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Глава третья: решение разногласий
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Chapter Three: Resolving Differences
Note: "Butter-ball Charm" refers not to any modern American trademark, but to Krishna's Butter Ball in Mahabalipuram, India. It is near Chennai, and quite interesting.
Примечание: Торговая марка «Путеводный шар» относится не ко всем современным американским продуктам, а только к марке «Путеводный шар Кришны», производства Махабалипурам, Индия. Это очень интересное место недалеко от Ченнаи.
Cappadocia was not a very peaceful country. Three times in the last twenty years, it had gone to war with one of its neighbors, the island of Cyprus.
Каппадокия была не очень-то мирной страной. За последние двадцать лет она трижды воевала с одним из своих соседей – островом Кипром.
This was something of which Hermione was acutely aware, since the last war had only been two years ago, and British witches and wizards felt an extremely strong bond with the Cypriots.
Это был один из тех фактов, которые Гермиона остро осознавала, так как последняя война была лишь два года назад, и английские ведьмы и волшебники неожиданно ощутили неразрывную связь с жителями Кипра.
The Daily Prophet had run stories about the sufferings of the beleaguered Cypriots, and the treacherous dealings of the Cappadocians.
«Ежедневный пророк» заваливал историями о страданиях осаждённых киприотов и вероломных действиях захватчиков.
It was all very suspicious, since tiny Magical Cyprus mostly spoke English and was dominated by several wealthy and influential wizarding families, while sprawling Magical Cappadocia had few cultural bonds with Britain and considerably less money.
Всё это было весьма подозрительно, так как маленький магический Кипр в основном говорил по-английски и в нём доминировали несколько влиятельных и богатых волшебных семей, в то время как растянутая магическая Каппадокия имела немногочисленные культурные связи с Британией и скромный бюджет.
Barbarians versus the elite made for good copy.
Варвары против элиты, сделанной под копирку.
Harry controlled The Prophet, she knew, so it was odd the paper had been so uncritical. She supposed he didn't micromanage.
Она знала, что Гарри контролировал «Пророк», и оттого это было ещё страньше, так как газета не содержала никакой критики. Она пришла к выводу, что это была инициатива младшего руководящего состава.
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Actually, Hermione considered, since most Cappadocians spoke Greek as well as Arabic, they couldn't really be said to be "βάρβαρος." That nasty term had been used by ancient Greeks to describe those who couldn't speak Greek. It was onomatopoeia for what the Greeks had thought foreigners sounded like: bar-bar-bar-bar. Maybe she should write a pseudonymous letter to the editor, pointing this out, the next time the country hit the headlines.
На самом деле Гермиона считала, что жителей Каппадокии нельзя было назвать "βάρβαρος", так как большинство из них говорили по-гречески также хорошо, как и по-арабски. Этот неприятный термин использовался греками для обозначения тех, кто не говорил на их языке. Греки считали, что иностранная речь звучит как: бар-бар-бар. Возможно, думала она, пусть под псевдонимом, но ей стоит написать письмо редактору до следующего раза, когда эта страна опять попадёт в заголовки.
Hermione gripped her broom tighter, increased her speed, and glanced around at the warband.
Гермиона сжала свою компактную метлу, добавив скорости, и осмотрела свою ватагу.
Simon and Charlevoix were flying next to her, while Esther and Susan were below.
Перед ней летели Саймон и Шарлевуа, в то время как Эстер и Сьюзан были чуть ниже.
Just above and behind her, Hyori and Jessie rode their own brooms, faces tight. Чуть позади и выше летели Джесси и Хеори, они взяли собственные метла и прижались друг к другу.
She might need to write the letter soon. Somehow she thought Cappadocia would be in the news very shortly.
Она могла бы написать письмо в ближайшее время. Ей отчего-то казалось, что Каппадокия может оказаться в новостях очень скоро.
She looked down at the ground racing by below. Stone pillars sprouted up from the windswept rock below - the fairy chimneys.
Она взглянула вниз на землю, проносившуюся внизу. Каменные столбы прорастали с подветренной стороны одной из скал – это были расщелины фей.
Tall and smooth, they studded the ridges and plateaus, looking for all the world like the frozen fingers of some trapped race of giants.
Высокие и гладкие, они покрывали все хребты и плато, будто ощупывая весь мир ледяными пальцами попавшего в ловушку гиганта.
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They were natural formations - not ventiform, as the wind-whipped dust that swept past them might suggest, but worn away by years of cracking frost and whittling rain.
При этом они были природными, а не искусственными образованиями, поскольку уже были пропитаны пылью, проносящейся мимо, и потрескались от мороза и суровых дождей.
Hermione looked away from them, leaned forward, and squinted ahead. Those white hills, there… yes. They were close. She raised her right hand and gave the high sign, and Hyori and Jessie peeled away from the group, swooping along a different path.
Гермиона отвернулась от них, наклонилась вперёд и прищурилась. Эти белые холмы, там… точно. Они были уже близко. Она подняла свою праву руку и дала знак остальным, Хеори и Джесси отделились от группы, устремляясь вниз другим путём.
The fortress of Göreme, situated near the Turkish town of the same name, was protected in three ways.
Крепость Гёреме, находившаяся неподалеку от турецкого города с одноименным названием, была защищена тремя способами.
