"Patricia A. McKillip - Riddlemaster 3 - Harpist In The Wind" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

him. The hatch dropped shut again.
He lifted his head, said to Raederle, who was no more
than her breathing and the faint smell of sea air, тАЬAre you
planning to argue with me for the rest of our lives?тАЭ
тАЬYes,тАЭ she said stiffly.
He dropped his head back against his knees. After a
while he drew one arm free, shaped her wrist in the dark,
and then her fingers. He gazed back at the night, holding
her scarred left hand in both his hands against his heart.
 2


They arrived in Hed four nights later. Six of the
trade-ships had turned westward in the channel to wait at
Caithnard; Bri took his ship to Tol. Morgon, worn out
from listening for disaster, was startled out of a catnap by
the hull scudding a little against the dock. He sat up,
tense, and heard Bri curse someone amiably. The hatch
opened; lamplight blinded him. He smelled earth.
His heart began to pound suddenly. Beside him,
Raederle, half-buried in furs, lifted her head sleepily.
тАЬYouтАЩre home,тАЭ Bri said, smiling behind the light,
and Morgon got to his feet, climbed up onto the deck. Tol
was a handful of houses scattered beyond the moon-
shadow flung by the dark cliffs. The warm, motionless air
smelled familiarly of cows and grain.
He hardly realized he had spoken until Bri, dousing
the light, answered, тАЬOn the lee side of midnight. We got
here sooner than I expected.тАЭ
A wave curled lazily onto the beach, spread a
fretwork of silver as it withdrew. The shore road wound
bone-white away from the dock to disappear into the cliff
shadow. Morgon picked out the faint line above the cliff
where it appeared again, to separate pastures and fields
until it stopped at the doorstep of Akren. His hands
tightened on the railing; he stared, blind, back at the
twisted road that had brought him to Hed on a ship full of
the dead, and the shore road to Akren seemed suddenly
little more than one more twist into shadows.
Raederle said his name, and his hands loosened. He
heard the ramp thud onto the dock. He said to Bri, тАЬIтАЩll be
back before dawn.тАЭ He touched the outline of the ship-
masterтАЩs shoulder. тАЬThank you.тАЭ
He led Raederle off the dock, past the dreaming
fishermenтАЩs houses and the worn, beached boats with
gulls sleeping on them. He found his way by memory up
the shadows to the top of the cliff. The fields flowed
smoothly under the moonlight, swirled around hillocks
and dips, to converge from every direction around Akren.
The night was soundless; listening, he heard the slow,