"Sheri S Tepper - The End of the Game_txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

УWell, and what is it now, girl! Have you some other complaint?Ф

УNo,Ф I said. УItТs just that IТll be gone. And we may not see one another again ...Ф

УNo great loss,Ф she told me very cheerfully.

I could not let it rest. УI ... I think it is. I mean ... I know you havenТt been very satisfied with me. I know you like the boys better. But still and all, youТre my mother, and I wantЧФ

УOut,Ф she said in a flat, toneless voice, as though she were ordering the fustigars from the kennels. УIТve had enough of your maundering. Do you think I havenТt seen you all evening, playing up to that fool Joramal, trying to get out of it? Well, youТll not get out of it. YouТll get in it and do as youТre told. Now out. The contract will be done after breakfast tomorrow, and youТre to be there. After which youТll be no trouble of mine and IТll need listen to no more whine of Mother this and Mother that. I would as soon have mothered a kitchen pawn.Ф

She shoved me out, not gently, and shut the door in my face.

I went up to my room, waking Murzy where she sat by my fire ready to undo my laces, and I said not a word to her about it. It came only as a confirmation, not as hurtful as one might thinkЧat least not where I could feel it, though I had a sense something deep had been mortally wounded. No matter. The deep things stay buried unless one stirs them up. I had been feeling a little guilty about maneuvering Joramal the way we had, but there was no more guilt. There was only a kind of cold, hurt calm at the center of things which lasted me all night and on the following day throughout the reading of the contract. It let me enjoy the faces on Mendost and Mother when the matter of Xammer was read out. There was anger there, some large, private anger, and I knew covert plans of theirs had indeed been upset by my personal negotiations. It was too late for them to do anything about it, however, and the ceremony proceeded during which MotherЧwhite-lipped and angry-lookingЧformally turned me over to Joramal Trandle as surrogate for the King. From that time on, by Game law, I belonged to King Kelver for at least the period of the alliance. My family no longer had any claim on me whatsoever. Then I went up to my room and cried for an hour. It was very refreshing. After which I considered fire for a while, then went to sleep wondering if travel with the Negotiator would be like traveling with the dams. In which case I would get very little rest.

We were making ready to leave the following day when someone realized I had no clothes. There was then a delay while the seamstresses outfitted me. I had been wearing some cast-off things of PoremyТs and had only the one gown. I think Murzy may have said something in MendostТs hearing about Jinian being a laughing stock in Xammer because she had no clothes. At any rate, Mendost and Mother had a screaming match over it, but I did get some clothing. Except for the betrothal gown, they were the first things I had ever had made for me. I was amazed to learn that girlsТ underdrawers are made differently, though when I stopped to think about it, it did make sense.

УWhat happens when I outgrow them?Ф I asked Cat. She was watching Sarah take the bastings out of my favorite suit. Red leather riding trousers and a gray-and-red-striped tunic top with a red half cape. УThe way IТm going, I wonТt be able to wear this more than three or four seasons.Ф

УI understand that VorboldТs House provides,Ф Sarah said, rolling up bits of threads. УWhen the King pays your way there, he pays for everything, and they see that youТre properly clothed for any occasion. It isnТt just a School, Jinian. ItТsЧwell, itТs a special place. Only for girls, you know.Ф

I hadnТt known. I wished I didnТt know. Something that was only for girls had a sound to it I didnТt like. УWhy?Ф I asked. УWhy only for girls?Ф

УBecause itТs for young women of families who seek alliances,Ф Cat said in her tart fashion. УTo get them out of GamesТ way, for heavenТs sake. This Demesne could get involved in some Great Game tomorrowЧand knowing your brother Mendost, thatТs likely. ItТs only weТre so remote from anything or anyone has kept us peaceful so long. If you were here during Game, you could be taken hostage, or killed, or set up in the Game some way. Xammer is neutral territory. No one Games in Xammer. Girls can grow up there, find their TalentЧif anyЧand make some decent or useful choices when theyТre old enough to do so.Ф

I didnТt know she was speaking prophetically, or I might have paid more attention. As it was, I only nodded and humphed. I still didnТt like the Уgirls onlyФ aspect, but I had to admit it sounded sensible. Murzy had gone to some pains to describe Game to me in terms that were anything but attractive or exciting. Many GamesmenЧand womenЧseemed to end up dead very young, or worse.

