"Katherine Kurtz - Kelson - The Quest for Saint Camber" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kurtz Katherine)
Tiercel nodded. УWeТll plan tentatively for the night before you actually leave on the progress. Most everyone else will be otherwise occupied getting last-minute arrangements taken care of, so youТre that much less likely to be missed.Ф
УTrue enough.Ф Conall stood as Tiercel gathered up cap and gloves.
УGood luck with your knighting, then,Ф Tiercel said, clasping his hand to ConallТs and brushing his mind briefly against the otherТs in leave-taking. УMine was far less lavish than what they have planned for you, but IТll never forget it. Will you return to Rhemuth now, or are you staying a while with your lady?Ф
Conall smiled lazily as Tiercel withdrew from the hand-clasp and pulled on his cap, moving toward the door.
УI have some unfinished business here, I think,Ф he said, hooking his thumbs in his belt as Tiercel paused with a hand on the latch. УAnd this time, I shall take suitable precautions to make certain IТm not interrupted.Ф
Tiercel only flashed him a forbearing grin before dashing back into the rain.
CHAPTER ONE
I will make him my firstborn.
-Psalms 89:27
УWell, itТs a relief finally to have official confirmation that my foster brother is not a bastard!Ф King Kelson of Gwynedd said.
He flung a playful arm around the neck of Dhugal MacArdry as the two of them followed DhugalТs father and Duke Alaric Morgan into KelsonТs suite of rooms in Rhemuth Castle, Bishop Denis Arilan bringing up the rear. All of them were dripping rain. It was the Saturday before the beginning of Lent, the Vigil of Quinquagesima Sunday, the first day of March in the Year of Our Lord 1125, and Kelson Haldane had been King of Gwynedd for a little more than four years. He had turned eighteen the previous November.
УNot that I ever believed he was, of course,Ф Kelson went on drolly, Уor that it would have made any difference to me if he had been. I am glad that I wonТt have to defy the law to knight him on Tuesday, however.Ф
The bluster evoked a chuckle from Morgan and a snort of disapproval from Arilan as everyone shed wet cloaks and gathered before the fire, for all were aware that the king might have done precisely that, if necessary, to see proper honor done to his beloved foster brother. Kelson had already waived the usual age requirement for the accolade-a royal prerogative whose exercise would raise no eyebrows, given DhugalТs outstanding service in the previous summerТs campaign, and Dhugal only just seventeen. Several others were also being knighted early, for the same reason.
But age was one thing-a somewhat arbitrary milestone that easily might be set aside for reasonable cause, even royal whim. The bar sinister was quite another. Even with royal patronage, illegitimacy was normally a serious, if not absolute, bar to knighthood.
Fortunately, Bishop Duncan McLain had proven today, to the satisfaction of an archbishopТs tribunal, that long before entering holy orders, he and DhugalТs mother had exchanged vows that constituted a valid, if irregular, marriage. The proving had not been easy. The first sticking point had been that the vows were witnessed only by the two principals and the sacred Presence signified by the ever-burning lamp in the chapel of DuncanТs father, at Culdi.
УMind you, I donТt dispute the precedent of per verba de praesenti, old Bishop Wolfram de Blanet had said, acting as devilТs advocate as he and Arilan reviewed the case for Archbishop Cardiel in closed session. УCommon law in the borders has long recognized the validity of a marriage declared before witnesses when no priest was available- though the Church has always urged a more solemn ratification at some future date.Ф
Duncan, standing alone before the tribunalТs long table, shook his head in objection, aware of the tension of his son and the others seated behind him. Other than one of CardielТs darks, taking down a careful transcript at the end of the table, only Dhugal, Morgan, the king, and Nigel had been permitted to attend.
УYour Excellency knows that was not possible,Ф Duncan said. УI never saw her again. She died the following winter.Ф
УYes, so you have said. The salient point here, however, which must be addressed, has nothing to do with omission of a later regularization of the marriage, but whether a declaration before the Blessed Sacrament in fact fulfills the elements of per verba de praesenti.Ф
Arilan, serving as DuncanТs counsel, cleared his throat.
УAh, there is a parallel precedent in ancient Talmudic law. Wolfram,Ф he pointed out. УI doubt the comparison has often been invoked, but we have in the sacred tabernacle, before which the Presence lamp bums, a direct lineal descendant of the Jewish Ark of the Covenant. Interestingly enough, the Ark was permitted, in necessity, to substitute for one of the quorum of ten adult males required for many public rituals of Jewish worship.Ф
УImplying that the Ark functioned as a witness of sorts?Ф Wolfram asked, frowning.
Arilan nodded. УBeyond question. Surely at least equal in weight to the mere mortals making up the other nine- and in symbol, at least, the physical representative of the presence of the living God. If, as we believe. God is physically present in the Blessed Sacrament as the Body and Blood of Christ, then can the Holy Presence in the tabernacle before which Duncan and Maryse made their vows be any tess valid a witness?Ф
Duncan scarcely dared to breathe as the import of the argument sank in; he sensed that the others, seated behind him, recognized it, too. Arilan had scored a point not easily refuted; for to deny the real Presence of God in the Sacrament housed in the tabernacle was clearly blasphemy.
For Duncan McLain, besides being a bishop and the father of a son, was also Deryni-a member of that magical race whose powers had been feared and condemned by the Church for nearly two centuries. DuncanТs identity as Deryni was not widely known outside the highest ecclesiastical circles, and even there was not officially acknowledged-for though the Church had long prohibited Deryni from entering the priesthood, Duncan McLain was an able, pious, and loyal churchman, Deryni or not-but speculation was rife. Thus far, Duncan had managed neither to confirm nor deny what he was.
