"Silistra - 01 - High Couch Of Silistra" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris Janet E)"If not my glorious body," he asked again, "then what brings you here? And why alone? How will the Well fare without its Keepress?"
"I came," said I, snatching the opening, "because I have taken up the chaldra of the mother. It must be done without aid from the Well. I have the Day- Keeper's leave to pursue this end. I would have your help. These things," I said as I handed him the cube and letter, "were my lever with Ristran. He will pick them up from you. I need the copies, computer evaluation, anything that will help me discharge this chaldra." M'lennin turned the cube in his hands. "How did you come by this? I thought there were no such viewers in Astria? You did not get it through me." "It is old, before your time and mine. In my mother's time we had looser standards. We had surveillance devices in the Well. My mother made the tape, and it was held for me. On it is the record of my conception. It shows my father. The chaldra involves—" I stopped, for he had raised his hand. "Estri, I have guests in the dining hall. This is a long and complicated story, it seems, and dinner lies cooling on the plates. I will give you what I can in the way of aid. Perhaps you can also aid me. Will you stay the night?" I nodded. I could see no way around it, though I knew he would exact his price. "Have you something else I might wear? And I would wash the trail dust from me before I meet your guests." I plucked at my bloodstained tas jerkin. He got to his feet, lifting me from the step. "I have kept your things. They are in the room you had. I will walk you there, and you can tell me more of this chaldra." He smiled, guiding me down the corridor, his hand at the small of my back. "It is an interesting twist, you coming here for such specialized assistance. I think I will much enjoy aiding you." He chuckled. We stopped at the door to his sleeping quarters, and I waited while he locked the cube and letter in his private vault and called the house computer to alter the dinner plan. It clicked disapprovingly. I leaned against the blue wall in that blue room that I had thought never to see again. Caught up tight in the weave of some strong time skein, I felt very help- less. M'lennin made no move to leave, but lit a pipe and threw one leg over his desk and leaned there, puffing the mild aromatic smoke. "Who are these guests we keep waiting?" I asked, to remind him. "The new Liaison Second, bound to Arlet, and his pilot. We Liaisons would rather fly than walk." "What?" I clutched my chald. Still tighter wove the weave. "What happened to the old Liaison Second?" "He died of natural causes. He was an old man," said M'lennin, eyeing me curiously. "Did you know him? You seem upset." "No," I whispered, "but I must go to Arlet from here." Now I knew why I had felt need to hurry here. I shook my head and rubbed my hands across my eyes. "To Arlet? In connection with the chaldra?" he asked. "I must meet with a Day-Keeper there. I had thought to take residence in Well Arlet, but under another name. There is need for secrecy. I have much to discuss with you, Mien, and little time." He waved me out of the room, and followed, palming the door shut. We hurried down the corridor, past three doors on the left. Before the fourth he stopped. "Perhaps we can settle this here, and you will not have to journey to Arlet. The new Liaison Second, Khaf-Re Dellin, and his pilot must stay here a few days. He is young, and has never before been to Silistra. The old Liaison's death was sudden, and Dellin is being shoved into this thing unprepared. He needs more than briefing and language tapes before taking on the second-greatest Well on Silistra. I must work with him before he settles into his responsibilities." He grinned. "I may ask your aid with him. Who knows Silistrans better than the Well-Keepress of Astria?" He leaned against the wall, fingering his beard. "Tomorrow," he continued, for I had not replied, "I will start early with you, at sun's rise, if you wish, and we will see what can be learned from the letter and viewer. There is ample time to arrange your passage with Dellin, if we decide it is prudent. Tonight we will eat and enjoy each other's company, and Dellin will meet the high-couch of Silistra." He rubbed his hands together. "This is really most opportune." "But I would start—" "No," he interrupted me firmly. "No chaldra, no business, no predictions. Not tonight. Tonight you see to my aid and comfort, tomorrow I to yours. It is a fair trade." He touched the red block beside the door, it glowed, and the panel slid soundlessly aside. "You will find it unchanged," said he, and waved me within. It was true. The room that had been mine two years ago was exactly as I had left it. I shivered as I entered. M'lennin followed, and the door closed us in. I stood in the midst of all the off-world opulence imaginable. Thrah-skins from Torth covered the floor, multicolored and luminous, and the pile was ankle-deep. The curtains were wine plush, heavy-napped and glowing, like tiers of strung rubies, woven on the looms of Pleiatus. The Pleiatu are the master weavers of the known galaxy, and their magnificent dyes are their greatest secret. The table and two chairs were carved from the white bone of the wistwa, giant sea-beast of Oguast. The windows behind the tables, framed by those bloodred curtains, were quartz crystal slabs from M'lennin's home planet, M'ksakka. The only thing Silistran-made was the couch itself. It was double to my own thala well-couch, crafted by Astria's own masters. I was unsettled that M'lennin had done this thing. There was no dust on the wistwa table, no wrinkle hi the resplendent silken hangings from Kost. It was as if he had made a shrine of this place. It felt wrong; I did not like it. I liked less the look on the Liaison's face. I turned from him and knelt before the low chest beneath the windows. In it were the clothes I had brought with me from Astria. I stripped off the jerkin and threw it aside. The silence screamed its message. I freed my hair, and it fell around me. I rummaged in the chest, finding at last what I sought—a comb and two gold clips, and a length of embroidered Koster silk. These I laid beside me on the pile rug. I sat on my heels, naked, and with the comb I went to work on my ratted hair. Through the curtain of its strands I saw M'lennin's booted feet appear in front of me. "Mien—" I said, before his hand twisted in my hair and pushed my head hard to the floor between my knees. I felt with my hands for him, but he caught them up behind my back. "Did you think I would give you the chance?" he, growled as he used me so brutally I cried out. "Did you think I would wait while you read my mind and manipulated me, while you witched me again? No. This time you will take what I see fit to give you, my way." It did not last very long. When he let me go, T rolled over and looked up at him. To use a Silistran woman so that the precious sperm is wasted is a great insult. I would have, had he wished it, made love with him. He had not wished it. It had been painful, the more so because I could not move to ease him. He stood above me, already buckling his gold-studded belt. I would not give him more satisfaction. If I could have avoided it, I would not have cried out. "I know the way to the dining hall," I said. "I will meet you there." He looked down at me as I lay there, on my back on the Torth pelt. For a moment I thought he would speak. Instead, he turned on his heel and in three strides was out of the room, slapping the lock without looking back. "Have I hurt you so deeply, M'len?" I asked softly of the empty room. It appeared that I had. I explored myself with my hand, and finding no blood, rolled to my feet. As I made my way into the adjoining washroom, I picked from the pile of silk my bone comb. In the shower I attacked my ratted hair section by section. When it was tangle-free, I lathered my body and leaned back, letting the steaming spray run long over my aching buttocks. I flipped the knob that controlled the shower's temperature, holding my breath as the icy needles struck. The cold was invigorating, but it did not cool my inner heat. I was still much aroused. I smiled to myself, thinking of M'len. I hadn't thought him capable of such ferocity. That was my mistake. It lies waiting in all men. I had made the novice's error of allowing my conception of the man to blind me to his needs. No one is perfect, I decided as I padded on squishing feet back into the apartment. It had turned out the better for my surprise. By surrendering control of the situation, by expressing my pain and humiliation, I had gained an edge. And perhaps I could exploit it. |
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