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

"Let me go!"
The creature began to swim slowly toward them, its long tail propelling
it with lazy, powerful strokes. The great body undulated with hideous grace,
neither fish nor serpent, yet reminiscent of both. Aithne shook violently as
tears of helpless fear spilled down her cheeks. She swore to all the gods
above and below that she would not let this thing have Curren, and she held
her ground. But when the monster looked directly at her, its flat,
expressionless eyes revealing nothing, Aithne forgot everything but her blind
terror, and she turned and ran.
She never remembered climbing the hill, tearing her garments against
the clinging branches, or screaming for help. She remembered nothing between
the moment she fled the ancient monster and the moment she found herself in
Columba's arms, sobbing with anguish and begging him to save Curren.
"My god is more powerful than this monster in the loch," Columba
promised Brude and his men.
"Save him! Stop talking and save him!" Aithne cried.
"And will you come to the one true god, then?" Columba asked. "Will
_he_?"
"Yes! I promise! I _promise_. Only save him!"
They rushed forward in a great mass of rattling weapons and war cries,
swooping down the hill and toward the water's edge. Columba led them,
weaponless, his exultation plain to see, bearing his faith as his only banner.
Where Curren had stood a few minutes ago, now only his clothing
remained, an untidy heap from which his footprints led to the water.
"There!" Aithne screamed, seeing him swimming through the water,
eagerly approaching the creature who waited silently for him. "There! Stop
him!"
The men looked to Brude for an order, their voices gruff with terror,
their eyes wide with shock. No one there had ever expected to see the beast of
legend with which they threatened their children and grandchildren.
"There is nothing in heaven or earth more powerful than the love of
Jesus Christ!" Columba cried, climbing onto a rock and raising his arms toward
the sky.
"Help him!" Aithne screamed, certain the beast would devour Curren at
any moment.
"God Almighty, I call upon You and Your son!" Columba shouted to the
empty skies.
Aithne sank to her knees, hating Columba, hating them all.
With grand, sweeping gestures, Columba pointed directly at the
enormous, undulating creature, drawing the gaze of its flat, staring eyes.
"Touch not that man! Go no further!"
"Talk will not help," Aithne snarled.
"Quiet!" Brude ordered her.
The monster stared. Its undulation slowed, then ceased. Aithne's next
breath burned her lungs.
"Quick! Go back!" Columba cried, his voice booming around the hills and
across the water.
"Please..." Aithne whispered. "Please," she begged the new god, the god
who had died at the hands of the Romans. "Please, I will worship you forever."
The monster seemed to sink deeper into the water.