"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 02 - Darkspell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

were odd scraps of lore from the Dawntime about certain battlefield prayers; nothing more. Without a
temple with mirror and altar, Gweniver simply didnтАЩt know how to approach her Goddess. In her
saddlebags she had a letter of introduction from Ardda to the high priestess of the Cerrmor temple, but
she was afraid to go to that city wise and courtbound lady with her odd talk of the Moon in Her Dark.

The mirror-working, however, was crucial. Later Gweniver did go down into the city, but instead of
the temple, she went to the market and bought herself a bronze mirror with a silvered face, small enough
to fit into a saddlebag. After dinner that night, she shut herself up in her chamber with only a
candle-lantern for light and propped the mirror up against a chest while she knelt in front of it. Silvery and
distorted, her face looked back at her.

тАШMy lady,тАЩ she whispered. тАШMy lady of the Darkness.тАЩ

In her mind she pictured her vision in the temple, a mere memory image only, and dead. Over the past
weeks sheтАЩd brooded so much over this memory that the image held still and firm in her mind, a clear
picture that she could examine from many different angles, as she looked first at her sword on the altar,
then at the mirror or at Ardda, standing nearby. If only there was a way I could see it in this mirror, she
told herself, then maybe it would move. As she tried to build the image on the silver surface, it stayed
stubbornly blank. All at once, she felt foolish. Doubtless what she wanted was impossible, but some
stubborn instinct drove her to try to force the image of the Goddess out through her eyes and onto the
gleaming silver.

It was also very late, and she was yawning, finding it hard to focus her eyes as she worked. All at
once, she stumbled onto the trick in her mind, just as when a child struggles to learn how to roll a hoop
with a stick, and it seems that no matter how hard she tries, the hoop will always fall - then suddenly,
without conscious effort, the hoop rolls, and never again will she fail in the attempt. First she saw a
flickering trace of a picture on the mirror. Then all at once the image of the Goddess appeared, lasting
only a moment, but there.

тАШPraise be to my LadyтАЩs name!тАЩ

Gweniver was no longer tired. For half the night she stayed before the mirror, with her knees and
back cramped and aching, until she could see the Goddess as clearly as if the image were painted on the
silver. At last the vision moved, and the dark eyes of night looked her way yet once again. The Goddess
smiled, blessing her only worshipper in the whole wide kingdom of Deverry. Gweniver wept, but in pure,
holy joy.

Since the plan was a simple one, Dannyn was sure it would work well. While he escorted Gweniver
and her men to the Temple of the Moon, the two brothers of Lord Maer of the Stag would lead a
punitive raid deep into Cantrae-held territory, striking at the BoarтАЩs demesne if at all possible.

тАШThat will keep them too busy to worry about the WolfтАЩs lands,тАЩ Glyn remarked.

тАШSo it will, my liege. They donтАЩt have to raid any longer than it takes to make the false king give up
Lord MaerтАЩs lady. By then, weтАЩll be well on our way back to Cerrmor.тАЩ

тАШA good plan all round.тАЩ Glyn considered for a moment. тАШAnd, no doubt, the real fighting over the
Wolf demesne wonтАЩt come till fall, when the Boar has the leisure to take up his blood feud.тАЩ

After the King dismissed him, Dannyn went to the womenтАЩs quarters to look in on his son. Some