First and most importantly, Göreme's existence was a secret. The best way to protect anything was to make sure that no one knows it exists. If you are unscrupulous and willing to use Obliviate, you could keep something very secret indeed.
Во-первых, и это было самым главным, существование этой крепости было секретом. Лучший способом защитить что-либо - это убедиться, что никто не знает о его существовании. Если Вы не обременены моралью и охотно применяете Обливейт, то можно спрятать что-нибудь очень секретное.
Second, Göreme was inaccessible. It had its beginnings in a cave complex used as a Christian church during the eleventh century.
Во-вторых Гёреме была недоступной. Она брала своё начало в пещерном комплексе, что использовался христианской церковью на протяжении одиннадцатого века.
The church remained, though it was now known as the Limon Kilise - to describe the sour feeling in the belly one experienced when visiting. The long and narrow passage through to the larger set of natural caves, on the other hand, had been erased by the Butter-ball Charm (which turned stone as soft as butter).
Церковь сохранилась, но теперь была известная как Лимонная Церковь (поверим автору на слово, ибо я, как переводчик, нашёл в Каппадокии действующую Яблочную Церковь, должно быть есть и Лимонная) – видимо это была попытка описать тот кисловатый привкус, который испытываешь при посещении. С другой стороны, длинный и узкий проход в эту сеть естественных пещер был стёрт путеводными чарами (которые сделали камень текучим словно масло).
Göreme was now surrounded by solid rock, and the depths of the fortress reached two hundred meters beneath the dust of the surface.
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В то же время сама Гёреме ныне окружена твёрдой скалой и глубина её достигла двухсот метров под поверхностью.
Third, Göreme was guarded by an army.
И в-третьих, Гёреме охраняла армия.
The Exarchate of Cappadocia (which had no place in Muggle history, however important it might be to the course of magical events) did not station pairs of aurors or teams of Hit Wizards.
Экзархат Каппадокии (каким бы он не был важным для магических событий, но у него не было места в истории маглов) не оставлял авроров или команду великих волшебников.
Göreme was military, and its Dementors were weapons, and its guards were soldiers.
Гёреме была военным поселением, Дементоры были её оружием, а стражи – солдатами.
Cappadocia was not unique in the wizarding world for possessing a specialized army rather than relying on policing forces or militia.
Каппадокия не была настолько уникальной для волшебного мира, чтобы опираться скорее на специальные армии, нежели на полицейские силы или милицию.
While the Peace of Westphalia had established the idea of an explicit "magical state," and the establishment of the International Confederation of Wizards pushed these states into formal organization, numerous personal fiefdoms persisted well past the end of the nineteenth century.
В то время как Вестфальский мир провозгласил идею о явном «магическом статуте» и создание Международной конфедерации магов превратило этот статут в формальную организацию, многие личные вотчины сохранялись вплоть до конца девятнадцатого века.
It is true that political pressures, like the International Statute of Secrecy, and social pressures, like increasing education and Quidditch, did much to consolidate these pockets of autocracy into the same oligarchies that ruled much of the world. But nonetheless, some modern oligarchies and all modern autocracies had standing armies.
И, действительно, политическое давление, такое как принятие международного статута о секретности, социальное давление, такое как повышающееся качество образование и распространения квиддича, превратили эти очаги самодержавия в таких же олигархов, что правят миром. Но, тем не менее, некоторые современные олигархи, и все автократии имели регулярные армии.
Truth be told, it would be difficult to say whether the Exarchate of Cappadocia was dominated by the sitting Strategos, or if the wealthy sakellarioi simply established new figureheads at regular intervals.
По правде говоря, трудно было сказать, был ли Экзархат Каппадокии настоящим стратегом или же просто одной из марионеток, возвышаемой сакеллариями через равные промежутки.
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Either way, it didn't matter to Hermione.
В любом случае это не имело для Гермионы никакого значения.
Political reform of this (literally) byzantine country was secondary to another concern: the Cappadocians had Dementors, and they fed prisoners to those Dementors to keep them manageable.
Политические реформы этой (в буквальном смысле) византийской страны были лишь вторым делом: у Каппадокийцев были дементоры, и они скармливали им заключённых, чтобы держать существ в повиновении.
And that was not acceptable.
Это было неприемлемо.
Hermione pulled up on her broom, slowing down, and the rest of the group matched her deceleration. Гермиона потянула метлу на себя, замедляя ход так, чтобы остальная группа догнала её к моменту полной остановки.
She came to a stop, and pointed one finger at an uneven plateau of rock, far below them. Она остановилась и указала пальцем на неровное плато далеко под ними.
"There. Bubble up, everyone. Bullesco. "
- Это здесь. Поднять пузыри. Буллеско!
The Bubble-Head Charm sprouted from one nostril in its disturbing way, a single small translucent bubble swelling in the span of a breath until it encompassed her entire head.
Головной пузырь начал расти из одной из её ноздрей, он тревожно пульсировал, увеличиваясь с каждым вздохом, пока не охватил всю её голову.
It wobbled a bit before settling into place. Пузырь вздрогнул перед тем, как окончательно встать на своё место.
The other four witches and wizards did the same, ensuring they would have a supply of fresh and dust-free air.
