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

swept the land for endless years, destroying everything."
Aithne looked down at the depthless water which legend said was deeper
than the open sea beyond the hills. "But _they_ survived."
"Yes." In his heart he was singing with them now, learning their songs,
tumbling into the murky water to share their sorrows.
"All the others are gone, except for them?"
"Gone, gone," Curren wept. "All gone, but we remain. For all eternity,
we remain, alone in this strange world."
"Curren, stop." She shook his arm, frightened for him.
"We do not belong here," he cried. "This place is so strange. Who are
these creatures, these hunters? What is the burning, orange magic that they
bring with them?"
"Curren!"
"Alone. Oh, we are so _alone_ here." He wept, his heart broken beyond
bearing, recognizing the only loneliness in the world which matched his own.
To be so different. To never, ever belong. Forever apart. "Oh, so alone..."
"Curren!" Truly terrified now of this power that had taken hold of him,
she struck him with all her might. His head snapped sideways, and his eyes
flew open. With bewildered eyes and a tear-streaked face, he sat gazing at
her, blinking as if awakened from sleep in the middle of the night. Aithne
knelt at his side and cradled his face between her hands. "Are you well?"
"I ... Yes."
He looked so very young and helpless now, so different from the angry,
black-haired, fire-eyed boy who stalked around the hills and the glens with
the solitary pride of a king. Afraid for him, afraid of what those ancient
creatures in the loch may have done to him, she took his hand and pulled him
to his feet. With a fearful glance at the water, she said, "This is an evil
place. We must go home."
Curren looked away. "All right." She didn't understand, he realized.
She believed him, but she could never really know what it meant to be like
him. But _they_ knew.
****
Aithne found him at the water's edge often after that, sitting a little
closer to the flat, murky waves each time, as if gradually approaching the
creatures who called to him from below. And each time, it was a little harder
to coax him away, to bring him back to the village, where Columba's new god
was taking root and starting to change their world, as the world of the great
monsters had once been changed so thoroughly.
"Columba has said he would like you to be at the ceremony this
evening," she told Curren one day, trying to pull his gaze away from the
water.
"What has he planned for tonight?" Curren asked distractedly, attuned
to the beckoning voices in the water.
"Some kind of ritual. It involves water and accepting the new god,"
Aithne answered vaguely, wishing she could wipe that dreamy look off his face.
"I know why he wants me." Curren's voice was rich with contempt. "If he
can silence the voices and blind my visions, he'll be able to make everyone
believe that his god is more powerful than any of the old gods, even the
demons."
"Curren..." She bit her lip, aware that this was dangerous territory.