"Elenium 02 - The Ruby Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

that Vanion loved the dear, small woman who had
instructed all Pandions for generations in the secrets of
Styricum. All Pandion Knights loved and revered
Sephrenia. In Vanion's case, however, Sparhawk surmised
that love and reverence went perhaps a step
further. Sephrenia also, he had noticed, seemed to have a
special affection for the Preceptor that went somewhat
beyond the love of a teacher for her pupil. This was also
something that a Church Knight should reveal to the
Hierocracy in Chyrellos. Again, Sparhawk chose not to.
'Why are we gathering at this unseemly hour?' Vanion
asked wearily.
'Do you want to tell him?' Sparhawk asked Sephrenia.
The white-robed woman sighed and unwrapped the
long, cloth-bound object she held to reveal another
ceremonial Pandion sword. 'Sir Tanis has gone into the
House of the Dead,' she told Vanion sadly.
Tanis?' Vanion's voice was stricken. 'When did this
happen?''
just recently, I gather,' she replied.
'is that why we're here tonight?' Vanion asked
Sparhawk.
'Not entirely. Before he went to deliver his sword to
Sephrenia, Tanis visited me - or at least his ghost did. He
told me that someone in the royal crypt wanted to see
me. I went to the cathedral and I was confronted by the
-ghost of Aldreas. He told me a number of things and then
gave me this.' He twisted the shaft of the spear out of its
socket and shook the ruby ring out of its place of
concealment.
'So that's where Aldreas hid it,' Vanion said. 'Maybe he
was wiser than we thought. You said he told you some
things. Such as what?'
That he had been poisoned,' Sparhawk replied.
'Probably the same poison they gave Ehlana.'
'Was it Annias?' Kalten asked grimly.
Sparhawk shook his head. 'no. It was Princess Arissa.'
'His own sister?' Bevier exclaimed. That's monsttrous!'
Bevier was an Arcian, and he had deep moral convictions.
'Arissa is fairly monstrous,' Kalten agreed. "She's not
the sort to let little things stand in her way. How did she
get out of the cloister in Demos to dispose of Aldreas,
though?'
'Annias arranged it,' Sparhawk told him. "She entertained
Aldreas in her usual fashion, and when he was
exhausted, she gave him the poisoned wine.'
"I don't quite understand,' Bevier frowned.
The relationship between Arissa and Aldreas went
somewhat beyond what is customary for a brother and
sister,' Vanion told him delicately.