"Rjurik Davidson - Passing of the Minotaurs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davidson Rjurik)

Passing of the Minotaurs


by Rjurik Davidson



For the first time in ten years the minotaurs came to the city ofCaeli-Amur from the winding road that led
through the foothills to the north. There were three hundred or more of them. From the city they
appeared as tiny figures—refugees perhaps. But as they approached, the size of their massive bodies, the
magnificence of their horned bull-heads, the shape of their serrated short-swords, became apparent. The
minotaurs had come for the Festival of the Bull. When the week was over, they would descend from the
white cliffs on which the city perched and board the ships that would carry them out over the sunken city
and home to theirIslandofAya .

The citizens of the city watched the minotaurs silently, from their balconies or the city's white walls. Some
of the elderly leaned toward each other and whispered: "So few? There are so few of them." Many of the
children, especially from the factory districts, ran out to meet the magnificent creatures, laughing and
calling to them until they drew close and the power and size of the minotaurs quietened them. Gliders
swung out over the creatures and watched them from above, safe on the cool currents of air that swept in
from the sea. Finally, when the minotaurs arrived at the city, some, who still held to the old ways, fell onto
their knees in supplication. The minotaurs were still worshipped as gods by a few, though to harm them
was considered a crime by all.

The orderly line broke apart when the minotaurs entered the city and spread out like tributaries into a
delta: some climbed their way down to the water-palaces and steam-baths that ran along the peninsula at
the north side of Caeli-Amur, others caught the sooty street-trams through the windy streets along the
cliffs. Others took the cable car that ran from the massive machine-tower near the piers to the top of the
cliffs. Those minotaurs seeking knowledge found their way to Caeli-Amur's famous cafés, where the
philosopher-assassins debated in the afternoon, drinking coffee and eating fruit. By nightfall, the minotaurs
could be found in the liquor palaces and beer halls.

In one such drinking tavern, long after the sun had descended over the mountains to the west, Kata eyed
a group of minotaurs. They dominated the place, which was little more than a hot and dirty hall with a bar
along one wall. The men sat frightened and quiet along the walls or in the corners, or slinked past the
minotaurs, hoping not to brush against them. Minotaurs were quick to anger, especially when they were
filled with beer or hot liquor. Kata knew she would have to approach; she needed two of them. But first
things first, she thought, as she took a drink of the bitter liquid from the flask at her waist. She kept her
face still, though she wanted to grimace. The medicine tasted earthy and pungent, like dirt and ul-tree
roots mixed together.

She watched and scratched distractedly at the metal sheaths that rubbed against her skin beneath her
shirt. Realizing what she was doing, she stopped. The shirt was dark and loose, and she wore a skirt that
reached her knees. Together they showed off her shoulder-length hair, which was black as the minotaurs'
eyes. Beneath her clothes Kata was lithe but unusually muscular; she was an athlete, of sorts.

A group of four minotaurs sat laughing at the front of the room, telling each other jokes about labyrinths
and reminiscing about the Numerian Wars. She remembered the Festival of the Bull a decade earlier,
when she was living on the streets after her mother's death, but had forgotten the sheer physicalpresence
of the minotaurs. Their shoulders and chests were like the statues of Caeli-Amur's heroes that stood in