"SM Stirling - Change 02 - Scourge of God" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

УIngolf, my friend, youdid move, despite the spell. You smashed in the back of his head with that yoke; and IТd be dead now, if you hadnТt. At a guess, he laid an evilgeasa on you before you escaped him last year. There are ways of doing that, for good as well as ill, and planting them deep in a manТs mind with a word of power to call them out. And working harm that way leaves a man open to . . . other things; the Threefold Rule, you know.Ф
Ingolf crooked a smile. УYah, he got back worse than he gave me, didnТt he?Ф
He was cored out as a cook does a pepper for stuffing,Rudi thought, and swallowed painfully.
УThe command laid on you could be posthypnotic suggestion,Ф Ignatius said with a scholarТs precision; the Shield of St. Benedict were a learned order as well as a militant one. УNot necessarily magic.Ф
Rudi grinned at him, and quoted a saying of Juniper Mackenzie: УIt doesnТt stop being magic because you can explain it, Father.Ф
IngolfТs haunted dark blue eyes met his, and the Easterner touched his mouth and winced a bit before he spoke.
УYou stuck a yard of sword through his brisket, and he didnТt stop. Then I crushed in the back of his head, and hestill didnТt stop. Cry-yiy, that sounds an awful lot like magic tome .Ф
УAnd I cut his leg mostly off,Ф Mary Havel said. УThat didnТt stop him, either. It did make me feel better about his clouting me on the head with a sword earlier, though.Ф
УIt didnТt stop him, but itdid make him fall over,Ф Ritva pointed out cheerfully. УWhich helped everyone else cut him up and smash him and things.Carth mag , sis.Ф
Which meantuseful deed in Elvish. Neither of the twins seemed much put out; at least, they didnТt show much of the dread that several of the others did. But then, theywere witches, and Initiates; two-thirds of the D·nedain Rangers were, after all. Even if they did call on the Lord and Lady as Manwы and Varda, which he considered an affectation, rather than using more conventional names like Lugh and Brigid.
Everyone fell silent for a moment, turning in to their own thoughts. Mary and Ritva each hugged her knees and rested her chin on them, which emphasized their mirror-image likeness. It brought out their resemblance to Rudi, tooЧthe high cheekbones and slightly tilted almond-shaped eyes they all showed were probably from that shared blood. Mike Havel had been one-quarter Anishinabe Indian, the rest mostly Finn with a dash of Norse, all strains common in the upper Peninsula mining country of Michigan heТd come from, long before the ChangeЧfifty-odd years ago, now.
Their mother, Signe, probably contributed the wheat-colored hair and their eyes, which were just the shade of a morning sky; the Bear Lord had been flying her and her parents and brother and younger sister, Astrid, over the Idaho mountains not all that far from here when the machines died, and had got them down alive. And brought them to the Willamette country, and from that much had flowed . . . not least a fleeting encounter on a scouting mission that had produced one Rudi Mackenzie!
I wonder what flying like that was like,Rudi thought wistfully. HeТd been up in balloons, and flown gliders and hang gliders a few times, and that was better than anything but sex.But to be able to fly where you wanted for as long as you wanted, as fast as a bird . . .
Frederick Thurston spoke. УIТve been thinking,Ф he said.
He was the youngest there, a year younger than Edain, still a little gangly with the last fast growth of adolescence, though at six feet heТd probably gotten all his height. His face was the color of a well-baked loaf, and his hair a short-cut black cap of tight curls; President-General Thurston had been of that breed miscalled black before the Change.
УSure, and thatТs often advisable,Ф Rudi said. УAnd weТve all cause to be grateful for the direction of your thoughts, so.Ф
УI . . . I donТt think I should try to fight my . . . fight Martin. Not right now.Ф
His full-lipped mouth twisted as he spoke his elder brotherТs name. Rudi nodded in sympathy.Hard, hard to be betrayed by close kin, and see your own father killed by your brotherТs hand.
The commander of the little Boise cavalry detachment looked at him in alarm; Rosita Gonzalez was a dark wiry woman in her early thirties, with a sergeantТs chevrons riveted to the short sleeve of her mail-shirt.
УSir, we canТt let him get away with it! He killed thePresident. Ф
Frederick nodded. УNo, Sergeant, we canТt let him get away with it . . . and bear in mind that the President was my father. Though heТd want us to think of the country first.Ф Grimly: УThough in this case, the personal and the political go together. He has to die.Ф
And your late President was the man you resembled, as you said that,Rudi thought.Suddenly you didnТt look young or uncertain at all. Which is interesting in itself, eh?