Остальные четверо ведьм и волшебников сделали то же самое, гарантируя, что у них будет свежий и чистый воздух.
Alarms would be going off in Göreme about now.
Сейчас в Герёме зазвучат сигналы тревоги.
She didn't know exactly what their response protocols were, but they had an immense number of jinxes overlaid on the area.
Она не знала какой именно будет их ответная реакция, но они наложили множество проклятий на эту местность.
No Apparating, no Time-Turners.
Никаких аппараций, никаких перемещений во времени.
There was an Anti-Disillusionment Charm (a term which gave her linguistic heartburn).
Были здесь и анти-дезиллюзиниционные чары (термин, который вызывал у неё лингвистическую тошноту).
Further, there was a charm to prevent broomstick enchantments from functioning.
Кроме того, здесь были чары не допускающие зачарование мётел.
It didn't extend to this height, so as not to betray their position to a chance passerby or intruding Cypriot, but all of these jinxes limited their ability to respond.
Не смотря на то, что чары не простирались так высоко, чтобы не выдать их позицию случайному прохожему или заблудшему Киприоту, эти проклятия также ограничивали и собственные возможности охраны.
They could certainly be turned off, but what use was a precaution if you dropped it at every moment of alarm?
Теоретически, их можно было отключить, но какой толк от сигнализации, если Вы отключаете её каждый раз в момент тревоги?
It was difficult to guess what they must be doing down there, deep underground, glued to their Foe-glasses.
Сложно было предполагать, что должны делать они там внизу, глубоко под землёй, припадая к своим перископам.
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They had probably sent for aid.
Вероятнее всего, что они вызвали подкрепление.
Were they confident that they were safe, unreachable down under all that stone? Были ли они уверены, что находятся в безопасности под толщей камней?
Diffindo did a great deal of damage to rock, but it would take long minutes for such a small attack force to blast their way down.
Диффиндо нанёс большой урон скале, но потребовались бы долгие минуты, чтобы такими малыми силами прорваться вниз.
They didn't know enough to be afraid of 9.8 meters per second per second.
Они не обладали достаточными знаниями, чтобы беспокоиться о скорости свободного падения.
Hermione reached into the pouch at her waist and groped around for a second.
Гермиона потянулась к сумочке на своей талии и задержалась там не секунду.
She felt her nails scratch into something, and hoped she hadn't just damaged something important.
Она почувствовала как её ногти поцарапали что-то и понадеялась, что не повредила нечто важное.
It was one of the most annoying things about alicorn fingernails…
even if she kept them nightmarishly short, they could still accidentally scratch things if she wasn't careful.
Это была одна из самых неприятных вещей касающихся ногтей единорога…
даже если она поддерживала их кошмарно короткими, они ещё могли поцарапать некоторые вещи, если быть неосторожным.
Super-strength and claws might sound cool, but fingernails were definitely not designed to work like an animal's talons.
Суперсила и когти могли звучать безумно круто, но они явно предназначались не для той же работы, что когти животного.
It was embarrassing to accidentally ruin furniture, and it was annoying to pick the resulting detritus of stone, metal, or wood from where it would get embedded.
Было неловко случайно разрушать мебель, и особенно неприятно доставать скопившиеся под ногтями кусочки древесины, камня и метала.
When she found the sextant, she lifted it to her eye and sighted through the eyepiece.
Когда она всё-таки нашла секстант, то взглянула через окуляр.
The bubble around her head jiggled under the pressure as it warped.
Пузырь вокруг головы подпрыгивал от искажения.
She found the horizon and adjusted the declination of the index, clicking it along to the proper minute and second.
Она нашла горизонт и скорректировала индекс, щелкнув его до нужной минуты и секунды.
She checked the measurement, then checked her watch, and lastly checked that she was directly over the big white rock.
Она проверила инструмент, затем проверила часы, и лишь после убедилась, что она прямо над большой белой скалой.
Then she clicked her wand right next to the aeronautical sextant's index bar, and said, quietly and repeatedly, " Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. "
Затем она щелкнула палочкой прямо перед указателем аэронавигационного секстанта и тихо и неоднократно произнесла:
- Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite. Finite.
She paused, then cast the spell ten more times for good measure.
Она остановилась, а затем произнесла заклинание ещё десять раз для надёжности.
Her targets were enormously large, but also rather far away. She'd probably missed with most of those - no reason not to be sure, since the spell took so little effort.
Её цели были одновременно и чрезвычайно большими и очень далёкими. Вероятно, она промазала мимо большинства из них, в этом не было смысла сомневаться, ведь заклинание потребовало так мало усилий.
She was canceling her own magic, and so she cast the easiest and least powerful version of the spell and needed to put very little of herself into each iteration.
В конце концов, она лишь отменяла собственную магию, а потому выбрала самую легкую и наименее мощную версию заклинания, ей нужно было лишь понемногу вкладывать силы в каждое действие.
There was a long pause before the first beam of depleted uranium hit the rock beneath them.
Пришлось долго ждать, прежде чем первый брус из обеднённого урана ударил по скале под ними.
Hermione could feel the impact in her inner ear as the roar of sound and air and dust blasted into the five mounted witches and wizard.
Гермиона ощутила давление во внутреннем ухе, когда волна звука, пыли и мусора обрушилась на пятерых ведьм и волшебников.
