JК
Abarat :: Barker Clive
Страница: 4 из 234"But in our present state we risk drowning or being eaten by that thing ." The mantizac was now moving up the side of The Lyre , turning up its enormous head and fixing the women with its silver-and-scarlet eye.
Mespa clutched the little box even closer to her bosom. "It won't take me," she said, a profound terror in her voice.
"No," said Diamanda reassuringly. " It won't."
She raised her aged hands. Dark threads of energy moved through her veins and leaped from her fingertips, forming delicate shapes on the air, and then fled heavenward.
"Lady Moon," she called. "You know we would not call on you unless we needed your intervention. So we do. Lady, we three are of no consequence. We ask this boon not for ourselves but for the soul of one who was taken from among us before she was ready to leave. Please, Lady, bear us all safely through this storm, so that her life may find continuance…"
" Name our destination !" Joephi yelled over the roar of the water.
"She knows our minds," Diamanda said.
"Even so," Joephi replied. " Name it !"
Diamanda glanced back at her companion, faintly irritated. "If you insist," she said. Then, reaching toward the sky again, she said: " Take us to the Hereafter ."
"Good," said Joephi.
"Lady, hear us—" Diamanda started to say.
But she was interrupted by Mespa.
"She heard, Diamanda."
"What?"
"She heard."
The three women looked up. The roiling storm clouds were parting, as though pressed aside by titanic hands. Through the widening slit there came a shaft of moonlight: the purest white, yet somehow warm. It illuminated the trough between the waves where the women's boat was buried. It covered the vessel from end to end with light.
"Thank you, Lady…" Diamanda murmured.
The moonlight was moving over the boat, searching out every part of the tiny vessel, even to the shadowy keel that lay beneath the water. It blessed every nail and board from prow to stern, every grommet, every oar, every pivot, every fleck of paint, every inch of rope.
It touched the women too, inspiring fresh life in their weary bones and warming their icy skin.
All of this took perhaps ten seconds.
Then the clouds began to close again, cutting the moonlight off. Just as abruptly as it had begun, the blessing was over.
The sea seemed doubly dark when the light had passed away, the wind keener.
Mespa clutched the little box even closer to her bosom. "It won't take me," she said, a profound terror in her voice.
"No," said Diamanda reassuringly. " It won't."
She raised her aged hands. Dark threads of energy moved through her veins and leaped from her fingertips, forming delicate shapes on the air, and then fled heavenward.
"Lady Moon," she called. "You know we would not call on you unless we needed your intervention. So we do. Lady, we three are of no consequence. We ask this boon not for ourselves but for the soul of one who was taken from among us before she was ready to leave. Please, Lady, bear us all safely through this storm, so that her life may find continuance…"
" Name our destination !" Joephi yelled over the roar of the water.
"She knows our minds," Diamanda said.
"Even so," Joephi replied. " Name it !"
Diamanda glanced back at her companion, faintly irritated. "If you insist," she said. Then, reaching toward the sky again, she said: " Take us to the Hereafter ."
"Good," said Joephi.
"Lady, hear us—" Diamanda started to say.
But she was interrupted by Mespa.
"She heard, Diamanda."
"What?"
"She heard."
The three women looked up. The roiling storm clouds were parting, as though pressed aside by titanic hands. Through the widening slit there came a shaft of moonlight: the purest white, yet somehow warm. It illuminated the trough between the waves where the women's boat was buried. It covered the vessel from end to end with light.
"Thank you, Lady…" Diamanda murmured.
The moonlight was moving over the boat, searching out every part of the tiny vessel, even to the shadowy keel that lay beneath the water. It blessed every nail and board from prow to stern, every grommet, every oar, every pivot, every fleck of paint, every inch of rope.
It touched the women too, inspiring fresh life in their weary bones and warming their icy skin.
All of this took perhaps ten seconds.
Then the clouds began to close again, cutting the moonlight off. Just as abruptly as it had begun, the blessing was over.
The sea seemed doubly dark when the light had passed away, the wind keener.