The younger of the Thurston menЧthey had two sisters, both still girlsЧwent on:
УBut from what weТve heard, he has gotten away with itfor now . The Vice President and half the top command died at the Battle of Wendell.Ф
УWhat a coincidence. Convenient for the bastard.Ф
The usurperТs brother winced; it was plain heТd loved his elder sibling.
And love doesnТt die as clean as a heart-shot deer,Rudi thought.
HeТd liked Martin Thurston himself, on short acquaintance and before his treachery was revealed.
A dying love kicks and thrashes, and then the carcass of it festers and it can poison the waters of your soul as surely as a dead goat in a well. Fred here isstilltrying to draw what he saw down into his gut and believe it .
But he went on doggedly: УAnd the others, the brigade commanders and regional governors . . . theyТll be his men soon enough. HeТs even got a fairly good excuse for restoring the State of Emergency powers, with a war on, and canceling the elections Dad . . . the President . . . was going to call. This wasnТt something he . . . did on the spur of the moment. ItТs long-planned. If I tried to come out in the open now, not only would there be civil war, but IТdlose . And that would be the end of any hope of putting things right.Ф
Gonzalez looked at him. УWhat do you want to do, then, sir?Ф she said carefully. УSince defeat is not an option.Ф
УGive him enough rope to hang himself. Look . . . this isnТt just about us, about Boise. This Prophet son of a bitch . . . itТs more than a warlord with a big appetite, those are a dime a dozen. I believe what Rudi says, now, and I believe Ingolf about what he saw out East on Nantucket. I want you and the others to spread the truth. Cautiously! When the timeТs right, IТll be back to do my part. By then, things will be ready. IТm willing to fight Martin, itТs worth it, but not without a chance of beating him.Ф
УYes, sir,Ф she said respectfully. УIf you donТt mind my saying so, thatТs a very . . . adult way to look at it.Ф
УI know when my birthday is, Sergeant,Ф he said.
Her dark hard face turned to Rudi. УAnd youТll have this Sword you say is waiting for you on Nantucket?Ф she said skeptically.
УIf I live, Rosita,Ф the Mackenzie said gently. УNothingТs sure . . . except that thereТs no hope or luck to be found turning away from a task the Powers have laid on you.Ф
УFrankly, I never really believed Ingolf here,Ф she went on. УNo offense! I knowyou believe it, Ingolf, but . . . well, a lot of stories come from the outlands. Creepy places with enchanted swords and extinct animals . . .Ф
УThereТs a passenger pigeon at Dun Juniper,Ф Rudi said quietly. УMost of us here have seen it.That came from Nantucket.Ф
УAnd theProphet believes the story,Ф Ingolf said. УHe put Kuttner in when the Bossman hired me to go East, and Kuttner was his main secret agent in the household of IowaТs Bossman. And when I escaped from Corwin, he risked pissing off everyone on the West Coast by sending his Cutters after me. They near as damn-alldid kill me; if Rudi and his friends hadnТt been there that night . . .Ф
Rudi touched one hand to the livid bruises that KuttnerТs dead hands had left on his throat, through the mail collar and padding.
УYou were there,Ф he said. УYou sawthis .Ф
Gonzalez swallowed and looked away. УYeah . . . Yeah, I was.Ф She shuddered. УHell, I saw a dead man keep fighting until we cut him to pieces.Christ . So maybe a magic sword isnТt so loopy after all.Ф
Ingolf nodded; he seemed to have cast off most of his chill, but he held out his big battered hands to the coals of the fire.
УItТs there,Ф he said flatly. УI saw a hell of a lot of things on Nantucket, and some of them may have been me going bugfuck, but the Sword isthere . And the Voice, the voice that told me to go find the Son of the Bear Who Ruled and tell him about it.Ф
Astonishingly, he grinned a little. УDidnТt know what to expect . . . but youТre not as furry as I thought you might be, Rudi.Ф
The Mackenzie laughed at that, then stopped himself: it hurt too much.
УWhatТll you do, then, Fred?Ф he asked the GeneralТs son. УTake to the mountains? Go West? My mother would welcome you and give you sanctuary at Dun Juniper. You might find a few Mackenzie bowmen whoТd come back with you in a while as well, to be sure.Ф
УAnd the Lady Regent would make you welcome in Portland,Ф Mathilda said. Her spine straightened. УAnd sheТd give you gold, and knights and men-at-arms to follow you. My House owes you a blood-debt now, a debt of honor.Ф
УOr you could go to Lord Alleyne and Lady Astrid in Mithrilwood,Ф the twins saidЧtheir voices were so close together that they had an eerie overlaid quality.
Ritva went on alone: УAunt Astrid wouldlove it. An evil usurper to put down and an exiled prince to help! ItТs just the sort of thing Rangers aresupposed to do.Ф