"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 4 - Lady Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

only give Mother polite regrets. I have to marry Ermelian of Aminar or my people will starve this winter."
He turned away. "I'm so sorry. I'd thought, if we had timeтАж"
Relief poured through Kel. She wouldn't have to hurt him. "We knew our chances weren't good," she
said over the rattle of sheaves of rain. "We did talk about it."
"I know," he said hoarsely, standing with his back to her. "Even knowing I couldn't break the betrothal
honourably, I went ahead and dreamed. That's the problem with being able to think. It means you wish
for things you can't have."
Kel wished she could comfort him. Even beyond kisses, he was her friend. She laid a hand on his
back. "Cleon -"
"Don't." He twitched away from her touch. "I can't -I'm as good as married now. It wouldn't be right."
Relief flooded her again. Cleon was too honourable to kiss her or let her touch him now that he'd
agreed to his marriage. She felt shallow, coldhearted and sorry for him.
"You said you liked her, when we were on progress," she reminded him. "You said she's nice. It could
be much worse. People do find happiness, when they're married to someone good."
The awful grinding sound that came from his throat was supposed to be a laugh. "That's you, Kel,
making the best of it," he said. He rubbed his eyes with his arm before he turned to face her. "You're
right. I saw her while we were on progress. It was after you left to help that village after the earthquake.
She is nice. She's also pretty and kind. Some of our friends can't say as much about the wives arranged
for them. She just isn't you. She isn't my friend, or my comrade." He tried to smile.
Kel's heart hurt. Cleon was still her friend, if not her lover. "Come inside," she told him. "Dry out, and
eat. We'll do our duty, like we're supposed to. And we can be friends, surely. Nothing changes that."
"No," he whispered. "Nothing will ever change that." He raised a hand, as if to touch her cheek, then
lowered it, and went inside.
Kel didn't cry over the sudden, hard changes in their lives until she was safe in bed and Tobe was
lightly snoring on his pallet. She thought she'd muffled herself until he said, "It's awright, lady. I'd be
ascairt, too, goin' off for savages to shoot at."
Kel choked, dried her eyes on her nightshirt sleeve, and turned on to her back. "It's not the war,
Tobe," she replied. She groped for the handkerchief on her bedside table, sat up, and blew her nose.
"I've been shot at. I can bear it. I'm crying because my friend is unhappy and everything is changing."
"Is that what you're 'posed to do?" he asked. "Cry for your friends though they ain't dead? Cry when
things change?"
"If the changes are cruel ones," Kel replied. "If they take away the things you knew were good." She
wiped her nose, trying to decide what else to say. How could he not know about sorrow for a friend?
"Don't you cry when your friends are hurt?"
"Dunno," he said. "Never had no friends, 'cept maybe Auld Eulama, an' she only cried when the drink
was in her."
Kel sat breathless for a moment. Tobe sounded as if this was all he'd ever expected his world to be.
"You have friends now," she told him. "And with luck, Peachblossom and Jump and I won't do any
crying for you."
"I hope not, lady," he said. From the rustle of cloth, she guessed he was preparing to go back to sleep.
"It don't sound like any kind of fun."
Cleon left in the morning. Two days later the army split up. One part was bound for the western coast.
Another turned east. The rest, including Kel, Neal and Tobe, turned north with fully half of the army that
had left Corus. Tobe, now with his own cloak and hat to shed the rain, rode Hoshi as Kel's personal
groom. Watching him made Kel feel good. Tobe looked like a proper boy at last, not a little old man in a
child's body.
Ten days later General Vanget haMinch, supreme commander of Tortall's northern defences, met them
in Bearsford, the last fortress town on the Great Road North before the border. His presence told Kel
how important it was to get the new forces into position quickly. Normally they would have gone to
headquarters at Northwatch Fortress to receive their orders.