"part2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Keith Brooke - Lord of Stone)

"What are they shooting at?" asked Bligh.

"Who can know?" said the newspaper vendor, casually drawing a
section of sugar gum out of his coat pocket and sliding it
into his mouth. "See the damaged building across there?"
Where the man gestured there was what looked like a shop with
boards across the windows and rubble heaped about it
defensively. "That was once a Syndicalist hall. They still
use it sometimes. Maybe there are Army snipers shooting at
them. Or maybe the Syndicalists are just trying to keep us on
our toes, who can know? Maybe someone doesn't like The Voice
- you want one?" He thrust a copy of the news-sheet of the
Unification Party of the People at Madeleine. Bligh reached
into his pocket for some coins. "No," said the man, stopping
him. "It is free, to a Friend of the Revolution."

It was now several minutes since there had been any shots.
The queue at the bakery had reformed and a man was chasing
the horse and wagon along the street. Bligh and Madeleine
said their goodbyes to the news-sheet distributor and
continued on their way. This time, in unspoken agreement,
they stayed closer to the shelter of the buildings.

They had come to Anasty on impulse, perhaps the same impulse
that had brought Bligh wandering down into war-torn Trace the
previous year. He had been in Dona-Jez for over six months -
the longest time he had lingered in one place since walking
out of school, six years earlier - but finally one morning,
as Madeleine sat astride his prostrate body, rubbing his
tight shoulders, she had asked him what was wrong. He tried
to explain his need to keep moving, to assure her that it was
not her fault, that it was a part of the fabric of his being.
"Then lets go somewhere," she had said simply. "We could go
to Anasty. You must see it before it's all blown down."
Walking through the battle-torn streets, still shaky from the
sniper shots, Bligh hoped that they had arrived in time.

They stood on a crowded tram, hanging on to a broken
handrail. The tram had been hastily repainted in United Road
Haulage colours, the old state livery still showing in places
through the two tones of red. Dribbles of paint ran down the
few unbroken windows and UPP news-sheets had been plastered
across the ceiling and the backs of the seats. Madeleine
rested her head on Bligh's shoulder so that he could feel her
breath on his neck.

They disembarked at a place called Settlement Square. Here,
the cobbled street branched to form the perimeter of a paved
rectangle containing two ornate fountains and a statue of a
mounted king which had been hauled down and partly