"Farland, David - Runelords 5 - Sons of the Oak (v1.0)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farland David)

He seemed to be a kind boy, quick to give comfort, and she remembered how he had been the first to offer her a ride.
He's quick to help, as well, she decided.
And what seemed to be long wasted moments later, the horses finally mundered over the bridge into the castle.
Fallion shouted "Make way, make way!" and the horses cantered through the streets up to the keep. In minutes Rhi-anna dismounted and was whisked inside, where she gaped at the splendor of the Great Hall.
Servants had begun preparing a feast. Maidens had begun bringing bowls of fruitЧlocal wood-pears and shining red apples, along with more exotic fare all the way from IndhopalЧstar fruits and tangerines to set upon the tables. Children were strewing pennyroyal flowers upon the stone floor, raising a sweet scent. Huge fires blazed in the hearth, where young boys turned the crank on a spit, cooking whole piglets that dripped fat and juice to sizzle in the flames. A pair of racing hounds barked at all of the excitement.
No sooner had the party entered than a knot of maids surмrounded Fallion and Jaz, offering sympathy for the death of their father. Fallion tried to look stoic while wiping away the tears that came to his eyes, but Jaz seemed to be more sentiмmental, sobbing openly.
At the far end of the hall, Rhianna saw die queen herself hurry forward, an ancient woman with watery eyes and hair as white as ice, prematurely aged from having taken numerмous endowments of metabolism. She stood tall and straight like a warrior, and moved with the grace of a dancer, but even Rhianna could see that her time was near. Even die most powerful Runelords died eventually.
Amid the bustle, Sir Borenson grabbed Rhianna and picked her up, hugging her to his chest as he shouted, "Call die surgeon, hoy!"

For his part, Borenson planned to leave the boys in the care of the cooks and maids and their mother. The boys were well liked by the help. As toddlers, Iome had sent them to the kitchens to work, as if they were the get of common sculмlions. She did it, as she said, 'To teach the boys humility and respect for authority, and to let them know that their every request was purchased at the price of another's sweat." And so they had toiledЧscrubbing pots and stirring stews, pluckмing geese and sweeping floors, fetching herbs from the garмden and serving tablesЧduties common to children. In the process of learning to work, they had gained the love and reмspect of the common folk.
So the maids cooed at the boys, offering sympathy at the death of their father, a blow that one heavyset old matron thought could somehow only be softened by pastries.
Borenson told Waggit, "I need to get this girl to a surgeon, and learn what I can from her. Her Highness will be eager for news. Give her a full accounting."
Then he carried Rhianna through a maze of corridors and steps, and soon was panting and sweating from exertion. As he carried her, he asked, "Where can I find your mother or father?"
Rhianna was almost numb with fear. She didn't know how much she could trust this man, and she dared not tell him the truth. Her stomach hurt terribly. "I don't have a da." And what could she say about her mother? Those who knew her at all thought that she was daft, a madwoman. At the very best she was a secretive vagabond who traveled from fair to fair to sell trinkets, staying only a day or a few hours at each before she crept off into the night. "And my mother... I think she's dead."
Wherever Mum is, Rhianna thought, even if she's alive, she'll want people to mink that she's dead.
"Brothers? Sisters? Grandparents?" he asked as they bustled up some stairs, brushing past a maid who was hurryмing down with a bundle of dirty bedding.
Rhianna just shook her head.