They were quite high up… but then, it was quite an impact. Harry had told her about the idea, gifted to him by science fiction (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein, her brain automatically supplied).
Они были весьма высоко… но толчок всё-таки достиг их. Гарри говорил ей об этой идее, подаренной ему научной фантастикой («Луна стелет жестко» Роберта Хайнлана, как автоматически подставил её мозг)
Set high enough, the impact could have had the force of a nuclear weapon. But that would have required Muggle technology, which didn't work in the presence of magic (and it would have been overkill).
Установив достаточно высокий уровень, воздействие могло бы иметь силу ядерного оружия. Но это потребовало бы маггловской технологиии, которая не работала бы в присутствии магии (и это был бы явный перебор).
The whole thing was complicated enough. It had initially proven impossible, no matter how exact they were and how many calculations they did, to actually hit the beams with a Finite to end their Hover Charms.
Всё это было достаточно сложным. Первоначально это считалось невозможным: попасть в цель брусками с помощью финиты, направляя полёт чарами парения, и неважно насколько точными были их вычисления и сколько раз они их пересчитывали.
They'd tried attaching huge sheets to the beams to act as bigger targets, but they'd only acted as parachutes to drag the beams away from the necessary spot.
Они пытались прикреплять огромные листы к стержням, чтобы получились большие мишени, но они работали скорее как парашюты, которые бы доставили стержни до нужного места.
The only way Harry and she could get it to work, after much experimentation, was to glue long threads of transfigured Teflon to their transfigured beams. Единственный способ, которым она и Гарри могли заставить это работать, после многих экспериментов, оказалось приклеивание длинные нитей трансфигурированного тефлона к трансфигурированным стержням.
The many threads were insubstantial yet easy to hit.
Большинство нитей были непрочными, но в них было легко попасть.
After the first beam hammered into the stone - once they knew it was working, but before the next ones struck with their own blasts of sand and dust - Hermione and her Returned clumped together and Susan cast a Prismatic Shield.
После того как первый стержень погрузился в камень – как только они поняли что это сработало, но до того, как ударная волна и пыль от следующих ударила бы по ним – Гермиона и Возвращённые собрались вместе и Сьюзан накрыла их Призматическим щитом.
They watched the next four beams hit in close succession.
Они наблюдали, как следующие четыре стержня ударили в непосредственной близости друг от друга.
One was badly off target, but as far as she could see, it had missed to the north, rather than to the south.
Один из них оказался плохо нацелен, но как она могла видеть, он упал севернее чем нужно, а не южнее.
Hermione was willing to destroy the Limon Kalise if she had to, but she'd rather preserve it.
Гермиона была готова уничтожить Лимонную Церковь, если ей это будет нужно, но она предпочла бы сохранить её.
It was an excellent representation of Byzantine Christian architecture and art.
Это был отличный представитель Византийской христианской архитектуры и искусства.
The best Muggle bombs couldn't penetrate much deeper than sixty meters or so, even the ones currently under development, Harry had said.
Как говорил Гарри, даже лучшие маггловские бомбы не способны проникнуть глубже шестидесяти метров в глубину или больше, и это включая устройства находящиеся в разработке.
Well, nuclear bombs could do better, but that was out of the question. It didn't matter, anyway. They didn't want to penetrate and murder everyone.
Впрочем, ядерные бомбы могли бы и большее, но об этом не могло быть и речи. Хотя, это было и неважно. Они не хотели проникать внутрь или убивать кого бы то ни было.
They weren't trying to crush the wasp's nest.
Они не пытались уничтожить осиное гнездо.
They were trying to shake it up enough so that all the wasps came out to play.
Они пытались разворошить его настолько, чтобы все осы вышли поиграть.
Metal fell from the sky like the wrath of an angry deity. Each concussion had reached them even beyond the Shield.
Металл упал с небес, подобно гневу разъярённого бога. Каждый удар достигал их даже по ту сторону щита.
Göreme was no hardened facility, like the Muggle military bunkers Harry had discussed with her with such pleasure.
Гёреме не была долговременной огневой точкой, как те же маггловские военные бункеры, которые Гарри обсуждал с ней с таким упоением.
There was no anchoring or precautions taken against impact. It was essentially just a set of buildings constructed into natural caves. It would be very susceptible to some vigorous shaking.
Не было никаких укреплений или предосторожностей против такого воздействия. Фактически это был просто набор строений внутри естественных пещер. И они были чрезвычайно восприимчивы к сильной тряске.
They waited a few minutes, remaining still and in place. After a while, a green bolt of light streaked out of the rock below.
Они подождали ещё несколько минут, оставаясь неподвижными до того момента, пока столб зелёного с прожилками свет не ударил из белой скалы.
It went the wrong way and vanished into the sky, nowhere near Hermione or her Returned. It had been shot blindly.
Заклинание не достигло цели, ударив в небеса, даже близко не рядом с Гермионой или её Возвращёнными. То был выстрел вслепую.
A clever idea in its essence, undertaken by some desperate and vicious soldier, but the odds of a blindly-aimed curse hitting them were microscopic.
Умная, в сущности, идея, предпринятая отчаянным и дерзким бойцом, но шансы попасть по ним был микроскопичным.
She noted the trick down in her memory for later consideration.
