"Michelle West - Winter Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (West Michelle)

He led her through the cloisters; she realized later that this was a courtesy to
Darius. Darius was comfortable in the apse, but once the halls narrowed,
movement would be restricted, and it was clear what the CompanionтАФno, her
CompanionтАФthought of that.
She even smiled, felt a moment of almost gentle amusement, until she glanced at
the older man's face. Care had worn lines from his eyes to his lips, and she thought
that no matter what happened in future, they were there to stay.
They grew deeper as he left the cloister; deeper still as he walked down a hall and
stopped in front of a door that was slightly ajar. "Here," he said quietly.
She nodded and opened the door.
And stopped there, beneath the lintel, staring.
There was more than one room; she could see that clearly in the streaming light
of day. And there were beds, bedrolls, makeshift cots, with only barely enough
room between them to allow a man passage. Each of the beds was occupied.
Darius.
:Kayla.: The word was urgent, but real.
She was afraid.
"I can'tтАФI can't go in there," she whispered. :Kayla.:
 But the door was no protection; it was open. She could hear weeping,
whimpering, screaming. Her hand caught the frame of the door and her fingers
grew white as she held it.
:Bright heart.: Darius said firmly, :see with your eyes. Hear with your ears; hear
only with your ears.:
She drew a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. See, she thought, with your eyes.
She could do that. She could look.
Men lay abed. Women. There were children as well, although they were
mercifully few. They gazed up at the ceiling of the room, or at the walls, their eyes
unblinking. They did not move; their lips were still. She shook her head to clear it
of the sounds of despair, and as she did, the priest gently pushed his way past her.
"They have been this way," he said softly, "for weeks. They will eat what we feed
them, and drink when we offer them water; we can clean them, wash them, bathe
them. But they will not rise or move on their own; they do not speak. Some of
them have families in this town, butтАФbut most of their families can only bear to
visit for the first few days." He walked over to one of the beds and set upon its
edge, heavily.
"More and more of my people are brought here every day. And throughout the
town there are others whose families can afford the cost of their care."
"TheyтАФthey have no fever?"
"None. No rash, no bleeding, no outward sign of illness. But they are gone from
us." He looked up; met her eyes.
"The man that youтАФyou found, today, would have joined them by evening at the
latest."
"How do you know?"
"I've seen it. I know the signs. All of us do."
"ButтАФ"
"We have no doctors who can aid us; no healers who can reach them." He closed
his eyes. Opened them again. "What did you do, Herald?"
She shook her head. "NтАФnothing. AndтАФand I'm notтАФnot a Herald." She walked
into the room, to shed the weight of the bleak hope in his eyes.