"Laura Resnick - Curren's Song" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

the Old Ones. They're big, bigger than anything you've ever seen, with long
necks, flat heads, and bodies like giant serpents. They have long tails, wide
backs with humps, and thick grey skin with deep lines and furrows. They have
no arms or legs, just big fins." Aithne looked so horrified he stopped
speaking.
"You've _seen_ them?"
"Only in my mind."
She glanced fearfully at the loch. "I thought ... I thought it was just
a story they told children to keep them away from the water. So they wouldn't
drown."
"No. They're real."
"And they eat virgins," she breathed in terror.
"No. Just fish."
"How can you be sure?" she asked doubtfully.
"They talk to me."
"Why?"
"_Why_?"
"Yes. Why do monsters in the loch talk to you?"
He had never even wondered about it before. He shrugged at last and
said, "Perhaps because I can hear them."
****
Curren stayed away from the village as much as he could now that
Columba was living there. The priest harassed, pursued, even frightened him.
Columba claimed Curren's visions were evil and must be expelled from his soul.
This could only be done, the big man said, if Curren accepted the new faith,
the new god.
"The story makes no sense," Curren told Aithne when she joined him
beneath the clump of fir trees where they often met now. "His god was killed
by Romans. Our grandfathers' grandfathers drove the Romans away, but Columba
worships a god who let the Romans kill him. Some god." It felt good to sneer
at someone else for a change.
"It's a strange story," Aithne admitted. "But he says many across the
sea believe it. He says there is even a village on Iona where they make more
priests."
"Like him?"
She nodded. "You didn't know?"
He shook his head. "No. But I believe it. I can see Columba's god
chasing away the gods who live here now."
"But you said he's a weak god. He let the Romans -- "
"It doesn't matter what _I_ think of Columba's god. Others will turn to
him. Many others." He looked down at the blue tattoos on his body. More would
be added soon, when he was old enough for battle. "Columba wants us to stop
painting ourselves. He says it goes against his god's wishes."
"Brude will never agree to that," Aithne said with certainty. "Our men
will always be painted."
"No," Curren said, for he saw it. "Not always. Some day, their skin
will be plain."
Aithne was distressed enough by this information to want to change the
subject. "Let's not talk about the priest anymore. Tell me instead about the
monsters in the loch."