"Elizabeth Moon - Serrano 6 - Change of Command" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

seconds.

Why had she been thinking about Pedar Orregiemos and the Rejuvenants, and not Fence Thirty?




WHERRIN EQUESTRIAN PARK


Two days later, Cecelia brought Seniority in from the gallops in exactly the shape she
wantedтАФpulse and respiration had recovered beautifully, and he could have gone another mile
without strain. But any more fitness now, and he would peak before the Senior Trials. No, a long
hack this afternoon, then tomorrowтАФ

"Cece! Have you heard?" Colum was waiting for her at the entrance to the gallops, as he usually
did, but he spoke first.

"What?" She loosened the strap of her helmet, and pushed back under it the one lock of red hair
that always managed to get loose and tickle her forehead.

"Lord Thornbuckle's been killedтАФit's on all the newsvidsтАФ"

She felt a heaviness in her chest as if she'd been kicked. "Bunny?" A swift montage of pictures
ran through her mindтАФBunny at the head of the table, Bunny on horseback on Opening Day of the hunt
season, Bunny taking over from Kemtre at the Grand Council, Bunny and Kevil, heads together,
discussing something . . . "It can't beтАФ" He was younger than she by twenty-odd years; he was
healthy as a horseтАФ

"They say it might be those terrorists."

Reality came back as Seniority reached down to rub his face on his leg, and yanked the reins;
Cecelia blinked, looked around, saw the subdued flurry of activity near the barns. The first acid
bite of sadness seeped through the shock. If it was true, this was going to hurt a lot. Colum
seemed to understand that she could say nothing; he flung a cooler over the horse's back, and put
a hand to the rein. Cecelia sat there, as he led Seniority on into the aisle between the barns,
where the look on the grooms' faces told her that the newsvids were playing this straight.

"You heard?" That was Roz, her head groom.

"Yes." She slid down, ran the stirrups up, automatically coordinating with the groom as they
untacked the chestnut horse and began the after-workout rubdown.

"You knew him, didn't you?"

Already past tense. Cecelia shivered. "Yes. For a long time."

"It's terrible. It said on the news there wasn't even enough left for a neuroscan. No chanceтАФ"

She didn't want to hear this; she didn't want to think about this. Her rejuvenated body felt alien