"Cecilia Dart-Thornton - The Bitterbynde 02 - The Lady of the Sorrows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dart-Thornton Cecilia)

her yellow hair indicated she came of the blood of the Talith people, a once-great race that had dwindled
to the brink of extinction. Together, the pair sought and found a treasure trove in a cave under a remote
place called Waterstair. Taking some of the money and valuables with them, they journeyed to the city of
Gilvaris Tarv. There they were sheltered by Sianadh's sister, the carlin Ethlinn, who had three children:
Diarmid, Liam, and Muirne. A city wizard, Korguth, tried unsuccessfully to heal Imrhien's deformities. To
Sianadh's rage, the wizard's incompetent meddling left her worse off than before. Later, in the
marketplace, Imrhien bought freedom for a seelie waterhorse. Her golden hair was accidentally revealed
for an instant, attracting a disturbing glance from a suspicious-looking onlooker.
After Sianadh departed from the city, bent on retrieving more riches from Waterstair, Imrhien and
Muirne were taken prisoner by a band of villains led by a man named Scalzo. Upon their rescue they
learned of the deaths of Liam and Sianadh. Scalzo and his henchmen were to blame.
Imrhien promised Ethlinn she would reveal the location of Waterstair's treasure only to the
King-Emperor. With this intention, she joined Muirne and Diarmid and traveled to distant Caermelor, the
Royal City. Along their way through a wilderness of peril and beauty, Imrhien and Diarmid accidentally
became separated from their fellow travelers, including Muirne. Fortunately they met Thorn, a handsome
ranger of the Dainnan knighthood whose courage and skill were matchless, and Imrhien fell victim to
love.
After many adventures, followed by a sojourn in Rosedale with Silken Janet and her father, these
three wanderers rediscovered Muirne, safe and well. Muirne departed with her brother Diarmid to join
the King-Emperor's armed forces. Recruits were in demand, because rebel barbarians and unseelie
wights were mustering in the northern land of Namarre, and it seemed war was brewing in Erith.
Imrhien's goal was to visit the one-eyed carlin, Maeve, seeking a cure, before continuing on to
Caermelor. At her final parting from Thorn she was distraught. To her amazement, he kissed her at the
last moment.
At last, in the village of White Down Rory, Imrhien's facial disfigurements were healed. With the
cure, she regained the power of speech.
Two of her goals had been achieved. She now had a name and a face, but still, no memory of her
past.
END OF BOOK ONE
 1
WHITE DOWN RORY
Mask and Mirror




Cold day, misty gray, when cloud enshrouds the hill.
Black trees, icy freeze, deep water, dark and still,
Cold sun. Ancient One of middle Wintertide,
Old wight, erudite, season personified
Sunset silhouette, antlers branching wideтАФ
Shy deer eschew fear while walking at her side.
Windblown, blue-faced crone, the wild ones never flee
Strange eyes, eldritch, wiseтАФthe Coillach Gairm is she
тАФSONG OF THE WINTER HAG


It was Nethilmis, the Cloudmonth. Shang storms came and went close on each other's heels, and
then the wild winds of Winter began to close in. They buffeted the landscape with fitful gusts, rattling
drearily among boughs almost bare, snatching the last leaves and hunting them with whimsical savagery.