Marina Dyachenko - The Scar

Egert and Toria stood on a hill. Far below lay the black, swollen river, and from out the city gates wound the road, empty except for a single black speck slowly moving toward the horizon. They felt no need to talk about the man who was traveling away from them either; both held him in their memory, and so they simply gazed at the distance into which the Wanderer disappeared.

The world is preserved by the mother of all roads. She looks after the faithful traveler, relieving his solitude. The dust of the road covers the hem of a cloak, the dust of the constellations covers the curtain of the night sky, and the wind blows both the clouds toward first light and sheets hung up to dry with the same eagerness.

It is no misfortune if the soul is scorched by the sun; it is far more disastrous if a raging fire devastates the soul. It is no misfortune if you do not know where you are going; it is far worse when there is no longer anywhere to go. He who stands on the path of experience cannot step away from it, even when it has come to its end.

For the path is without end.

Sergey and Marina Dyachenko have received numerous prestigious literary awards for their novels and short stories. They were honored as the European Science Fiction Society’s Best Writers of Europe at Eurocon 2005. Marina and Sergey are married and live in Kiev.

This book was translated by Elinor Huntington, who studied Russian literature at Barnard College and UCLA. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

THE SCAR

English translation copyright © 2012 by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

Originally published as ШРАМ in 1997 by ACT in Moscow

Copyright © 1997 by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

All rights reserved.

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The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Diachenko, Serhii, 1945–

[Shram. English]

The scar / Sergey Dyachenko and Marina Dyachenko. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7653-2993-6

I. Diachenko, Marina. II. Title.

PG3949.14.I15S3313 2012

891.73'5—dc23

2011025177

e-ISBN 9781429996624

First Edition: February 2012