"Melanie Rawn - Exiles 1 - The Ruins of Ambrai" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

reasons he neither knew nor cared about, the galazhi had fawned early that year. He and
many others were sent to the high pastures to help the herders. It was new spring and
incredibly cold, the crusty snow patched with blood like a gory quilt. He learned swiftly that
by reaching into a doe's body, first to tug the fawn out and then for the afterbirth, he could
keep his hands warm. Twins were best; he could plunge his fingers thrice into hot slick blood
and mucus, and keep from freezing just that much longer. He gave thanks whenever the
Chief Herdsman announced that a doe he tended bore twins.

The rest of him didn't fare as well. His socks were more holes than knitting; nothing but his
thick hair protected his head from cold, acidic rain. By the third day his nose was streaming,
his hair was falling out in clumps, his scalp was burned, and he reeled with fever. He was
returned to the Fief and banished to the infirmary. When the fever broke he pretended a slow
recovery. This deception led to his being taught to read and write.

It happened because Flornat the Slavemaster had whipped Taguare the Bookmaster to within
a sliver of his life, for what offense Collan never learned. Taguare occupied the other sickbed
before the hearth, and as they recuperated together, the Bookmaster discovered a mind worth
training.

Not that Col knew anything. But to distract himself from his pain, Taguare told his own
favorite stories, and found an appreciative, perceptive audience. He encouraged questions,
trying to get a feel for Col's wits. They were promising. Taguare asked for and received
permission to add him to the small class of slave children deemed teachable. Now the boy
spent his mornings running errands for various functionaries, his afternoons in the animal
pens, and the time between dinner and bed in a tiny schoolroom with four other boys and six
girls under Taguare's tutelage. All were older than he, and far ahead of him in learning. But
Collan rewarded the Bookmaster's instincts. A talent for words and numbers was revealed.
And he was always hungry for more.

He learned reading, writing, and ciphering; basic geography (limited to The Waste, which no
slave of Scraller's ever left); what botany was applicable to a notoriously barren land; more
than he ever wanted to know about galazhi; and multitudes of tales about Wraithenbeasts.
These included no practical advice for escapeтАФno one lived past a SightingтАФ and were
intended solely as a warning; the threat of Wraithenbeasts kept slaves pent better than
guarded walls.

There were two other subjects to the curriculum: religion and music. Had this been brought to
Scraller's notice, he would have pronounced both a total waste of time for slaves. But Taguare
taught his pupils the Saintly Calendar because he was a sincerely religious man, and he
taught them to sing because he loved music. Collan was an indifferent student of religion
(except for selecting his Birthingday in tribute to the only Saint who'd ever helped him; the
others seemed pretty useless), but he soaked up music like a garden drinks clean spring rain.

When his gift became evident, his morning duties were halved so he could be taught by
Carlon the LutenistтАФan average talent, but a kindly man. This worthy begged Flornat to add
study with him to Col's day, and after a demonstration of the boy's raw talent, the
Slavemaster heeded his request. Scraller was informed, and approved the plan. He kept
Bookmaster and Lutenist as proof of the elegance of his court. He was, of course, both
illiterate and tone-deaf.