There were other Deryni in the room as well, though only one besides the king was openly known to be so. Folk had always known who and what Alaric Morgan was. Protected by KelsonТs Haldane grandfather and father through childhood and youth, he eventually had come to grudging acceptance at court because of his unswerving loyalty to the House of Haldane and because he had the good sense not to flaunt his abilities. Even the human Bishop Wolfram acknowledged guarded respect for the fair-haired man in black sitting at the kingТs elbow.
The fact that Morgan was DuncanТs cousin must surely fuel old WolframТs suspicions that Duncan was Deryni, too, though-and that Dhugal might also be, if Duncan was. What Wolfram did not suspect was that Bishop Denis Arilan also shared that distinction-though everyone else present except the dark knew it. And though any one of the Deryni could have verified the truth of DuncanТs claim by using their magical powers-and some had-that evidence might not be presented, for the ChurchТs official position regarding the Deryni race and their magical powers was still quite negative.
УYou beg the question, Denis,Ф Wolfram finally said. УNaturally, any declaration made before the Blessed Sacrament would have been witnessed in that sense.Ф He jerked his chin vaguely over his shoulder toward the open doorway of the adjoining chapel. УThe Light bums in there, too, and His Presence is among us in this room.Ф
УFar be it from me to dispute that,Ф Arilan replied, spreading his hands in a conciliatory gesture.
УIt is usual, however,Ф Wolfram added, Уto be able to produce witnesses who can testify to what theyТve witnessed.Ф
УImplying that God could not, if He wished?Ф Arilan asked.
УYou know that isnТt what I meant!Ф
УOf course not,Ф Arilan agreed. УI would point out, however, that after eighteen years, even human witnesses are not always available.Ф
УAye, thatТs true enough.Ф Wolfram scowled and turned his vexed attention back to Duncan, only partially mollified. УI donТt suppose you confessed this alleged marriage before entering holy orders?Ф he ventured. УI neednТt remind you, I hope, that marriage is an impediment to orders.Ф
УOnly if he had, indeed, been married and was still married at the time of entering orders,Ф Arilan replied, before Duncan could answer. УBut the lady, alas, had died. So you either ask a meaningless question, Wolfram, or else you intrude on the seal of privacy between a man and his confessor-who, I believe, is no longer with us, in any case. Am I correct, Duncan?Ф
Breathing a careful sigh, Duncan nodded once. УAye, my lord. He was an old man even then. He lived only a few months past my ordination.Ф
УDamned convenient,Ф Wolfram muttered.
УNow, Wolfram, be reasonable,Ф Cardiel chided gently. УThe man would be past eighty, after all.Ф
УItТs still convenient, my lord.Ф
УBut not to the point, in any case,Ф Duncan said softly. УBecause even if he still lived. Excellency, and I gave him leave to speak of matters of the confessional, he could tell you little of Maryse. My sin was in failing to be more bold, in not trying harder to contact her in the months that followed, before she died. But she and I had committed no sin. We were married in GodТs eyes.Ф
УAye, so you say.Ф
And that, indeed, was the ultimate question, for who would presume to claim he saw through GodТs eyes? A more practical question was to ask whether vows had, indeed, been exchanged, thereby contracting a valid marriage. If so, then Dhugal MacArdry was DuncanТs true-born son, entitled to his name and all the other honors that went with that high lineage.
Or was Dhugal MacArdry only the result of innocent but unsanctioned fumbling between desperate young lovers who knew they would be parted on the morrow, and DuncanТs present assertion but an attempt, after the fact, to legitimize the son he had never dreamed would come of that union?
Such an attempt certainly would be understandable. Indeed, it was to nearly everyoneТs benefit that Duncan should be able to prove his sonТs legitimacy. A direct legal heir would enable Duncan to resign his secular titles to his son during his lifetime, thus releasing his own energies for the high episcopal office he held. That would please the Church. DhugalТs accession to his fatherТs estates would ensure loyal continuity for another generation in the ducal and county estates of Cassan and Kierney-which would please Kelson.
And of course, Dhugal himself would benefit. Through tanistry, from the man he now knew to be his maternal grandfather, MaryseТs father, he was already Earl ofTransha and Chief of Clan MacArdry. That would not change, regardless of the outcome here today. His Transha men adored him. But if, in time, he also succeeded to the vast estates of Duncan McLain, adjacent to his own Transha lands, he would be one of the most powerful magnates in all the Eleven Kingdoms.
In purely practical terms, Dhugal eventually would get his patrimony anyway, since, if Duncan died without legitimate heir, the last of the McLains, his lands would escheat to the Crown-and the king then could bestow those lands on whom he pleased. Or, for that matter, Duncan could resign his lands and titles to the king during his lifetime-and the king still could give them to Dhugal, bastard or not.
But grants of lands were far from the thoughts of most present here this morning. It was the honor of DhugalТs impending knighthood that stood to gain or lose, depending on the outcome of this hearing. If doubt remained that Duncan McLain had made his claim in utter honesty, it could color DhugalТs reception beyond even a kingТs ability to make it right. Thus had Wolfram de Blanet been appointed to argue against the case, in every way he could, so that no one might say, later on, that a biased court had found in DuncanТs favor.
УWe have only his word,Ф Wolfram finally said, folding his hands on the table before him. УI see no other way around it.Ф
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