"Maggie Furey - Artifacts of Power 1 - Aurian" - читать интересную книгу автора (Furey Maggie)

Aurian, despite her mother's warnings, found herself warming to
the man. It was a good way to live, and she liked his smile. It
seemed only fair to warn him what her mother would do to him if
she found him wandering around her lands. "LookтАФ" she began, but
he was already speaking.

"Can you by any chance direct me to the Lady of the Lake?"

"Who?"

Forral waved his hands in a vague gesture. "You knowтАФ the Mage.
The Lady Eilin. If I'm not mistaken, you must be young Aurian, her
daughter. You're the image of Geraint."

Aurian's mouth fell open. "You knew my father?"

Forral's face was shadowed with sadness. "Indeed I did," he said
softly. "Your father and mother both. Geraint gave me my start in
life. I was an orphan, only about your age, when he found me. He
got me into the swordsman's school at the Garrison in Nexis, and
was a friend to me in all the years that followed." He sighed. "I
was away soldiering in foreign parts, across the sea, when your
father died. News ofтАФthe accidentтАФ never spread that far. I've
only just returned, and when I heardтАФ" For a moment, he struggled
to find his voice. "Well, I came at once. I've come to offer my
services to your mother."

"She won't want you." It was out of her mouth before Aurian
realized her tactlessness. It seemed an awful thing to say, when
he had come so far. And she liked him already. In all her nine
years, Aurian could remember no other human company save that of
her mother, and Eilin had little time to spare for her daughter.
She was too preoccupied with her Great Task. With only her animal
friends for companionship, Aurian's life was a lonely one.
Desperately she cast around for a way to explain, so as not to
hurt her new friend's feelings. "You see," she said, "my mother


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never has visitors. She's so busy that she hardly even sees me."

Forral looked her up and down. Had Aurian had a normal upbringing
she might have been embarrassed by the torn gray shift that she
was wearing, the tangles in her red curls, the smears on her face
and the dirt ground into her bare knees. As it was she returned
his gaze unselfconsciously.