Forest Mage
Реклама. ООО «ЛитРес», ИНН: 7719571260.
Оглавление
Робин Хобб. Forest Mage
Forest Mage
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Map
Forest Dreams
Homeward Bound
Spindle Dance
The Fast
Rosse’s Wedding
A Day of Letters
Dewara
Judgment
Plague
Flight
Franner’s Bend
The King’s Road
Buel Hitch
Journey to Gettys
Gettys
The Cemetery
Routine Duty
Visitor
Winter
Spring
Olikea
Fence Posts
Two Women
An Envelope
The Road
Dancers
The Ambush
Coffins
The Messenger
The Apology
Accusations
Lisana
Court Martial
Surrender
Acknowledgment
About the Author
Also by Robin Hobb
Отрывок из книги
ROBIN HOBB
Copyright
.....
He paused, offering me yet another opportunity to admit I’d had carnal knowledge of a Speck. I remained silent. I hadn’t, at least not physically. If cavalla soldiers could contract venereal disease from what we dreamed, none of us would live to graduate from the Academy.
He finally continued, ‘Your theory that something in the dust that the Specks fling during their Dust Dance could be a trigger appealed to me. Unfortunately, while I did my best to gather data from the sickened cadets before they became too ill to respond, the disease took many of them before they could be questioned. So we shall never know exactly how many of them may have witnessed a Dust Dance and breathed in dust. However, there are several flaws in your theory. The first is that at least one cadet, Corporal Rory Hart, witnessed the Dust Dance and had absolutely no symptoms of plague. He’s an unusual fellow; he also admitted to, er, more than casual contact with the Specks themselves, with no ill effect. But even if we set Rory aside as an individual with exceptionally robust health, there are still other problems with your theory. One is that the Specks would be exposing themselves to the illness every time they danced the dance. You have told me you believed that the Speck deliberately sowed this illness among us. Would they do it at risk to themselves? I think not. And before you interrupt—’ he held up a warning hand as I took breath to speak, ‘— keep in mind that this is not the first outbreak of Speck plague that I’ve witnessed. As you might be pleased to know, the other outbreak I witnessed was close to the Barrier Mountains, and yes, the Specks had performed a Dust Dance before the outbreak. But many of their own children were among those stricken that summer. I can scarcely believe that even primitive people would deliberately infect their own children with a deadly disease simply to exact revenge on us. Of course, I suppose it’s possible that the dust does spread the disease, but the Specks are unaware of it. Simple, natural peoples like the Specks are often unaware that all diseases have a cause and hence are preventable.’
.....