"Katherine Kurtz - Camber 1 - Camber Of Culdi" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

And then his father, tall and gray-eyed, gory in blood-soaked nightclothes,
unarmed but for a bright blade in his hand, roaring defiance as he tried to
cut a path to his anguished queen. The rain of arrows falling on the king and
cutting him down like a trapped animal-because the butchers feared to come
within reach of his blade.
And his mother's shrieks as they pinned her limbs and ripped the living child
from her belly....
Rhys drew back with a gasp and severed the contact, unable to endure the
visions any longer. Stunned wordless by what he had seen, he forced himself to
focus on his hands and was shocked to find that they were trembling.
Willing them to calm, his pounding heart to slow, he breathed deeply several
times, relaxing as the world settled into its customary order. Gently, he
chafed the old man's hand to bring him back to consciousness. He was hardly
aware of the tears welling in his eyes.
"Dan?" he whispered. "Dan? Prince Aidan?"
The gray eyes opened weakly and the old lips parted. "You saw."
Rhys nodded slowly, his golden eyes wide with wonder and a little horror
still.
"Then, you know I spoke the truth," Dan said. "Will you guard that truth,
against the time when the throne may be restored to a Haldane?"
"A Deryni king is on the throne now, Dan. Would you have me betray him to
restore your kin?"
"Watch and pray, Rhys. And then ask yourself if the man on the throne is
worthy of the golden circlet. Ask if this is the sort of rule you wish for
your children and your children's children. Then you decide. And when the time
comes, and you reach the decision which I think you must, at least consider my
grandson. Once I am gone, only you will know, Rhys."
"You speak treason, old friend," Rhys murmured, lowering his eyes as he
remembered what he had seen. "But, if the time comes, I-I will consider what
you have told me."
"God bless you, my son." The old man smiled. He reached up with his free hand
to wipe a tear from Rhys's cheek with his thumb. "And I, who thought ever to
curse the Deryni . . ." He paused, and a flicker of pain crossed his face.
"Around my neck you will find a silver coin on a cord. I do not read, but I am
told that it was struck at the abbey where Cinhil, my grandson, took his vows.
His name in religion is- is-"
The old man gasped for breath, and Rhys had to lean forward to catch his next
words.
"Go on, Dan. His name?"
"His name-his name is-Benedict. Benedictus. He ... is ... a Haldane . . . and
. . . King."
Rhys bowed his head and closed his eyes in sorrow, automatically searching for
a pulse but knowing that this time there would be none. He slipped to his
knees and knelt there for several minutes, then shook his head and let the old
man's hand go. Folding the wrinkled old hands on the silent breast and closing
the dulling eyes, he then crossed himself numbly and turned away. He was
nearly to the door before he remembered the coin, and he returned quickly to
take it from around the dead man's neck.
But though Rhys could read the words inscribed in the silver, they meant
nothing to him. And with a sudden, sinking feeling, he realized that Daniel