestimate you and let their guard down.Ф