Она запомнила этот трюк для последующего рассмотрения.
Figures appeared on the ground below.
На земле под ними появились фигуры.
Twenty or thirty, perhaps. The witches and wizards inside were using their portkeys to get outside to face the attackers who had just rattled them with a half-dozen serious earthquakes.
Двадцать или, возможно, тридцать. Ведьмы и волшебники пребывали наружу с помощью портключей, чтобы дать бой нападавшим, что только что обрушили на них полдюжины серьёзных землетрясений.
An instant later, curses began pouring up and at Hermione and her tightly-packed crowd of convenient targets. Susan dropped her Shield without needing to be told, and they all separated and began dodging.
Мгновение спустя, проклятия полились в Гермиону и её крепко сбитую группу удобных целей. Без лишней болтовни Сьюзан бросила поддержание щита и все они бросились в рассыпную.
Hermione had thought that the soldiers would be coming on brooms, but they didn't seem to have disengaged that jinx. Odd... that left them as distant infantry fighting an air attack. Perhaps they didn't feel threatened, since the Returned were high enough that neither side could really effectively aim? No, that didn't seem credible… they'd just had their secret military base smashed by mysterious metal rods from the sky. They would definitely be feeling threatened.
Гермиона полагала, что воины будут на мётлах, но они, кажется, не сняли своё проклятие. Странно… таким образом они могли атаковать воздушные цели только в качестве пехотинцев. Быть может защитники чувствовали себя в безопасности, так как Возвращённые были слишком высоко, чтобы какая-то из сторон могла нанести реальный ущерб? Нет, это не казалось правдоподобным. У них была секретная военная база, которую только что размазало таинственными металлическими блоками павшими с небес. Им определённо угрожает опасность.
Hm, a powerful attack or jinx that they were readying? Or were they just too rattled to get their act together?
Хм… Они собираются с силами или готовят коварное проклятие? Или их просто через чур встряхнуло, чтобы они могли хоть как-то организоваться?
She shrugged, and gave the high sign again.
Она пожала плечами и дала отмашку.
The Returned began reaching into their own pouches, scooping out pots, and dropping pot after pot.
Возвращённые потянулись к своим рюкзакам, выуживая из них запечатанные горшки, а затем стали разбрасываться ими, один за другим.
The pots were padded or altered in all manner of ways, the legacy of a school project that both Hermione and Harry had done when they were ten ("Class, we are going to be trying to figure out how we might drop an egg from the roof without the egg breaking. Please look at the first page of your worksheet packet…") There were some with small parachutes, some with inflated bladders, some with thick padding, and many others.
Горшки были дополнены или изменены всеми возможными способами, оставшимися в наследство от школьных проектов Гарри и Гермионы, когда им было по десять («Класс, сегодня мы узнаем, каким образом можно уронить яйцо с крыши не разбив его. Пожалуйста, посмотрите на первую страницу в…») Некоторые были снабжены маленькими парашютами, другие заключены внутрь воздушных шаров, третьи плотно упакованы, и так далее…
To be honest, it probably would have been better to actually test these first, and see which ones worked the best.
Будем честными, наверно лучше было сначала проверить эти конструкции и посмотреть какие из них лучше работают.
Then they could have copied those.
А затем скопировать лучшие образцы.
But this way had been much more fun.
Но их способ был намного веселее.
When Hermione had gone to Tesco for crafting supplies, Harry had given her a list as long as his arm, and she was fairly sure he'd spent all night on his six designs.
Когда Гермиона собралась в Теско за припасами, Гарри дал ей список длинной с собственную руку, и, как она была уверена, он потратил на его написание не только всю ночь и свои дополнительные шесть часов.
Esther, on the other hand, had looked at them as if they were crazy and had just cast a Charm. She'd been done with her six pots in sixty seconds. Philistine.
Эстер, по другую руку, смотрела на них как на сумасшедших или под Конфудусом. Она закончила со своими шестью горшками за шестьдесят секунд.
Many of the pots smashed with great force onto the rock, seeming like some direct and pathetic bombardment.
Большинство горшков с силой разбились о скалу, это выглядело как какая-то прямолинейная и жалкая бомбардировка.
One landed directly on a wizard, but exploded into flinders and dust when it hit an active shield.
Один из них попал прямо в волшебника, но сразу же разлетелся в щепки и пыль, коснувшись активного щита.
A few others landed with such ease and grace that she bet they weren't even cracked, and so they had no effect.
Несколько других приземлились с выдающейся лёгкостью и изяществом, она бы поспорила, что они даже не потрескались, и потому не возымели эффекта.
Others, though, were simply smashed open. And the young Mandrakes that were awoken from their warm and comfortable napping in the dirt wailed in protest.
Другие, однако, просто разбились. И молодые мандрагоры, разбуженные от своего сна в теплой и комфортной грязи, вопили в знак протеста.
It was a common Muggleborn trick, she had to admit.
Она вынуждена была сознаться, что это была обычная маггловская уловка.
People who entered the magical world after growing up in the more safety-conscious mundane life of Muggles were frequently astonished that there were so many dangerous spells, plants, and creatures, much in the way that few pureblood witches and wizards who'd seen the accident statistics could understand the use of automobiles.
