"Sheri S. Tepper - Awakeners 2 - Southshore" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

half up the huge trunk, the woman pointed into a room where a wide bed was
spread with gaily worked quilts. The door was fastened back with a strap, and the
woman loosened it now, letting the door sag toward its latch.
"Sleep. When you've slept enough, come back down to the place we were. I'll be
there, or Trale. Will the baby be all right, here with you?"
Pamra nodded, so weary she could hardly hold her head up. She heard the latch
click as she crawled into the bed, felt Lila curl beside her with a satisfied murmur,
then was gone into darkness.
Outside the room people moved to and fro, some of them pausing to stare
curiously at the door before moving away to be replaced by someone else. Inside
the room, Lila squirmed out of Pamra's grasp, turned to let her feet drop off the
edge of the bed, then stagger-crawled to the door to sit there with her own hands
pressed to its surface, smiling, nodding, sometimes saying something to herself in
a chuckling baby voice, as though she watched with her fingers what transpired
outside the wooden barrier.
Below in the firelit room, the three Mendicants crouched before the fire, staring
into the flames. Peasimy had fallen asleep where he sat, as had the men with him.
"Mad," said Trale at last. "There's no doubt."

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 SOUTHSHORE-Awakeners 2


"None," agreed the woman. "She hasn't eaten for weeks or months. She's all skin
and eyes. She's an ecstatic. A visionary. The fasting only makes it worse. The
minute the smoke hit her, she felt hungry. She's half starved herself."
"How long do you think we can get her to stay?" the man asked.
"No time at all. Tomorrow morning, perhaps. If the storm goes on, perhaps until
the rain stops."
"Not long enough to do any good."
"No."
"It's too bad, isn't it?"
Trale nodded, poking at the fire. "Well, a time of changes is often unpleasant. I
don't see the Jarb Houses seriously threatened. Or the Mendicants."
"There will be a need for more houses." The woman made a spiraling gesture that
conveyed the wholeness of the edifice with all its murmurous inhabitants.
"Perhaps some of the people in residence will be able to leave," the man said. He
sounded doubtful of this.
"Some are ready to leave as Mendicants." Trale sighed. "Taking their pipes with
them, as we do. The othersтАФif they go, they go into madness once more. More
houses will be needed, but it's unlikely we'll be able to build them."
"We could keep her here."
"By force?" It was a question only, without emotion. But the woman flushed deep
crimson. "I thought, persuade her, perhaps."
"Try," Trale urged her. "By all means, Elina, try. It has not a hope of success, but
you will not be content unless you try."
Late in the day a bell rang and people began filing down from the chimney top
toward the refectory. Children leapt from the railings into nets and from these into
other nets below. Some whirled down tall poles. A train of whooping boys came
spinning down the spiraling banister, loud with laughter. The tables filled, and