Birds of Prey - Smith Wilbur (полная версия книги .TXT) 📗

"Kali!" she whispered, and smiled. "What a marvelous name. What a secret and splendid name."

She saw Sukeena's image appear in the mirror behind her but she did not turn immediately. The girl's dark beauty was a perfect foil for her own. She considered their two faces together, and felt the excitement charge her nerves and sing through her veins.

"I have the salve for your injury, mistress." Sukeena stood close behind her, but her eyes were fathomless.

"Thank you, my little sparrow," Katinka whispered. I want you to belong to me for ever, she thought. I want you to belong to Kali.

She turned back to the sofa and Sukeena knelt before her again. At first the salve was cool on the skin of her leg, and then a warm glow spread from it. Sukeena's fingers were cunning and skilful.

"I hate to see something beautiful destroyed needlessly," Katinka whispered. "You say your brother is beautiful. Do you love him very much, Sukeena?"

When there was no reply Katinka reached down and cupped her hand under Sukeena's chin. She lifted her face so that she could look into her eyes. The agony she saw there made her pulse race.

"My poor little sparrow," she said. I have touched the deepest place in her soul, she exulted. As she removed her hand she let her fingers trail across the girl's cheek.

"This hour I have come from Slow John," she said, "but you saw me on the path. You were watching me, were you not?"

"Yes, mistress."

"Shall I repeat to you what Slow John told me? Shall I tell you about his special room at the castle, and what happens there?" Katinka" did not wait for the girl to reply but went on speaking quietly. When Sukeena's fingers stilled she broke off her narrative to order, "Do not stop what you are doing, Sukeena You have a magical touch."

When at last she finished speaking, Sukeena was weeping without a sound. Her tears were slow and viscous as drops of oil squeezed from the olive press. They glistened against the red gold of her cheeks. After a while Katinka asked, "How long has your brother been in the castle? I have heard that it is four months since he came back from the mountains to fetch you. Such a long time, and he has not been tried, no sentence passed upon him."

Katinka waited, letting the moments fall, a slow drop at a time, slow as the girl's tears. "Governor Kleinhans was remiss, or was he persuaded by somebody, I wonder. But my husband is an energetic and dedicated man. He will not let justice be denied. No renegade can escape him long."

Now Sukeena was no longer making any pretence, she stared at Katinka with stricken eyes as she went on, "He will send Althuda to the secret room with Slow John. Althuda will be beautiful no longer. What a dreadful pity. What can we do to prevent that happening?"

"Mistress," Sukeena whispered, "your husband, he has the power. It is in his hands."

"My husband is a servant of the Company, a loyal and unbending servant. He will not flinch from his duty." "Mistress, you are so beautiful. No man can deny you.

You can persuade him." Sukeena slowly lowered her head and placed it on Katinka's bare knee. "With all my heart, with all my soul, I beg you, mistress."

"What would you do to save your brother's life?" Katinka asked. "What price would you pay, my little sparrow?" "There is no price too high, no sacrifice from which I would turn aside. Everything and anything you ask of me, mistress."

"We could never hope to set him free, Sukeena You understand that, don't you?" Katinka asked gently. Nor would I ever wish that, she thought, for while the brother is in the castle the little sparrow is safely in my cage.

"I will not even let myself hope for that."

Sukeena lifted her head and again Katinka cupped her chin, this time with both her hands, and she leaned forward slowly. "Althuda shall not die. We will save him from Slow John, you and I," she promised, and kissed Sukeena full on the mouth. The girl's lips were wet with her tears. They tasted hot and salty, almost like blood. Slowly Sukeena opened her lips, like the petals of an orchid opening to the sunbird's beak as it quests for nectar.

Althuda. Sukeena steeled herself with the thought of her brother, as without breaking the kiss Katinka took her hand and moved it slowly up under her skirts until it lay on her smooth white belly. Althuda, this is for you, and for you alone, Sukeena told herself silently, as she closed her eyes and her fingers crept timorously over the satiny belly, down into the nest of fine dense golden curls at the base.

The next day dawned in a cloudless sky. Although the air was chill the sun was IT brilliant and the wind had dropped. From the scaffold Hal watched the closed door to the dungeons. Daniel stayed close by his side, in taking Hal's share of the work on his broad shoulders he was shielding him from Barnard's lash.

When Slow John came through the gates and crossed the courtyard to the armoury, with his measured undertaker's tread, Hal stared down at him with stricken eyes. Suddenly, as he passed below the scaffold, Hal snatched up the heavy mason's hammer that lay on the planking at his feet and lifted it to hurl. it down and crush the executioner's skull.

But Daniel's great fist closed around his wrist. He eased the hammer from Hal's grip, as though he were taking a toy from a child, and placed it on top of the wall beyond his reach.

"Why did you do that?" Hal protested. "I could have killed the swine."

"To no purpose," Daniel told him, with compassion. "You cannot save Sir Francis by killing an underling, You would sacrifice your own life and achieve nothing by it. They would simply send another to your father."