Те люди, что входили в магический мир, будучи взращёнными в более безопасной и мирной маггловской жизни, были зачастую изумлены тем, сколь много опасных заклинаний, растений и животных пребывало в нём; так большинство чистокровных волшебников не поняли бы беспокойства относительно несчастных случаев связанных с автомобилями.
To the Muggleborn, it was immediately obvious that these deadly things could be used directly as weapons.
Тогда как для магглорожденных сразу же стало очевидно, что эти смертоносные вещи можно использовать непосредственно как оружие.
She'd read a dozen books about why this was a foolish idea.
Она читала десятки книг о том почему это глупая идея.
In the first place, the scream is easily warded by an adult witch or wizard.
Во-первых, любая взрослая ведьма или волшебник легко защищаются от крика.
Further, they only scream when awoken, so you must awkwardly go to battle with a fairly obvious large container, making surprise difficult to achieve.
Кроме того, они кричат только когда просыпаются, таким образом, вы должны идти в битву с несуразно большим и демаскирующим вас контейнером, что делает сложным достижения эффекта неожиданности.
Even further, Mandrakes take most of a year to fully mature.
И более того, мандрагорам требуется большая часть года, чтобы полностью созреть.
Until then, their scream will merely cause unconsciousness.
До этого момента их крик будет не более чем причиной для обмороков.
There were many other spells that could be cast that did not require most of a year of preparation and a large flowerpot, and which could not be blocked by numerous trivial charms.
Было множество других чар, которые не требовали года подготовки и большого цветочного горшка, и которые не могли быть заблокированы простыми заклинаниями.
The plant had its uses, but the practical ones were almost universally as a potion ingredient.
Растениям находилось применение, но фактически они использовались как ингредиент для зелий повсеместно.
Mandrakes and chainsaws made poor weapons, and for much the same reasons.
К примеру, бензопилы были плохим оружием по похожим причинам.
All of those caveats were true, and all of those scolding books were wise. But if you wished to attack from beyond wand distance, unexpectedly, and with the intention to stun?
Все эти предупреждения были правдой, и скептические статьи в книгах были мудрыми. Но что если вам нужно атаковать, превышая дистанцию волшебной палочки, внезапно, и именно с намерением оглушить?
Bombs away.
Бомбы летели вниз.
Hermione had no intention of making this a fair fight.
Гермиона и не стремилась к честному сражению.
As long as you controlled the battlefield, you controlled combat, and she'd come prepared for an aerial war.
Покуда вы контролируйте поле боя, вы контролируйте всю битву, и она подготовилась к воздушной войне.
They had tricks upon tricks upon tricks.
У них было множество уловок.
There were a thousand different clever things one could do quite beyond normal magical dogfighting.
Существовали тысячи разных умных штук лежащих за пределами нормальных магических битв.
If she could eliminate most of the enemy like this, before they'd even had a chance to take to the air, then this fight would be short and safe.
Если бы она могла ликвидировать большую часть врагов также как сейчас, до того момента как те получились шанс подняться в воздух, тогда все битвы были бы короткими и безопасными.
They'd run out of Mandrakes. Hermione peered down, squinting. From this vantage point, it was hard to tell, but only ten or eleven soldiers still seemed to be moving. It was time for
Их мандрагоры подошли к концу. Гермиона вгляделась вниз, прищуриваясь.
С её, несомненно удобной, позиции трудно было сказать, но кажется десять или двенадцать воинов ещё двигались. Так что пришло время
falling
падать
It was time for falling, apparently.
Пришло время для пикирования, очевидно.
Hermione's broom went dead as a stone between her legs. Ah, she mused, letting it tumble away from her fingers.
Метла Гермионы камнем рухнула вниз.
- Ах! – Подумала та, позволяя дереву оторваться от её пальцев.
That's why they didn't turn off the jinx. They were just working on making it stronger. Clever defense, she didn't know you could do that. Two overlapping fields, perhaps, with one usually off? The wind whipped her robes against her face as she fell. How long? Seconds.
Так вот почему они не отключили сглаз. Они просто работали над силой. Разумная оборона, она не могла подумать, что они на такое способны. Два параллельных поля, одно из них, вероятно, было выключено? Когда она стала падать, ветер взвил подол мантии перед её лицом. Как долго это длилось? Секунды.
Hermione reached to her wrist and slapped a bracelet there, hard. Never fight in the air without a backup.
Гермиона повернула запастье и тяжело ударила по браслету на нём. Никогда не сражайтесь в воздухе не имея запасного плана.
Hm. Beater Bastion not working. She slapped it again.
Хм… Браслет загонщика не работал. Она ударила по нему снова.
It was a safety device meant for Quidditch, and it was supposed to be reliable, but she couldn't help but notice that she was still plummeting.
Это было устройство безопасности для квиддича, и оно, вероятно, заслуживало доверия, но она не могла не заметить, что всё ещё падала.
She twisted in the air, scrambling for her wand and looking for one of the Returned. Она сгруппировалась в воздухе, выхватила свою палочку и стала высматривать одного из Возвращённых.
There was no one… getting closer to the ground now… a few seconds…
Никого не было… ближе к земле… пара секунд…
no, there, Simon, if she could just... no, damn, where'd he go… there was Esther but Stunned, no no… have to move, can you swim through the air?...
