"Jane Yolen - The White Babe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yolen Jane)

Next the wands are flipped between the circles in preset partnerships for seven more beats.
Finally, to the accompaniment of the choral singing of the watchers, and an ever-rapidly
increasing pattern beat out on the drum, the wands are flipped across the circle, first to the
partner, and back, then to the person directly to the partnerтАЩs right. The wands must be caught in
the sword hand, which gives left-handed players a decided disadvantage in the game. As soon as a
player drops a wand, she is тАЬout.тАЭ
Lowentrout points to the famous тАЬinsert pieceтАЭ of the Baryard Tapestries, which had been
found in the vault of the eastern potentate Achmed Mubarek thirty years ago as proof positive
that the тАЬgame of wandsтАЭ played by warriors in the mountain clans and the nursery circle game
are one and the same. While it is true that the тАЬinsert pieceтАЭ (which has been repaired inexpertly
by many Eastern handsтАФsome say as many as thirty times as evidenced by the different colored
threads) shows concentric circles of women warriors, they are holding swords, not wands. One of
the so-called players is lying on her back, sword in her breast, obviously dead. She is ignored by
the other players. Cowan argues forcibly that the тАЬinsert pieceтАЭ has been too mangled over the
years to be plain in its correspondences, but that it is more likely a picture of a specific form of
execution as the тАЬinsert pieceтАЭ occurs in that section of the tapestry which deals with traitors and
spies. Perhaps the true meaning of the тАЬinsert pieceтАЭ will never be known, but MagonтАЩs shrill
argument that the inner circle consisted of the тАЬdark sistersтАЭ or тАЬshadow sistersтАЭ who could be
seen by the light of the moon or the heavy tallow candles (still popular in the Upper and Lower
Dales) and the outer circle was that of the тАЬlight sistersтАЭ harkens back to the last century when
the Luxophists sought to resurrect the тАЬBook of LightтАЭ practices. Those practices had been
banned for at least seven generations and the тАЬBook of LightтАЭ has been so thoroughly discredited
by DuaneтАЩs brilliant тАЬDas Volk lichtet nichtтАЭ I need not reiterate her arguments here.
Some confusion over the intricately engraved silver rings found in the Arrundale grave mound
still exist. Sigel and Salmon call them тАЬwand holders,тАЭ giving credence to MagonтАЩs shaky thesis,
but there is even more evidence that these artifacts are napkin rings or possibly pack cups for
long trips, and that is convincingly argued in CowanтАЩs тАЬRings of the ClansтАЭ in Nature and History,
Vol. 51.

The Story:
SelnaтАЩs shameful behavior became the talk of the Hame. Though sisters had quarreled before, little
fiery arguments that sent a moment of heat and light, and then died down without even embers of
memory, what Selna did was unheard of. Even the priestessтАЩ records mentioned nothing like it, and the
Hame had seventeen generations listed and eight great tapestries as well.
Selna stayed in the bright sunlight with her child during the day and at night, babe bound fast to her
breast or back, avoided the well-lighted rooms of the Hame. Once or twice, when it was absolutely
unavoidable, and Selna had to come into a torch-lit room, Marjo crept behind her, a thin attenuated
figure. Gone was the dark sisterтАЩs robust laughter, her hearty ringing tones.
тАЬSelna,тАЭ she would cry to her sisterтАЩs back with a voice like a single strand of sigh, тАЬWhat is wrong
between us?тАЭ It was a ghostтАЩs voice, hollow and dying. тАЬSelnaтАжтАЭ
Once, in the kitchen begging some milk for the babe, Selna turned for a moment when Marjo called.
She put her hands over the childтАЩs ears as if to block out the sound of her sisterтАЩs voice, though it was so
low by now it could scarcely be heard. Behind her, Donya and her own sister Doey and two of the older
girls watched in horror. They saw in MarjoтАЩs wasting figure their own slow deaths.
MarjoтАЩs eyes, the color of bruises, wept black tears. тАЬSister, why do you do this? I would share the
child with you. I have no wish to stand between.тАЭ
But Selna turned slowly and deliberately away from the pleading figure, back toward the kitchenтАЩs
light. When she noticed Donya and Doey and the two girls standing there, stricken, she bowed her head
and hunched her shoulders up as if expecting a blow. Then she turned and went back without the milk
into the darkest part of the hall.