[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
."The little girl just as pretty as her mother is, and the little boy with fangs.And they'll be pages, and you'll go to court to see them serving their turn by the King's throne, all dressed up in their uniforms, and you'll just be so proud—""You'll be dead," interrupted a clear voice.Irina's face went pale.Thaydar turned, astounded at the intrusion.It was the other elf bride."What did you say?" he roared.They stopped.All those animal eyes were staring at Sable now.She flinched and ducked her head nervously, but she was too upset not to speak."You'll be dead, Irina," she said, "with that very first baby.You'll die before you even see its face.We both will—you know that's just a woman's life.He's telling you a lie."Irina began to sob, and Thaydar was furious."Goblins never lie!" he thundered angrily, and Sable flinched again at the sight of those blazing eyes."She doesn't know that, Thaydar," observed Tinsel reasonably."That must be some old scary tale the elf girls told each other about marrying goblins.It's not true, Sable.Having a goblin's baby isn't different from having an elf's baby."Sable looked up at his friendly blue eyes with a little feeling of relief, but she was confused at his apparent sincerity."It doesn't matter whether the father's a goblin or an elf," she told him in a low voice."That's just what happens when women have a child.Women have to die, that's how babies are born." Tinsel looked down at her sober face, puzzled as well."What a load of rubbish!" roared Thaydar."Women survive childbirth every day." Sable winced at his loud voice and looked around nervously at all those strange eyes again."My wife's still alive after two," observed Brindle helpfully."I have both my grandmothers," added Katoo, his striped tabby face thoughtful."And my mother's still alive, and she had quadruplets.""But I think you cat folk are different," cautioned Brindle."It's always quadruplets with you; that's not really normal."Sable stared at the serious faces of the monsters, losing her confidence.Why would they try to talk her out of something so obvious? It must be a trick."Maybe goblin women aren't like that," she said."Maybe just elf women are that way.But I know it's the truth.I know! I've seen the women die.""She's right," said Seylin in the pause that followed."Elf women are different from goblin women.They have a very hard time with childbirth, and they can't survive it without magic.I understand what happened now.Sable has the camp chronicle, and her great-great-grandfather's last entry told of a terrible accident.Almost all of the women were asphyxiated in one night.But the elf lord said that something even worse had happened, and now I know what it was.They lost the birthing magic.Only those dead women knew it.From that day on, the women in the camp were doomed to die in childbirth."I suppose they just told the little girls that that was the way life was," he conjectured."And by the time Sable was born, they wouldn't have remembered anything different.Of course! That's why you didn't want to marry Thorn!" he said in a tone of discovery.Sable drew her breath in sharply, feeling trapped by the revelation.Now all the monsters knew that she'd refused her marriage out of fear."But, Sable," he continued earnestly, "you don't have to worry about that anymore.We have entire books of elvish birthing magic.I can show them to you when we get home."Sable glared at the elf.He called that torture chamber a home! And how dare he play on her weakness like that, trying to trick her now that he knew she was a coward!"I don't want to learn anything from you, you traitor!" she hissed."The goblins' tame elf, going out and finding them fresh blood.I begged you to leave so the goblins wouldn't come, and you promised me I was safe.You've never done anything but lie."Seylin's face fell, and he looked away."That's not fair!" cried Emily."He didn't know that we were coming!""It's all right, Em." He sighed."She has a point.""I don't think you could call Seylin a traitor," said Tinsel."Both his parents are goblins." Sable stared at Seylin in horror and bewilderment.That handsome elf, a goblin's son? What other frightful things would they tell her, and how could she tell which were true? "He's right, Sable," continued Tinsel."We know lots of healing magic.You're not going to die like that.""I don't believe you!" she cried desperately."I don't believe any of you.You're just telling us what we want to hear.You're trying to calm us with promises that nothing bad will happen because you think we're cowardly and weak.""We don't think you're a coward," protested Tinsel mildly, but Sable wouldn't look at him anymore."Well, we can tell you things, but you don't have to believe us.Maybe it's better if we showed you something.I've been wanting to try this." And he dropped his pack onto the snowy ground and began to rummage through it."Oh, good," said Seylin, looking up again."I've been wanting to try it, too."Sable held her breath.What were they going to try? She refused to look at the monsters; she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of seeing that she was afraid.After a minute, she felt something wet on her scarred cheek.She tried to jerk her head away, but the monster was holding her jaw."It's all right," he said."It's just a cream."Now she felt it on her other cheek.Then both cheeks grew warm, very warm, as if they were close to a fire
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]