"ab Hugh, Dafydd - Jiana 02 - Warriorwards" - читать интересную книгу автора (ab Hugh Dafydd)

/ say toe you maid, yer swarin wrong.
For six fine children ha' ye bntng at the well below the
vaUey-o,
Green grows the lilly-o, Right among the bushes-o. . . -
Soon the room began to darken, though the paper lanterns burned as bright as ever. She lost interest in the conversation, which led her to no one and nothing, and she slid back on her stool.
She sipped another cup of tea, and sang a quiet spell into her cup:
Ricki-ticki pay-the-bul, Here I sit invisible. Hiding in my hidden nul Fast!
The singer responded, his own eyes shut as he lost himself near the well below the valley-o.
// you be a man of noble fame,
You'll tell to me thefayther of them at the well below the
vaUey-o,
Green grows the litty-o, Right among the bushes, oh.
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Dafydd ab Hugh
The magic was deceptively simple, and thus good practice. Three things had to balance: the song (that served to focus the mind), the mental image she held of herself shrinking smaller and smaller, disappearing finally into the twinkle of an extinguished candleflame (that served to direct the magical energy), and finally, the power itself, that had to be drawn from the reservoir up and down her spine like water from a desert well: carefully, lovingly, without spilling so much as a drop.
There's two of them by yer uncle Dan at the well below
the valley-o, Green grows the lilly-o, Right among the bushes, oh.
It worked so long as Jiana banished her fears that it would not. All eyes slid past her, as if she truly had become invisible. She was glad now that she had ordered an entire pot, for the teakeep no longer remembered her or asked to refill her cup.
/ bloom and know myself, I bloom and lose myself, she thought. Why do these songs have such an effect on me? Why do they creep about inside my guts like spiders in an old house, maggots in rotten meat?
She pulled deeper within herself, chilling at the words as they razored through her.
If you be a man of noble steam,
You'll tell toe me what did happen to them at the well
below the valley-ot Green grows the litty-o, Right among the bushes, oh.
She turned around at the bar (. . . sit invisible, hiding in my hidden hill . . .) and leaned back against it.
Her Briar friend was named Padrag, and he was involved in an animated conversation with another of his countrymen. They spoke in Curyc, dead tongue of the
WARRIORWARDS
23
Dead, learned language of the Briars (their native tongue,
though none spoke it as a native).
"Aye, Toolians; from the deserts, my friend, far south." Padrag, coughed, and swallowed the rest of his ale. "Tents, they live in. Tents, PadragЧthink upon it! Carry
them all upon huge, hideous beasties, what they call jamah.
Horses with humps and evil lips." "Sure and you're telling a story, lad." "May the Lord strike off my testicles if it is not true." Toolians. thought Jiana in disgust; she had spent a long,
hot summer in Tool, fighting the wily tribesmen. They
were brutal but intelligent, and never knew when to die
gracefully. And they keep slaves . . .
There's two buried 'neath the stable door at the well below
the vattey-o, Green grows the lilly-o, Right among the bushes, oh.
"It's caused the butchers a terrible embarrassment," said Padrag's friend with a laugh. "They fear if a slave should escapeЧshould they return the slave and save a valuable ally, or keep their own law and declare him free?"
Jiana smiled. The old (pre-World's Dream) Prince Alanai would never even have tolerated Toolians in the Water Kingdom, let alone allow them to bring their slaves.
Jiana frowned, remembering ToolЧugly, brutal Tool, Dung of the Desert. She had raided across the sandy border from Door, in a small troop of horsemen led by Warkai the Witty, who naturally led them into a trap (his men called him Warkai the Witless).
Sliced and bleeding, Jiana had lain with the dead for a day and a night, out-waiting the Toolian scavangers. When they fled, she rose shakily and stumbled across the sands, a split wine-skin over her head to shade her from the sun.
Foul memories, she thought. 7 wonder if they've civilized any over the seasons? . Oh snakes, she wished, feeling them crawling down her
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Dajydd ab Hugh
throat and writhing in her stomach. Oh loves, I wish I could remember that horrible, horrible dream this morning. I think there might have been something in there for me. Something awful. Something I need to know.
Another two 'neath the kitchen door at the well below the
vaUey-o,
Green grows the lilly-o, Right among the bushes, oh.
She tilted her head back until her neck bones cracked. Against the dirty, soot-stained ceiling of the Pregnant Bull she saw a shapeЧblack on black. It was a spider, the size of her spread-fingered hand.
Behind Jiana, the Briars whispered. Their conspiratorial tone attracted her attention at once.