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

like to be busy with my hands," she had said. "And it sets folk at ease to see an old woman harmlessly
knitting. Mind you, my needles are anything but harmless!")
"An interesting tale, even if you have left out part of it," Maeve commented. Her patient felt herself
blush. Maeve's perceptiveness was disconcerting. "So now you still have three wishes, eh? Isn't that
right? That's how it usually goesтАФyan, tan, tethera. No, there is no need to reply. You wish for a history,
a family, and something moreтАФI see it in your eyes. Mark youтАФremember the old saw, Be careful
what you wish for, lestтАФ"
"Lest what?"
"Lest it comes true."
The carlin completed a row of knitting and swapped the needles from hand to hand.
"Now listen," she continued. "I do not know who you are or how to get your memories back, but I
do ken that this house, since five days ago, is being watched."
"Watched? What can you mean?"
"I mean, spied upon by spies who do not know they have been spied. And since they began their
enterprise not long after you arrived, I deduce that it is you they are after. Nobody gets past my door
without my allowing itтАФthe world knows that. Therefore, these observers must be waiting for you to
come out. What think you of that, eh? Are they friends of yours, wanting to protect you, or are they
enemies?"
It was like a sudden dousing in icy water. All that had happened to Imrhien since her arrival at the
carlin's house had driven out thoughts of pursuers. Now the recent past caught up with a jarring
swiftness. These spies might be henchmen of the wizard, the slandered charlatan Korguth the
JackalтАФbut more likely they were Scalzo's men who had somehow tracked her down. She had been
traced right to the carlin's door! If they had come this far, across Eldaraigne in search of her, or if they
had sent word of her approach by Relayer to accomplices in Caermelor or even at the Crown and Lyon
Inn, then it was obvious they were determined to catch her before she went to the King-Emperor
explaining her detailed knowledge of Waterstair's location. Danger threatened. Desperate men might
resort to desperate methods to prevent her from reaching the Royal City.
The carlin's eye was fixed intently upon her guest.
"How do you estimate these watchers? Take care with your reply. A false decision might bring
disaster. What comes next depends on what you say now. Your tongue is new to you. Use it wisely."
"I think they are evil men," the girl replied slowly. "Men who wish me ill; brigands led by one called
Scalzo, from Gilvaris Tarv, who slew my friends. They will try to stop me from reaching the Court."
"That may be the case. I am not in a position to judge. If 'tis true, then it is perilous for you to depart
from here unprotected. With this in mind I have already asked my patient Whithiue to lend you her
feather-cloak so that you might fly out in the guise of a swan and send the cloak back later. She would
not hear of it of course but it was worth a tryтАФshe and her clan owe me many favors. Yet I have another
plan. If those who watch are your enemies, then they will know you chiefly by your hair and by your
name. My advice is thisтАФwhen you set out for the Royal City, go not as Imrhien Goldenhair. Go as
another."
The needles clattered. A ball of yarn unrolled. The lizard watched it with the look of a beast born to
hunt but restrained by overpowering ennui.
"Change my name?"
"Well, 'tis not your name, is it? 'Tis only a kenning given you. One kenning is as good as another. I'll
think of something suitable to replace it, given time. But you cannot go to Court with that hair and not be
noticed. By the Coillach, colleen, know you how rarely the Talith are seen? Only one of that kindred
resides at CourtтАФMaiwenna, a cousin of the long-defunct Royal Family of Avlantia. In all the lands,
there are so few human beings of your coloring that they are always remarked upon. Feorhkind nobles
can rinse their tresses in the concoctions of carlins and wizards and dye-mixers as often as they like, but
they can never copy Talith gold. Their bleached heads are like clumps of dead grass. No, if you want to
mingle unmarked, you must change the color of your hair as well as your kenning. And for good measure,