"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 10 - The Black Raven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

town militia, did venture that evil spirits did slay the lad. Does any here
dispute this finding?'
Frie and Burra shook their heads in a no. Admi turned to Werda.
'I too agree with Councilman Verrarc,' Werda said. This night past have I
walked round Citadel, and in many a place did I find spirits lurking. These
were all weak little things, and I did invoke the gods upon them, and they did
flee. No one of them could have slain Demet, but together, in a pack, they
would be dangerous.'
"You have the thanks of the council,' Admi said, 'for sending them on their
way.'
'But will they come right back again?' Frie broke in. 'That's what I be
wanting to know.'
'With spirits, it be a constant battle.' Werda gestured at the bundles on the
table. 'I did bring spirit traps for each of you to take to your dwellings and
one to stay here in the council house.'
"You have our thanks,' Admi said.
'Most welcome,' Werda continued. 'And now I do ken that I'd best stay on guard
against the spirits, which kenning be a weapon in itself. I have my own ways
of standing watch.'
The councilmen all nodded as if they understood. Verrarc felt his stomach
clench cold. If Raena insisted upon invoking her Lord Havoc again, Werda would
be sure to know.
Lael brought Niffa the news of the council's decision, when, late that
afternoon, he carried home the wicker cage of ferrets from their day's
ratting. Niffa took the cage into the other room and released the weasels into
their pen; Lael had already taken off their hunting hoods. She came back out
to the great room and found him ladling himself a tankard of flat ale from the
barrel near the hearth. Dera sat at table, eating a few slices of honeyed
apples.
'Do have some of this,' she was saying.
'I won't,' Lael said. 'It be your medicaments, and I'd have you eat the lot,
my love.'
Niffa set the empty cage down by the hearth. She was aware of her father
watching her with sad eyes.
'What be so wrong, Da?' Niffa said.
'Well, when I were down in town, I did hear the crier. The council, they do
say that the matter of Demet's death be closed. Evil spirits, and Werda, she
did sanction their decision.'
Niffa stared down at the straw on the floor and wondered if she were going to
weep.
'Here now,' Lael said softly. 'Had they ruled different, he still would have
been gone.'
'Oh, true spoken. But now I've naught left of him, but my memories. Not even
vengeance - not so much as that for a keepsake.'
Still, she did have one thing more, of course: her dreams.That evening and in
those that followed she turned to her childhood refuge, where she could see
Demet and pretend that he lived again. In those dreams she would perhaps come
into a room and find him sitting there, laughing at her while she reproached
him for pretending to die, or perhaps they would walk together by the lake and
talk of what they would do come spring. Yet she always knew that she was