Нет, здесь, Саймон… Если бы она могла просто… Нет, чёрт, где его носит!.. здесь была только оглушённая Эстер, нет! Нет!.. Нужно двигаться, можно ли плытьь по воздуху?..
turn turn turn, there he is there wand up and YES "Arresto Momentum!"
Поворот, ещё один, ещё!Вот он и его палочка и ДА!
«Арресто Моментум!»
He vanished from her sight, jerked away as his descent rapidly slowed.
Он исчез из её поля зрения, дёрнувшись от того, что его падение резко замедлилось.
And that was the last thought Hermione had for some indeterminate amount of time.
И это было последнее, что Гермиона увидела, перед тем как рухнула в беспамятство.
≡≡≡Ω≡≡≡
She could see. Her eyes had already been open, so she hadn't needed to do that. But she could see. They must have just healed. She felt nothing. That would be her spine, broken. Lucky, lucky. This would be much more unpleasant, otherwise.
Not sure how long she'd been out. A minute or two, probably. She'd fallen quite far, but wizards were resistant to blunt trauma generally - some quirk of magical inheritance. Also, Hermione was a troll/unicorn woman, and rather hard to hurt.
Hermione couldn't stop herself from blinking the blood out of her eyes, but remained still otherwise. She couldn't see anything. Unluckily, her face was pressed against a large rock, and it entirely blotted out her view. She listened, instead, and waited for her body to finish healing.
"Τι συνέβη [What happened]?" A male voice shouted. A female voice called back an answer, but was too far away to be audible. No mandrakes could be heard, so the soldiers must have killed the exposed ones.
She heard a slight crackle as her neck healed, the bones pushing themselves to where they were supposed to be, and drew her breath sharply as the pain of her body screamed through her. An inarticulate shout tore from one of the soldiers nearby - so she'd been seen. Well, nothing for it, then.
Hermione jerked one leg in front of her and pressed against it, spinning herself into a sidelong roll. There was a wash of heat along her back as she did - a missed curse. Nausea assaulted her with the motion, but she ignored it. Her leg wheeled over her spinning body and impacted the rock, and she levered herself up onto it. The spin improbably became a vault, and she landed on her feet in a crouch. It was an act of fluid beauty, and it still seemed unreal that she was capable of such effortless grace.
Fourteen men and women in Cappadocian robes (sharply pointed sleeves, swooping long break in the fabric in the back) stood before her, their attacks halted for the moment now that she was motionless. She'd counted badly, or they'd already restored several of their number. She only saw one of her Returned: Simon. He stood nearby, arms raised. She'd saved him, but all of his emotion was concentrated in anger: the fleshy Scot was scowling at the soldiers. He'd been disarmed. That was smart. But neither she nor he had been Stunned. That was foolish.
The other Returned were not visible. They had probably hit the ground hard, and their emergency portkeys had broken with the impact.
Her own wand was probably somewhere around here. No matter. The soldiers were watching her warily. They were surprised but not awed, so maybe the fall hadn't looked as impressive as it had felt. Still, she gave it a try, speaking in clear and awkward syllables: "Θα πρέπει να παραδοθούν. [You must surrender.]"
There was an absolute and complete absence of contemptuous laughter, scornful retorts, or other displays of bravado. Instead, several of the soldiers glanced at one of the tallest among them. Considering the offer? There were no marks of rank visible, and Hermione surmised that this man, who was watching her edgily, was some sort of unofficial leader among the group. He had an impressive chin - broad and cleft. Could a fantastic chin make you a leader among men?
Whatever thought process had gone on in the man's mind did not end in Hermione's favor. She could see it in his eyes, once he'd decided. It was disappointing. They must know her - some of them had even probably seen her in the flesh before, since she'd visited Cappadocia a dozen or more times - but she and Simon were disarmed and Hermione was a bloody wreck. Hermione thought she must not be impressive enough. She'd better work on her image some more. The more fights she could win without actually fighting, the better. It would make eliminating all the Dementors that much faster.
The man aimed his wand at her again and shifted his feet. Other soldiers picked up on the same cue as Hermione, but as they all made ready to fire, she already was diving to the side and plunging her hand into her pouch. Curses flicked over her and behind her as soldiers barked their spells. One curse - a Severing Charm, maybe? - opened up her back as it struck her squarely. She didn't know how badly - she was already on her feet, dodging and flinging a glass orb the size of her fist at the soldiers.
Big-Chin was a quick thinker, and his wand flicked to the side to track the orb as it flew at them. " Reducto!"
The orb shattered well before it reached them, the glass (actually a perfectly and wondrously thick hollow borosilicate glass sphere, courtesy of transfiguration) detonating as its pressures were released. Big-Chin and another soldier, the closest, were staggered by the explosion and the wash of warm air that swept over them all. Simon, unarmed, had dared only cover his face with his hands. He'd known what to expect, and took advantage of the distraction to immediately slap the small of his back with one palm. He disappeared with a wet sucking sound as his portkey was broken and activated.
Hermione dropped to a crouch as the soldiers opened fire again. She rammed her right hand into her left forearm, below the wrist. Curses flickered overhead with coruscating light. One brushed her leg, and she lost feeling in it. Even as she went sprawling, though, she was already ripping a slender and gorey wand from her left arm, and casting another Finite with bloodslick fingers. She didn't have to aim the spell. The air in the sphere had been quite concentrated.
