"P. C. Hodgell - Kencyrath Anthology 2 - Book 04 - Blood and Ivory - A Tapestry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hodgell P. C)

"M'lord Grayling left by choice," said the Kendar sharply. "You know very well, lady, that no blood
price can be demanded for any . . . um . . . accident at the college. Even a fatal one. We wish he had
stayed."


"To learn s-s-selfтАФ" Ganth clenched his fists, fighting the nervous stammer. "Control. There. As you see,
I am neither berserker nor god-cursed S-s-shanir. I amnot."


"So you say," murmured the lady, "and so, of course, you are. Or not."


Ganth Grayling took a deep breath. It was hard to remember how irresistible he had found this girl when
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




they had first met, he a shy boy of thirteen, she a fine young lady at least three years his senior.


It had been Autumn's Eve, five years ago. His father was in the keep's low hall, chanting the names of
the dead to keep their memory alive as he did every year on this night. The only better immortality was to
win one's way into a singer's song or a scrollsman's scroll. Ganth's brother Greshan should have been
with him, but had gone hunting instead. Time enough later, he had said, to learn who was who in that
moldy gallery and Father, laughing, had let him go. There had been no question of his younger brother
taking his place. After all, Ganth would never be highlordтАФor anything else worthwhile, according to
Greshan. So he had walked among the white flowers of his grandmother's garden, wanted nowhere,
feeling lonely and restless. Then, suddenly, there she was, black and silver in the starlight.


She shouldn't have been in the Moon Garden at all, of course: Highborn girls were usually confined to
the Women's Halls of Gothregor where they were taught to become proper ladies. Then too, she had
been trespassing on Knorth ground, avid to see how the Highlord's family lived; and he had been
charmed into showing her.


"Lady Rawneth of the Randir," he said now with brittle courtesy. "I am s-sorry for your loss in this most
recent tragedy, if one can be said to lose what one has never actually possessed, but this business
concerns only my h-house."


As he turned back to the dark hall, the Kendar touched his arm. "Lord, be careful. He drove us out with
Kin-Slayer, unsheathed."


The Highborn hesitated. That ill-omened blade had never yet been drawn without shedding blood.