"Paul McAuley - The Book of Confluence 01 - Child of the River" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mcauley Paul J)

"Let me kill him now, " Urthank said.
"He's already a dead man, " the Constable said.
"Not while he talks treason, " Urthank said stubbornly. He
was staring straight at his father.
"Fools, " the trader said. "You have all seen the argosies
and carracks sailing downriver to war with their cannons and
siege, engines. But there are more terrible weapons let loose
in the world."
"Let me kill him, " Urthank said.
The baby had caught at the Constable's thumb, although
he could not close his fingers around it. He grimaced, as if
trying to smile, but blew a saliva bubble instead.
The Constable gently disengaged the baby's grip and set
him on the button cushion at the stem. He moved carefully, as
if through air packed with invisible boxes, aware of Urthank's
burning gaze at his back. He turned and said, "Let the man




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speak. He might know something."
The trader said, "The bureaucrats are trying to wake the
Hierarchs from their reveries. Some say by science, some by
witchery. The bureaucrats are so frightened of heresy consuming
our world that they try anything to prevent it."
Unthank spat. "The Hierarchs are all ten thousand years
dead. Everyone knows that. They were killed when the Insurrectionists
threw down the temples and destroyed most of
the avatars. "
I "The Hierarchs tried to follow the Preservers, " the trader
said. "They rose higher than any other bloodline, but not so
high that they cannot be called back."
The Constable kicked the man and said roughly, "Enough
theology. Is this one of their servants?"
"Ys is large, and contains a multitude of wonders, but I've
never seen anything like this. Most likely it is a foul creature
manufactured by the forbidden arts. Those trying to forge
such weapons have become more corrupt than the heretics.
Destroy it! Return the baby and sink the boaW'
"Why should I believe you?"
"'I'm a bad man. I admit it. I'd sell any one of my daughters
if I could be sure of a good profit. But I studied for a
clerkship when I was a boy, and I was taught well. I remember
my lessons, and I know that the existence of this thing
is against the word of the Preservers."
Urthank said slowly, "We should put the baby back. It
isn't our business."