"Silistra - 02 - The Golden Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris Janet E)

juncture, took the tiny key from, its housing, and fitted the key in the lock.
The ends parted. I took my eighteen-strand chald in my palms and looked at it. I
saw the silver chain with white interwoven, that of Well Astria. I saw the red,
due for changing, of the chaldra of the mother. I saw the bronze of birthing,
unfulfilled. I saw my chains of patronage; to the Day-Keepers and the Slayers
and the gol-masters, I closed my fists in, upon my platinum deep-readerТs chain,
and that of AstriaТs dependent city, Port Astrin. My eyes swam with tears. I
could not see my clenched fists, but still I saw the strands of my chald. I saw
the six brass mixed, of my schooling, and that of the singers of titrium and
iron, and that of the musicians, of copper and bronze, and the green stra metal
of the threx breeders, and the Well-KeepressТ chain, of white gold set with
white-fire gems. That one had been mine when I was born. The others, I had spent
three hundred and two years acquiring. What is a Silistran, without chaldra? I
brought it to my lips and kissed it, and handed it to the cahndor of the
Nemarsi. I had never before felt so exposed. I shook my head to bring my hair
forward, that it might cover my nudity. It settled in a cloud around me, soft
and sweet-smelling. I crossed my arms over my breasts.
His hand, which held my chald, was still outнstretched to me.
УAnd the key, little crell.Ф This, also, I handed over to Chayin.
He fitted the key in the housing, laid the chald aside. He looked me over, long
and slow, where I huddled shamed before him. I could feel the heat of my blood,
racing to my skin.
УSuch a position suits you,Ф he commented. УYou might have been born crell.Ф I
did not meet his gaze, nor answer him. I was crell. A crell does not raise her
eyes to her cahndor.
II. Chosen Son of Tar-Kesa
The apprei was red-lit with the sunТs setting when I awakened. Chayin slept
soundly. He had not removed the ShaperТs cloak, but wrapped it around his chest,
though the day was fireside-hot. His alien chald glittered in the dim light. I
could make nothing of it, but I must honor it. He was chalded; I was not. There
were fourteen strands, of various metals, some with teeth and charms, tufts of
hair and gems depending from them. It was loosely woven, more so even than the
chalds of Arlet.
He had not used me as a wellwoman, but as an animal. If such was a crellТs
couching, I wanted no more of it. He had forced upon me more of the stimulant
drug Hael had given me in the desert, and my heart pounded against my ribs. He
had made no attempt to sate my needs, and my heat burned within me. I lay upon
my side, my loins pressing against his thigh of their own accord. I hated him.
He slept. I could not. He had taken my chald from me, made me crell. In my mind,
he was every man who had ever misused me. He became for me Raet, and Estrazi,
and Dellin. Even Dellin, whom I once loved, at that moment I would have killed
upon the spot. My breathing deepened, and my senses became sharp and clear.
Through this man, I would teach them all a thing about women. I studied ChayinТs
cloaked chest, rising and falling before my eyes. I would kill him. He, abuser
of the helpless, cahndor of the chaldless, did, not deserve to live. His breech
and sword belt lay where he had thrown them, upon the mat, within easy reach.
With his own sword I would skewer him, not only for myself, but for all the
other helpless crells. I would plunge that unduнlating Parset blade into his
heart. He would make no outcry, and then I would slip past the sleeping jiasks
and steal a threx. The black one, HaelТs, the one called Quiris, would I take