If she'd been evil, she would have transfigured acid, though it would have been trickier with the pressure pump and chamber they'd used. This was just water. Water, water, everywhere. In a drizzlingly thick cloud around them, in their mouths (tasting of dust), and in their lungs. Even worse, they'd all taken a few panting breaths over the last ten seconds or so, respiring transfigured air from what must have seemed like a small bomb.
In the lungs of Hermione and fourteen other witches and wizards, the alveoli which clustered like grapes along the bronchioles had transferred oxygen into their blood and bound it into red blood cells which raced down capillaries and arteries. The oxygen was immediately put to work throughout the body in every living cell, producing ATP in a trillion mitochondria all throughout their flesh.
In an instant, though, a significant percentage of that oxygen had just been reverted back into water.
And that was the last thought Hermione had for some indeterminate amount of time.
≡≡≡Ω≡≡≡
She could feel. She was on her hands and knees, her fingers buried in the rock in front of her. She was blind and deaf. But she was alive and conscious.
Hermione rested for a moment in the sudden peace of deafness, then pushed back onto her heels and rose to her feet. It was not difficult; this one hadn't even hurt. Some percentage of the cells in her body had just died. The exact number was hard to even guess, but she didn't imagine it could have been much. Half a percent?
As her vision slowly returned, along with her hearing (for now, mostly a high-pitched whine inside her head), she revised her estimate. All fourteen of her opponents were either writhing in gasping agony... or lying still and grey.
Wasting no time, though she was a bit unsteady on her feet, Hermione plucked yet another object from the Pouch of Poorly-Conceived Weapons Intended for Bombardment. She trotted quickly from body to body with the device, which was a potent relic from ancient and bygone days: a chrome money-changer. It had once dispensed coins for a train conductor.
At each body, she clicked the changer over them. A coin dropped onto them, and they vanished with a wet sucking sound. Off to be saved, off to the Tower, off to the only man in the world who could heal these injuries.
The changer made a wonderfully satisfying sound each time, though she didn't dawdle to enjoy. Ker-chak. Ker-chak. Ker-chak. Ker-chak.
Along the way, she found her regular wand and put it back in its holster. The still-bloody Ultimate Ulna (she was proud of the name) went into her pouch.
When she finished, she stopped and looked around. Hermione was alone on what had once been a rocky plateau but which was now a shattered moonscape. They might actually have cracked Göreme open, from the look of the mighty crevasses that still smoked from the impact. Her robes were ragged and burned and slashed, even soaked through with blood in many places. Her wounds were gone: in just the past few minutes shattered bones had pulled together, a deeply slashed back injury had knit closed, and billions of detonating cells had been transfigured back into life. No Dementors, though. There must be more soldiers, holding them in their pen. The pen where they were fed.
This had been poorly planned. She knew better, too. When you are making a plan, look at each step, and ask yourself: how can this go wrong? Once you have done that, and satisfied yourself with the answer in each respect, ask yourself a second question: what two things can go wrong at the same time? Always plan for two independent failures.
She'd planned for the bombardment to fail, or how to handle a broomstick failure, or if the enemy found a way to target them in the air, and everything else. But it hadn't been enough. All of the first line of her warband had been taken out in the first engagement (though they had come to no permanent harm) because the broomsticks had failed and their safety net had failed. Not paranoid enough, she murmured to herself with annoyance. Alastor will be disappointed.
Hermione plucked her wand from its holster, and readied herself. Then she expected the Dementors to come to her. It took no effort, for it seemed the natural course of events. I am here. I am waiting.
Come and get me.
Before her, two score of black and indistinct shapes emerged slowly through the blasted stone. They were hungry and evil and wrong, these wounds in the world clad in ragged cloaks. They were her great enemy, and there was nowhere in the world that they could hide from her. She would hunt them all down, unless they took her now. Hermione willed that thought out at them like a weapon, and if someone had been watching at that time, such as Hyori and Jessie (who flew in a wide circle out of range of the fortress, waiting for green sparks to summon them), that person would have seen a fierce joy in Hermione's eyes. She had died twice in these past eight years, and she had made death her dearest foe.
She raised her wand, and opened her mouth to cast.
And then her world was flame.
She wasn't sure what had happened. In some conscious part of her mind, she knew that the soldiers who had been guarding the Dementors down in Göreme must have portkeyed to the surface once their charges had escaped, and that they had turned some spell of fire upon her. But that thought was beyond her at the moment, because there was fire hot on her face and burning her burning her. Fire, that could hurt her quickly enough to incapacitate her. Fire, which had killed her once already. She shrieked as her flesh seared.
The Dementors were already there, and she felt their presence like a stain of hate that saturated her, even as the fire roared around her and devoured her. They were close enough and numerous enough that their presence began to consume her. The touch of their evil felt like despair, and it whispered into her mind and it sucked away at her marrow.
Hermione fell to her knees, and knew dimly that she was dying once more. The thought beat down on her as though it had great black wings, pulsing down and driving her to the ground.
She would burn and she would die.
She would burn and she would die.
She would burn and she would die.
But
But there were things to be done.
She was on fire and Dementors were eating her and the soldiers would kill her but there were things to be done.
Hermione rose to her feet,
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