УBesides,Ф Murzy interjected, УyouТll learn a good deal. Not the kind of thing weТve been teaching you, but useful stuff nonetheless.Ф She held up the cape with satisfaction. УWeТll need to put a studentТs knot on this.Ф She meant the green and purple ribbons that students or pregnant women or scholars wear to show they are on neutral business and should not be involved in Game.

УDonТt,Ф I begged. УWe can put it on later, just before we leave. It will clash with the red, and I want to wear it to ride Misquick today.Ф I had it in mind that Grompozzle and Misquick had never seen me in new clothes, proud and Gamesmanlike, and it would be fun to ride out in something besides the tattered trews and leather shirt I always wore. I was far too big to ride Misquick at all. However, though our Demesne raised horses that were sold all over the world, I had never been given a mount other than the pony. I was allowed to work with the horses, but not to ride them. I think Mother and Mendost made that rule just to be annoying. At any rate, I would have a last ride on the poor pony, just to say good-bye. Joramal, after seeing Misquick, had carefully hidden a smile and promised me a more fitting mount. УWhen I get back,Ф I urged Murzy. She agreed. Well. How could she have known? How could I?

So, just before noon I packed a lunch, whistled up Grompozzle, saddled Misquick, and made off for the hills, waving to Murzy as I clattered through the courtyard. I didnТt intend to go far. There wasnТt time, and I didnТt really have the heart for visiting favorite places much. This was more in the nature of a nostalgic farewell, full of bitter-sweet memories, very self-dramatized and all. I had a mental picture of me in the new clothes that probably looked as little like the real me as Grompozzle looked like a real hunting fustigar. I noticed a horseman on the line of western hills as we set out, but I thought nothing of it. The forest east belonged to Stoneflight, or so we say, as far as the ridge line. North is the Old South Road City of the blind runners, and south is only badlands. But the forest west of the Demesne is open country and full of game, so riders are seen there often enough. I headed north. The Season of Storms was notime near, and if I encountered a runner, he would only give me honey cake and send me home. They and I had become fairly friendly over the past several years. Once I asked a runner how they got started on the road. He gargled at me for a long time, and I gathered some great-great-ancestor far back had been summoned to run the road, particularly the bad spots where it was all broken. ThatТs why they valued the footseeing so, to find the broken places between the stretches anyone could see. They were a very strange people.

Several times as I rode, I saw the same rider on the western ridge. After a time, it began to make me nervous, so I left the open trail and reined Misquick into the trees where we couldnТt be seen. Where we couldnТt have been seen if IТd been wearing my old clothes. IТd forgotten the bright red cape, the red leather trews. Well. Nothing to do about that. The three of us wended our way around a little hill and down into a little valley beyond.

There was a rider east of me, on the skyline.

I didnТt know whether heТd seen me or not, nor could I tell what Talent he might have. If he were a Demon or some of that line who could Read minds, he could tell where I was easy enough. Though why anyone should want to know was beyond me. It seemed prudent to head for the Demesne, so Misquick and I turned about and made for home. I kept it slow, remembering times when Misquick had tried to hurry and ended up in trouble.

There were two mounted men waiting at either side of the trail, just inside the hollow. Two ahead of me, plus one to the west and one to the east. All of them were on tall, fast-looking horses, and it was silly to think of outrunning them. I pulled Misquick up and sat, waiting. They didnТt leave me in any doubt at all.

One of the men was larger than the others with him. He had a long face with a heavy jaw; wide, sneering lips; eyes that brooded at me from under heavy lids as though they did not see me directly but through some veil. They were not quite focused on me. I had an uneasy feeling that I was someone else to him, some different image he had already seen and dismissed.

УYouТd be Jinian,Ф he said, getting the name right first try as he took hold of MisquickТs bridle. УMendostТs sister.Ф

I thought of lying about it, but it was obvious they knew. УYes,Ф I said. One thing Murzy had drummed into me was to say no more than necessary.

УGood enough,Ф he snorted. УThen youТll come along with us, girl. You wonТt be hurt if you donТt try anything silly.Ф

I had no intention of trying anything, silly or not, so I whistled to Grompozzle, who came slavering up, offering to lick the hands of my captors in his usual indiscriminating style. Then we went off to the northwest, over the ridge and away, moving a good deal faster than Misquick was accustomed to moving under the best of conditions. As we pushed under a webwillow tree, I caught a handful of twigs and then dropped all but three. The three I stuffed into the saddlebag, in the bag with my lunch. Then Misquick did just what IТd thought she would, stumble, slid halfway down a bank, and ended up mired in a mudhole. УShe canТt go that fast,Ф I said apologetically. УSheТs not very surefooted.Ф