"Stephen Lawhead - Pendragon Cycle 02 - Merlin" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lawhead Stephen)

'My father, Taliesin, was a bard. Hafgan says he was the greatest bard who ever lived.'

'So he believes.'

'You do not believe it?'

He laughed. 'Who could disagree with the Chief Druid?'

'You have not answered the question, Blaise.'

'Very well,' he paused and reflected long before answering. 'Yes, your father was the greatest bard
among us; and more, he was my brother and friend. But,' he held up a cautionary finger, 'Taliesin was. . .
' again a long pause, and a slight lifting of the shoulders as he stepped away from saying what was in his
mind, 'but it is not everyone who can be what he was, or do the things that he did.'

'Iwill be a bard. I will work harder, Blaise. I promise.'

He shook his head and sighed. 'It is not a question of working harder, Hawk.'

'What do you want me to do?' I whined. 'Just tell me.'

His dark eyes were soft with sympathy; he was trying to help me in the best way he knew. 'Your gifts
are different, Merlin. You cannot be your father.'

If they did not act in me at that moment, his words would come back to me many times.

'I will be a bard, Blaise.'

I am Merlin, and I am immortal. A quirk of birth? A gift from my mother? The legacy of my father? I do
not know how it is but I know that it is true. Neither do I know the source of { the words that fill my
head and fall from my lips like firedrops onto the tinder of men's hearts.

The words, the images: what is, what was and will be. . . I have but to look. A bowl of black oak water,
the glowing embers of a fire, smoke, clouds, the faces of men themselves тАФ I have but to look and the
mists grow thin and I peer a little way along the scattered paths of time.

Was there ever a time such as this?

Never! And that is both the glory and the terror of it. If men knew what it was that loomed before them,
within reach of even the lowest тАФ they would quail, they would faint, they would cover their heads and
stop their mouths with their cloaks | for screaming. It is their blessing and their curse that they do i not
know. But I know; I, Merlin, have always known.
 TWO



'The boy has the eyes of a preying bird,' Maximus said, resting his hand on my head and gazing down
into my face. He should know; his own eyes had something of the predator as well. 'I do not believe I
have ever seen eyes of such colour in a man before тАФ like yellow gold.' His smile was dagger sharp.
'Tell me, Merlinus, what do you see with those golden eyes of yours?'