"David Eddings. Castle of wizardry enchanters' end game (The Belgariad, Part two)" - читать интересную книгу автора

He knew that Relg, despite all his efforts, could not take his eyes off
the Marag woman he had been forced to rescue from her living entombment in
the caves. Although Relg still ranted about sin continually, his words no
longer carried the weight of absolute conviction; indeed quite often, they
seemed to be little more than a mechanical repetition of a set of formulas.
Occasionally, Garion had noted, even those formulas had faltered when
Taiba's deep violet eyes had turned to regard the Ulgo's face. For her
part, Taiba was quite obviously puzzled. Relg's rejection of her simple
gratitude had humiliated her, and her resentment had been hot and
immediate. His constant scrutiny, however, spoke to her with a meaning
altogether different from the words coming from his lips. His eyes told
her one thing, but his mouth said something else. She was baffled by him,
not knowing whether to respond to his look or his words.
"You've lived your whole life in the dark, then?" Relg asked her
curiously.
"Most of it," she replied. "I saw my mother's face once - the day the
Murgos came and took her to the Temple. I was alone after that. Being
alone is the worst of it. You can bear the dark if you aren't alone."
"How old were you when they took your mother away?"
"I don't really know. I must have been almost a woman, though, because
not long after that the Murgos gave me to a slave who had pleased them.
There were a lot of slaves in the pens who did anything the Murgos wanted,
and they were rewarded with extra food - or with women. I cried at first;
but in time I learned to accept it. At least I wasn't alone any more."
Relg's face hardened, and Taiba saw the expression. "What should I have
done?" she asked him. "When you're a slave, your body doesn't belong to
you. They can sell you or give you to anybody they want to, and there's
nothing you can do about it."
"There must have been something."
"Such as what? I didn't have any kind of weapon to fight with -or to
kill myself with - and you can't strangle yourself." She looked at Garion.
"Did you know that? Some of the slaves tried it, but all you do is fall
into unconsciousness, and then you start to breathe again. Isn't that
curious?"
"Did you try to fight?" It seemed terribly important to Relg for some
reason.
"What would have been the point? The slave they gave me to was stronger
than I. He'd have just hit me until I did what he wanted."
"You should have fought," Relg declared adamantly. "A little pain is
better than sin, and giving up like that is sin."
"Is it? If somebody forces you to do something and there's no possible
way to avoid it, is it really sin?"
Relg started to answer, but her eyes, looking directly into his face,
seemed to stop up his tongue. He faltered, unable to face that gaze.
Abruptly he turned his mount and rode back toward the pack animals.
"Why does he fight with himself so much?" Taiba asked.
"He's completely devoted to his God," Garion explained. "He's afraid of
anything that might take away some of what he feels he owes to UL."
"Is this UL of his really that jealous?"
"No, I don't think so, but Relg does."