"Rachel Pollack - Immortal Snake" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pollack Rachel)

Judgment. тАЬGood news!тАЭ he said. тАЬIтАЩve chosen my female companion.тАЭ

More Clever stepped back. тАЬNo!тАЭ she said. тАЬDonтАЩt say it. ThereтАЩs still
time. You can stop.тАЭ

Slowly, her brother shook his head so that his wide grin swept all
across her. He said, тАЬI choose my sister, More Clever Than Her Father and
Everyone Else, to accompany me through all the worlds as my female
companion.тАЭ And then, because it sounded so good, he added, тАЬBlessed
forever is Immortal Snake.тАЭ

More Clever said nothing, only marched out past the laughter of all the
courtiers who hoped to become the rulerтАЩs special friend. She went to her
bedroom, where she pulled out a small wooden trunk from under her bed.
Shaking, she took out the strands of hair from her first haircut, done at her
name enactment, along with the pale blue dress sheтАЩd worn, and the black
doll in a gold dress her mother had given her as a present after the
ceremony. She put these in a basket and took them to the farthest ring of
the city, where a small stone building inside the walls housed the Temple of
Names.

The Name priests, who all wore oversize masks carved with letters
from alphabets nobody remembered, feared she might produce a dead
baby from inside that basket and demand they give it a name. But the new
companion to Immortal Snake only dumped her relics on the rough stone
floor. тАЬMy name no longer belongs to me,тАЭ she said. тАЬI want you to take it
back.тАЭ

The priests tried to talk her out of it. To go without a name, they said,
meant that no one could bless her when they cast stones into the Well of
Life. Even her dreams would not be able to find her. She suspected what
really troubled them: the enactment to remove a name required the priests
to inscribe the offensive words on inedible cakes that they would have to
eat so that the name would pass through their bodies and be expelled to
oblivion. She said, тАЬI donтАЩt intend to go without a name. IтАЩve found a new
one. My name now is Broken by Heaven.тАЭ

Sitting on the Throne of Lilies, Immortal Snake (once known as
Happier Than the Day Before) continued to applaud his parade of gifts.
HeтАЩd begun to open some of the rarer bottles of wine, and when the
minister would ask for a decision on the male companion, the Snake would
hold out the bottle as if to offer it, then take a long swallow.

At last the great show came to an end. Only one figure remained, a
slave by the look of his knotted hair, his clothes that were little more than a
binding cloth and a tunic tied at the waist with a red rope. But he was tall and
graceful, with deep eyes and long hands, and a wide strong mouth.
Immortal Snake glanced at the sheet of gifts prepared by his Office of
Numbers, but all he could see at the very bottom was тАЬslave.тАЭ He said,
тАЬWhere do you come from?тАЭ