"Patricia Kennealy - TK 02 - The Throne of Scone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kennealy Patricia)

RAUNI, sister to Elathan
THONA, concubine to the late King Bres, mother to Talorcan
BORVOS, captain of Elathan's guard
TREIC, his lieutenant
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Patricia Kenneafy
In The Copper Crown;
It is the Earth year 3512. The FSS Sword, a probe ship from Earth sent out to
make diplomatic first contact with alien civilizations, arrives unknowingly in
what turns out to be Keltic space.
An interstellar kingdom comprising seven star-systems, Keltia was founded in
453 A.D. by Kelts from Earth led by St. Brendan the Astrogator. It is ruled at
present by the young High Queen Aeron, who, seeing in the Sword's arrival a
chance for Keltia to re-establish friendly relations with the world from which
her people came so long ago, sets about achieving an alliance.
Aeron's wish is by no means universal, however, neither within her own realm
nor beyond the Curtain Wall, the psionically-maintained forcefield that
conceals Keltia from the rest of the galaxy. The Cabin Imperium and the
kingdom of Fomor, ancient and bitter enemies of the Kelts, have been informed
of the contact with Earth by the traitor princess Arianeira, sister of Aeron's
consort-to-be, Gwydion; and now Jaun Akhera, heir to the Cabiri Emperor
Strephon, and Bres, the king of Fomor, join forces to invade and occupy Keltia
before Keltia can ally with Earth.
Theb Haruko, the Japanasian captain of the Sword, and his lieutenant Sarah
O'Reilly, who by now have become Aeron's friends, discover to their horror
that Hugh Tindal, one of their fellow crewmen, has been seduced into joining
Arianeira's treasonous plot. But before they can tell Aeron of this, Arianeira
uses black sorcery to breach the Curtain Wall and let in the Imperial and
Fomori fleets.
In the savage battles that follow, the Kelts, though successful in space,
cannot throw back the invaders from the Throneworld
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Patricia Kennealy
of Tara. Aeron herself engages in a fierce duel of vengeance with Bres, the
Fomorian king, who has just slain her friend Haruko, and who, three years
before, ambushed the starship carrying her parents and her first consort,
Roderick, all of whom perished.
She kills Bres, whose son Elathan, now King, immediately withdraws from the
war and takes his armies home to Fomor; Elathan had been opposed all along to
the war with Kelts, to the angry disgust of his father and his half-brother,
Talorcan, and now that he has become King he can do as he wishes. Aeron,
however, has been terribly wounded in the Fight with Bres, and she is saved
only by the sorcery of Gwydion, who uses his considerable powers to create a
magical pool to heal her of her injuries.
Caerdroia, the Keltic capital, finally falls to Jaun Akhera's own desperate
use of sorceryтАФwhich art Aeron has steadfastly refused to employ in
resistanceтАФand Aeron, Gwydion and Morwen, the Keltic prime minister, are all
taken prisoner by the Imperials.
Arianeira, however, repents of her treachery, and, with Gwydion's complicity,