"Bard's Tale 03 - Prison of Souls - Mercedes Lackey & Mark Shepherd 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bard's Tale)

"No," he said quickly. "No one ever did. The whole
family has been rather evasive about Carlotta."
'Then perhaps I should keep quiet as well," the
Dark Elf replied slyly.
"Not that they were intentionally keeping it a secret
from me," he quickly supplied. "I'm sure they just
never, well, had the time. Or the chance, I mean,
there are some things you just don't discuss with chil-
dren. I've been here what, eight years now?"
"Nine," Naitachal said. "And you were never curi-
ous about it before."
"I'm nineteen now. I'm not a child." Alaire withered
under Naitachal's answering look, which seemed to
say, oh, are you not, really?
His Master shrugged. "The royal family never
swore me to secrecy on everything. I insisted on a free
rein in your upbringing, and got it. What would you
like to know?"
"Details. Like, did you use this kind of swordsman-
ship," he said, pointing towards the rack of swords,
practice and the lethal, metal kind. "Or something a
little more esoteric?"
"I was not the hero," Naitachal said, "and I'm still
not certain any victory was had on that day, by any-
one."
His gaze turned brooding, as it always did when he
was about to relate some story from the past. Naitachal
gift for tale-telling extended beyond songs and ballads,
and Alaire settled back with a feeling of anticipation.
"It began before I became involved," Naitachal
said, with a sideways glance at his apprentice. "A Bard
named Aidan sent his apprentice, Kevin, to the librar-
ies of Count Volmar to copy a manuscript called The
Study of Ancient Song."
Alaire nodded, although he had known all this
before.
"Thirty years before, Aidan had prevented Carlotta
from stealing her brother's throne. At the time, he
thought Carlotta had been disposed of, but he had
recently learned that she was still alive. Although the
situation had changed, Carlotta's ambition had not.
Since you humans have such brief lives, Aidan was
now an old man and didn't have the strength to deal
with Carlotta. His apprentice, Kevin, was only seven-
teen then."
Naitachal shook his head, as if he could not believe
the years had passed so quickly. "Kevin was young,
eager, and dying to have an Adventure. What he
lacked in brains and maturity he more than made up
with enthusiasm. However, he was rather reluctant to