Weaveworld. Клайв Баркер

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СКАЧАТЬ softly. ‘Something terrible.’

      ‘No doubt you feel it in your kidneys,’ Apolline remarked. ‘As usual.’

      ‘Let’s keep it civil. Miss Dubois,’ said Frederick, with the pained expression of a school master.

      ‘Don’t call me Miss,’ Apolline said. ‘I’m a married woman.’

      Immersed in sleep, Cal and Suzanna listened to these exchanges, entertained by the nonsenses their imaginations had conjured up. Yet for all the oddity of these people – their antiquated clothes, their names, their absurd conversations – they were uncannily real; every detail perfectly realized. And as though to confuse the dreamers further, the man the bees had called Jerichau now looked towards the bed, and said:

      ‘Perhaps they can tell us something.’

      Lilia turned her pale gaze towards the slumbering pair.

      ‘We should wake them,’ she said, and reached to shake the sleepers.

      ‘This is no dream,’ Suzanna realized, as she pictured Lilia’s hand approaching her shoulder. She felt herself rising from sleep; and as the girl’s fingers touched her, she opened her eyes.

      The curtains had been pulled apart as she’d imagined they’d been. The street lamps cast their light into the little room. And there, standing watching the bed, were the five: her dream made flesh. She sat up. The sheet slipped, and the gaze of both Jerichau and the child Nimrod flitted to her breasts. She pulled the sheet over her and in so doing uncovered Cal. The chill stirred him. He peered at her through barely open eyes.

      ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, his voice slurred by sleep.

      ‘Wake up,’ she said. ‘We’ve got visitors.’

      ‘I had this dream … he muttered. Then, ‘Visitors?’ He looked up at her, following her gaze into the room.

      ‘Oh sweet Jesus …’

      The child was laughing in Jerichau’s arms, pointing a stubby finger at Cal’s piss-proud groin. He snatched up a pillow and concealed his enthusiasm.

      ‘Is this one of Shadwell’s tricks?’ he whispered.

      ‘I don’t think so,’ said Suzanna.

      ‘Who’s Shadwell?’ Apolline wanted to know.

      ‘Another Cuckoo, no doubt,’ said Frederick, who had his scissors at the ready should either of these two prove belligerent.

      At the word Cuckoo, Suzanna began to understand. Immacolata had first used the term, speaking of Humankind.

      ‘… the Fugue …’ she said.

      Naming the place had every eye upon her, and Jerichau demanding:

      ‘What do you know about the Fugue?’

      ‘Not much,’ she replied.

      ‘You know where the others are?’ Frederick asked.

      ‘What others?’

      ‘And the land?’ said Lilia. ‘Where is it all?’

      Cal had taken his eyes off the quintet and was looking at the table beside the bed, where he’d left the fragment of the Weave. It had gone.

      ‘They came from that piece of carpet,’ he said, not quite believing what he was saying.

      ‘That was what I dreamt.’

      ‘I dreamt it too,’ said Suzanna.

      ‘A piece of the carpet?’ said Frederick, aghast. ‘You mean we’re separated?’

      ‘Yes,’ Cal replied.

      ‘Where’s the rest?’ Apolline said. ‘Take us to it.’

      ‘We don’t know where it is,’ said Cal. ‘Shadwell’s got it.’

      ‘Damn Cuckoos!’ the woman erupted. ‘You can’t trust any of them. All twisters and cheats!’

      ‘He’s not alone,’ Suzanna replied. ‘His partner’s one of your breed.’

      ‘I doubt that,’ said Frederick.

      ‘It’s true. Immacolata.’

      The name brought an exclamation of horror from both Frederick and Jerichau. Apolline, ever the lady, simply spat on the floor.

      ‘Have they not hanged that bitch yet?’ she said.

      ‘Twice to my certain knowledge,’ Jerichau replied.

      ‘She takes it as flattery,’ Lilia remarked.

      Cal shuddered. He was cold and tired; he wanted dreams of sun-lit hills and bright rivers, not these mourners, their faces riddled with spite and suspicion. Ignoring their stares, he threw away the pillow, walked over to where his clothes lay on the floor and started to pull on his shirt and jeans.

      ‘And where are the Custodians?’ said Frederick, addressing the entire room. ‘Does anyone know that?’

      ‘My grandmother …’ said Suzanna. ‘… Mimi …’

      ‘Yes?’ said Frederick, homing in, ‘where’s she?’

      ‘Dead, I’m afraid.’

      ‘There were other Custodians,’ said Lilia, infected by Frederick’s urgency. ‘Where are they?’

      ‘I don’t know.’

      ‘You were right,’ said Jerichau, his expression almost tragic. ‘Something terrible has happened.’

      Lilia returned to the window, and threw it open.

      ‘Can you sniff it out?’ Frederick asked her. ‘Is it nearby?’

      Lilia shook her head. ‘The air stinks,’ she said. ‘This isn’t the old Kingdom. It’s cold. Cold and filthy.’

      Cal, who’d dressed by now, pushed his way between Frederick and Apolline, and picked up the bottle of whisky.

      ‘Want a drink?’ he said to Suzanna.

      She shook her head. He poured himself a generous measure, and drank.

      ‘We have to find this Shadwell of yours,’ Jerichau said to Suzanna, ‘and get the weave back.’

      ‘What’s the hurry?’ said Apolline, with a perverse nonchalance. She waddled over to Cal. ‘Mind if I partake?’ she said. Reluctantly, he handed her the bottle.

      ‘What do you mean: what’s the hurry?’ Frederick said. ‘We wake up in the middle of nowhere, alone –’

      ‘We’re СКАЧАТЬ