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.One he greatly feared was on his way to ignoring what was right in front of him and so was setting out upon a path that would be both long and filled with sorrow.But with the crowing of the cock, the dream had been shattered and Shahrayar returned to the real world once more.Day was here, impossible to ignore.Now he saw the way the sky had turned soft and pink like the inside of the shell his father had brought him once following a great victory on the shores of some faraway ocean.Never had he seen so beautiful and terrible a sight, thought Shahrayar, save for one thing only: When he looked on Shahrazad.His bride.His wife.His storyteller.By his word, she had become all these things.And by his word, her life would end with the coming of this bright morning.Chapter 10SHAHRAYAR SURPRISES MANY, BUT HIMSELF MOST OF ALLWhen he realized what was to come, Shahrayar felt a great trembling in all his body, clear through to his stone heart.No! he thought.He did not stop to puzzle at his own swift rejection of what he had himself proclaimed must be so.He knew only one thing: Though the morning had come, Shahrazad must not be allowed to die.I am the king, he thought.If I can will one thing, then I can will another.Though what this thing should be, he did not yet know.But he rose to his feet, and at the sound of this, Shahrazad spoke for the first time since she had broken off her tale.“Is it day, then, Shahrayar?”Shahrayar felt his throat constrict, but he answered steadily, “It is day, Shahrazad.”“Where is my trunk?” Shahrazad asked, and so surprised him.For she made no reference to what must follow the rising of the sun.“Behind you.”“Will you take me to it?”“Of course.”So, mindful of Dinarzad who still slept, Shahrayar took Shahrazad by the hand and led her to the trunk.She knelt before it, placed within it the piece of fabric holding the secrets of the story she had begun, then gently closed the lid and said:“I am sorry, Shahrayar.”“What for?” he asked, the surprise plain in his voice.Oh, what a great fool I am! thought Shahrazad.Surely it would have been better if she had not spoken.For how could she put what she was feeling into words? To do so might end her task almost as soon as it had begun.She was not sorry to have become Shahrayar’s wife.Not sorry to have taken up her tale.To her, the way that she must take seemed as clear as it always had.Her motives were true and just.But it had come to her through the course of the long night that where she perceived a path running straight and true, Shahrayar might perceive a different one.A way so filled with twists and turns that it could never come out straight.Might not her actions appear like deception should be learn what she had done before he had truly come to trust her? How deep might such a wound cut, having been so cruelly deceived by a wife before?He had not spared her life—not yet.Not even for a moment longer.But if he did, surely he would believe it was the result of his own will.It would not occur to him that it could be the result of her storyteller’s art, also.If he should see what she had done through any but the eyes of love, what would befall them both?“Shahrazad?” Shahrayar prompted.“Never have I begun a tale I could not finish,” Shahrazad answered slowly.“Perhaps I should not have given my sister her way in this.Her tales are short, for she is just a child.But you are a man full grown.I should have realized a tale that belonged to you would take more time.We may never know how the story ends, and for this, I am sorry.”At her words, Shahrayar felt something explode inside his head.I see it now, he thought.The way to keep her alive.“I do not accept your apology,” he said.He leaned down and helped Shahrazad to her feet.“For I promised I would hear this story through to its end.Therefore I will do so.”At his words, Shahrazad’s heart gave a great leap, though she answered, “But—”“Oh, do be quiet and let me think a moment,” Shahrayar exclaimed as he spun away in frustration.“Why must you always ask one more question? Why can you never let things be?”“I suppose because I cannot help it,” Shahrazad said.“It is the way that I am made.What if the telling of this tale takes many nights, Shahrayar? More than you now can perceive?”“Then it will take as many nights as it takes! I am the king.All must abide by what I proclaim.”“So you keep saying.But will what you proclaim today still be so tomorrow?”“How should I know?” Shahrayar all but shouted, and Dinarzad stirred and moaned in her sleep.“Do you think I have all the answers just because I am king?” he asked, his tone suddenly weary and quiet.“No, I do not think that,” Shahrazad said.“For surely a king is first a man [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]