"Nancy Springer - Chains Of Gold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

тАЬDonтАЩt badger me, my good friend, please. Not this last night that is given us to share.тАЭ

тАЬI must! Arlen, I cannot bear it. They will tie you up to that bloody tree, tie you with willow thongs and
beat you until you faintтАФтАЭ

тАЬI know,тАЭ said Arlen.

тАЬтАФand then they will put out your eyes.тАЭ

Those incredible eyes. I shuddered and closed my own. I had not known it was to be so cruel.

тАЬI know,тАЭ Arlen said sharply. тАЬLonn, stop it.тАЭ

тАЬI cannot,тАЭ said Lonn. тАЬThen they will castrate you. And after the death blow you will be flayedтАФтАЭ

тАЬSay no more, I tell you!тАЭ Arlen made a small, furious sound in his throat sprang up, turning his back on
Lonn, and patted several horses at random. I watched, seeing the anguish on his face, furious at Lonn in
my turn.

тАЬAnd then they will sever your joints,тАЭ said Lonn, very softly, тАЬand gut you, and hack you apart, catching
your blood in a silver basin, and they will sprinkle usтАФтАЭ He choked, unable to go on. Pitiful pain in his
voiceтАФit was impossible any longer to be angry at him.

тАЬWhy?тАЭ Arlen spoke without turning around. тАЬWhy are you doing this to me? They have told us these
things since we were striplings.тАЭ

тАЬThey have told us so that we would not hear, not really know, not understandтАФhow horribleтАФтАЭ

Silence.

тАЬArlen, go, flee,тАЭ Lonn said softly at last. тАЬLive.тАЭ

Arlen turned back toward him, his face hard and fair, like a carving. тАЬI would rather be dead than
dishonored,тАЭ he said. тАЬA cowardтАФтАЭ

тАЬThere is no dishonor in putting an end to madness.тАЭ

тАЬThe sacred rites of the goddess, madness?тАЭ For a moment ArlenтАЩs green eyes blazed, but then he
merely looked weary. тАЬLonn, I have no desire to quarrel with you. Please.тАЭ

тАЬAll right,тАЭ said Lonn stubbornly, meaning that it was not right at all. тАЬIf honor is of such concern to you,
then think of the girl,her honor. She will be bound to know no man but you, one hourтАЩs wedlove in all her
life and then celibacy. Suppose she has promised herself to a sweetheart? She is not here of her own will,
any more than we are. Likely she will be foresworn.тАЭ

I could have laughed or cried. Me, a sweetheart, in sterile Stanehold, with father standing guard? Arlen
must have thought something of the same sort, for he laughed out loud, mocking laughter yet not
unmelodious.

тАЬA daughter of that precious Rahv? SheтАЩll be black as a crow and hard as flint, not likely to care for any