"Katherine Kurtz - Camber 3 - Camber the Heretic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)

The men drew their swords and stood their ground, darker shadows against
the indistinct grey blur of the hoof-churned mud beyond. At the side of the
road, in the shelter of a winter-bare tree, a youngish man in once-fine riding
garb was attempting to comfort a weeping young woman. The woman's fair hair
was uncovered and coming unbound, and she clutched two muddy handfuls of
clothing and cloak to her breast as she wept in her comforter's arms. An older
man in tonsure and clerical attire, also muddy, looked on helplessly and wrung
his hands.
"Hold where you are!" one of the retainers shouted, brandishing his sword
and pushing his way to the front of his men. "If you've come back to molest her
ladyship again, you'll have to kill us this time!"
Immediately, Camber backed his horse a few steps and raised his empty
right hand to show he was not armed, at the same time parting his cloak so his
collar and cross could be seen.
"We mean you no harm," he called, trying to make out the men's badges of
service in the dim light. "I am Alister Cullen, Bishop of Grecotha. Were you set
upon by the men who just rode off yonder?" He gestured back the way they had
come.
 "Cullen?" their lord exclaimed, thrusting his lady roughly into the protection
of the cleric before heading toward them, hand on sword hilt. "Hell and
damnation, it's another Deryni! Haven't you hooligans done enough? Just wait
until I tell my brother what has happened!"
As the men shuffled aside to let their lord stalk through their midst, Camber
glanced back at Joram, caught the slight shake of his head.
"I'm sorry, my lord, I don't believe I know you. You areтАФ?"
"Manfred, Baron of Marlor. My brother is Bishop Hubert McInnisтАФand when
he finds out what has happened here, there'll be hell to pay, believe me!"
"I quite agree, my lord," Camber replied, cutting off Manfred's tirade
smoothly, though he hardly raised his voice. "I am no more pleased by what has
happened than you are, and was on my way even now to report the incident to
the abbot at Dolban. We, too, were set upon byтАФ"
"D'you think I care a whit for your problems?" Manfred interrupted. "As for
your precious abbotтАФI hardly expect justice from the Deryni leader of a cult
which venerates a Deryni saint!"
"The abbot, besides his religious and Healing vows, is the king's sworn man
in temporal matters," Camber replied a trifle haughtily, despite his intention to
forbear and not further offend the brother of Hubert MacInnis. "I am certain
that Abbot Queron will render you and yours the same justice which is due any
loyal subject of the Crown of Gwynedd. That your attackers should have been
Deryni only makes me doubly anxious to see them brought to justice. My lady
Baroness?" He turned his attention deliberately from the baron and guided his
horse forward slowly, its feet making sucking noises as it picked its way
through the mud.
"My lady, I am most sorry for what has happened. I would not remind you of
what must have been a terrible ordeal, but may I inquire more specifically what
was done against you?"
The lady, who had frozen at Camber's direct address, only resumed her
nearly hysterical weeping. The cleric held her close and stroked her disheveled
hair as if she were a distraught child, finally raising his eyes uneasily to
Camber's.