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

in Llyonesse stronghold;

One world there is, one God, and one birth

the Druid stars foretold.



SRL

PROLOGUE



They were going to kill Arthur. Can you imagine? They would have killed him, too, but I put a stop to it.
The arrogance! The stupidity!

Not that Other was ever one for a scholar's cope. I expected more from Ygerna, though; she at least
had the canny sense of her people. But, she was afraid. Yes, frightened of the whispered voices,
frightened of her suddenly exalted position, frightened of Uther and desperate to please him. She was so
young.

So Arthur had to be saved, and at no little expense to myself. I had heard about their sordid plan in the
way I have, and made it my affair to confront Uther with it early on. He denied all, of course.

'Do you think me mad?' he shouted. He was always shouting. 'The child could be male,' he said,
suppressing a sly smile. 'It could well be my heir we are talking about!'

Uther is a warrior and there is an honesty about that: steel does not lie. Lucky for him he was a man
born to his time. He would never have made a decent magistrate, let alone governor тАФ he is a sorry liar.
As High King he ruled with a sword in one hand and a bludgeon in the other: the sword for the Saecsen,
the bludgeon for the petty kings below him.

Ygerna was just as bad in her own way. She said nothing, but stood wringing those long white hands of
hers, and twisting her silken mantle into knots, staring at me with those big, dark doe eyes that had
trapped Uther. Her stomach had just begun to swell; she could not have been more than four or five
months pregnant.

Still, she was pregnant enough to begin having second thoughts about the nasty work ahead. I do not
think any mother could coldly kill her own child, or stand by and see it done. I am not so sure about
Uther. . . he of the strong arm and wandering eye. Pendragon ofBritain . Capable of anything тАФ which
was the better half of his power where the small kings were concerned тАФ he was not one to shrink from
any course set before him.

Outside on the black rocks the waves crashed and the white gulls cried. Ygerna touched a hand to her
stomach тАФ a brushing touch with fingertips тАФ and I knew she would listen to reason. Ygerna would be
an ally.

So it did not matter what Uther said or did not say, admitted or did not admit. I would have my way. . .