Borenson stopped for a second, peered deep into her eyes, as if thinking. "Well, when this is all over, maybe you can come live with me."
If I live, she thought. Rhianna could feel the mail beneath his robe, hard and cold. The epaulets on his shoulders dug into her chin. She wondered if he was a hard man, like his armor.
"I think you'd like it at our house," he continued. "There's plenty of room. I have a daughter a little younger than you. Of course, you'd have to put up with some little brothers and sisters."
Rhianna bit her lip, said nothing. He seemed to take her nonanswer as an acceptance of the offer.
They reached a tower chamber, a simple room with a soft cot. The room was dark but surprisingly warm, since one wall was formed by the chimney from a hearth. Borenson laid her on a cot, then ducked into the hallway with a candle to borrow light from another flame. In a moment he was back. The ceiling was low, and bundles of dried flowers and roots hung from the rafters. A single small window had heavy iron bars upon it to keep out the night. Rhianna found her eyes riveted to it.
"The creatures were following hot after us, weren't they?" she asked. She'd heard the bell-like calls all down the mounмtain, had seen dark shapes, larger than horses, gliding among the pines.
"They followed us," Borenson said. "But they didn't dare come into the open. They stayed in the woods."
"It's the shadows they love," Rhianna said. "I think they were mad that I left. They want their babies back."
She tried to sound tough, but her courage was failing. Dark fluid had begun to dribble out from between her legs.
They're eating me, she realized.
She looked up at Sir Borenson. "I think I would have liked to have lived with you."
Borenson paced across the room peering at the bundles of herbs, as if wondering if one of them might be of some help.

He went to a small drawer and opened it, pulled out a tiny
gold tin. It held some dark ointment. j
He took a pinch and rolled it into a ball. i
"Are you in pain?" he asked.
"A bit," she said, trembling. But to be honest, she wasn't sure of the source. Her stomach was cramped part in fear, part in hunger. She hadn't eaten in two days. She felt weak from hunger and constant terror. She hadn't slept much, and now she felt as if she were in a dream and dared not hope for a happy ending.
"Take this," he said, offering her the dark ball. "It's opium, to get rid of the pain." He took a small pipe from the drawerЧa pretty thing shaped like a silver frog upon a stick. The bowl was in the frog's mouth, while the stick served as a stem. Borenson lit it with the candle.
She took the end in her mouth and inhaled. The smoke tasted bitter. She took several puffs, then Borenson uncorked a wine bottle that was sitting on a stand by the bed and ofмfered her a drink. The wine tasted sweet and potent, and in a moment the bitter taste faded.
There was a soft tap at the door, and Fallion entered. The boy looked very frightened, but when he saw that she was awake, he smiled just a bit.
"Can I stay?" he asked. He did not ask Borenson. He asked her.
Rhianna nodded, and he came and sat beside her, taking Borenson's spot.
Rhianna leaned back upon the bed, and Fallion just sat beмside her, holding her hand. He was trying to offer comfort, but kept looking to the door, and Rhianna knew mat he was worried that the healer would not come in time.
At last, Borenson asked the question that she knew mat he must. "The creatures in the wood ... where were you when they took you?"
Rhianna didn't quite know what to answer. Once again, he was prying, and she knew that, as the old saying went, A man's own tongue will betray him more often than will an

enemy's. "We were camping near the margin of the old King's Road, near Hayworth. My mum had gone to Cow's Cross to sell goods at Hostenfest. We were shanking it home when a man caught us, a powerful man. He had soldiers. They knocked Mum in the head. It was a terrible sound, like an ax handle hitting a plank. I saw her fall by the fire, practiмcally in the fire, and bleeding she was. She didn't move. And then he took me, and wrestled a bag over my head. After, he went to town and nabbed other girls, and he hauled us far away, up into the hillsЧ" The words were all coming out in a rush.
Borenson put his finger to her lips. "Shhh... the man with soldiersЧdo you know his name?"
Rhianna considered how to answer, shook her head no. "The others called him 'milord.'"
"He was probably a wolf lord, an outlaw," Fallion said. "I heard that a few of them are still hiding in the hills. Did you get a good look at him?"
Rhianna nodded. "He was tall and handsome in the way that powerful lords are when they've taken too much glamмour. You looked into his eyes, and you wanted to love him. Even if he was strangling you, you wanted to love him, and even as he killed me, I felt that he had the right. His eyes sparkled, like moonlight on snow... and when he put the bag over my head, he had a ring! Like the ones that lords wear, to put their stamp on wax."