"Melanie Rawn - Salve Regina" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

"You say she spoke many strange names to you.

What were these names she used of herself?"

"I do not recall them, P├иre Jerome. I am only a simple, ignorant
woman. I have no learningтАФ" She hesitated, trying to remember the
sounds, then said shyly, "She did say that my name means Bright One, and
that this was one of her own Names as well."

"Was one of them"тАФand here his voice fell to a hushтАФ"Ashtoreth?"

"Yes! AshtorethтАФand a word like my daughter's name, AnneтАФ"
 The priest crossed himself several times and spoke very rapidly in the
Holy Tongue. Then he took Berthilde by the shoulders and gazed with
awesome intensity into her eyes.

"You have been cozened, seduced by frightful powers of evil. I give
thanks to Almighty God that He has sent you here to His Holy Church
before your simplicity could lead you into direst peril of your immortal
soul."

Berthilde's heart thudded with terror. "P├иre Jerome," she breathed,
"what have I done?"

"It is true that you are ignorant, thus easy prey. This is my fault for not
instructing you more strictly." He bowed his head, the small circle of his
tonsure pale and naked at the crown of his head. "What priest, becoming
shepherd of so gentle a flock, would believe his sheep capable of any but
small everyday sinsтАФlet alone of being led so far astray? I spoke no harsh
warnings, I saw no need. And I was wrong." Looking at her once more, he
went on, "I repent of my sin and will remedy your ignorance. It was not
the Blessed Virgin you saw, but a spawn of Satan."

"No!" she blurted. "She was not, she could not have beenтАФ"

"I tell you that it was. Had you truly seen the Mother of God, she would
have worn a blue mantle, for blue is her color. Her head would be
surrounded by a blaze of light, for she is the Queen of Heaven. She would
have held a book, as she did when the Archangel Gabriel came to her, or
the lily he gave her as symbol of her blessedness among all women. She
would have told you that of her compassion she had pleaded with God and
Christ to let her help you by giving you water. InsteadтАФ"

She trembled, not daring to breathe.

"She wore glowing white, as bright as the star Lucifer was before he fell
into the Pit. Did she not say that Bright One was one of her own names?
And the necklace and bracelets of goldтАФwere they not like snakes twisting
about her throat and arms? The names she called herselfтАФoh, Berthilde.