"Elliott,.Kate.-.Crown.Of.Stars.3.-.Burning.Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elliott Kate)

she regretted having to go. But not so much that she could
bring herself to stay.

"I cannot see into the future. Go, then."

"But there are creatures pursuing meЧ

"So many mysteries. So much movement afoot. You must
make your choiceЧthere, or here. The gateway is closing."

The flames flickered lower until they rippled like a sheen of
water trembling along the surface of the stone. If she waited
too long, the choice would be made for her.

She reined the horse around and slapped its rump with the
trailing end of her reins. It bolted forward, light surged, and her
sight was still hazed with dancing spots and black dots and
bright Each day of the king's progress unfurls, flowers, and
fades as in a haze. He waits.

Among the dogs, he has learned to be patient.

"That which binds you," said the sorcerer, but whether with:
surprise or recognition she could not tell.

s,out of the ragged circle of stones with a flash of afternoon
sun in her eyes.

Disoriented, she shaded her eyes with a hand until she could
make out the road below. It was not yet twilight; an
unseasonable chill stung the air. The Bretwald lay beyond the
road, alive with birds come to feed at the verge. Crows
flocked in the tree-tops. A vulture spiraled down and landed
on a heap of rags that littered the roadside.

Of the fell creatures that had stalked her, there was no sign.

What had the old sorcerer said? "The measure of days and
years moves differently here than there."

Had she arrived earlier than she had left? Was that even
possible, to wait here beside the road when she was herself
riding on that same road, not yet having reached this point?
She shook herself and urged the horse forward, looking
around cautiously. But nothing stirred. The crows flapped
away with raucous cries. The vulture at last bestirred itself and
flew, but only to a nearby branch, where it watched as she
picked her way up to the roadside and dismounted to examine
the litter: a jumble of bones scoured clean; damp tabards
wilted on the turf or strewn with pebbles as though a wind had