"Robin Hobb - Soldier Son 03 - Renegade's Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

Robin Hobb

Renegade’s Magic




ONE

Soldier's End

I never spoke up for myself at my court martial.

I stood in the box where they put me, and tried not to think of
the agonizing bite of the leg irons around my calves. They. were too
small for a man of my flesh, and the cold iron bit deep into the meat
of my legs, burning and numbing at the same time. At the moment,
the pain mattered to me more than the outcome of the hearing. I
already knew how it would end.

That pain is chiefly what I remember of my trial. It hazes my
memories in red. A number of witnesses spoke against me. I recall
their righteous voices as they detailed my crimes to the assembled
judges. Rape. Murder. Necrophilia. Desecration of a graveyard. My
outrage and horror at being accused of such things had been eroded
by the utter hopelessness of my situation. Witness after witness
spoke against me. Threads of rumour, hearsay from a dead man's
lips, suspicions and circumstantial evidence were twisted together
into a rope of evidence stout enough to hang me.

I think I know why Spink never addressed any questions directly
to me. Lieutenant Spinrek, my friend since our Cavalla Academy
days, was supposed to be defending me. I'd told him that I simply
wanted to plead guilty and get it over with. That had angered him.
Perhaps that was why he didn't ask me to testify on my own behalf.
He didn't trust me to tell the truth and deny all the charges. He
feared I'd take the easy way out.

I would have.

I didn't fear the hangman's gibbet. It would be a quick end to
a life corrupted by a foreign magic. Walk up the steps, put my head
into the noose and step off into darkness. The weight of my falling
body would probably have jerked my head right off. No dangle
and strangle for me. Just a quick exit from an existence that was
too tangled and spoiled to repair.

Whatever I might have said in my own defence would have made
no difference. Wrongs had been done, ugly, evil things, and the citi-
zens of Gettys were determined that someone had to pay for them.