"Cygnet - 02 - The Cygnet And The Firebird" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKillip Patricia A)

glinting blue, were flecked with gold.

He said, amazed, "Who are you?"

Meguet, abandoned, with only a broadsword to
protect the house against sorcery, found her voice fi-
nally. ' 'You are in the house of the Holders of Ro
Holding. If you have business with the Holder, pre-
sent yourself to the Gatekeeper."

He glanced behind him at the little turret above the

THE CYGNET AND THE FIREBIRD 7

gate, where the Gatekeeper leaned idly against the
stones, a motionless figure in household black watch-
ing something in the yard. "Him." He turned back.
"He looks busy." He touched the blade at his chest
with one finger, but did not turn it. He grunted softly,
his eyes going back to Meguet. "This is real."

"Yes."

"Well, what do you expect to do with it? You can't
keep me out of this tower with a sword. How can you
have the power to see me through shifted time and
still wave that under my nose? What are you? Are
you a mage?"

"You have no business in this tower, you have no
business in this house, and you have no business
questioning me."

"I'm curious," he said. "You eluded my sorcery,
and I had only thought to come and go so secretly no
one would ever know."

"Why?" she asked sharply. "Why have you come
here?"

"I want something from this tower."

She felt herself grow so still that no light trembled
on the blade. "You may not enter."

"There are a thousand ways to enter a tower. Every
block of solid stone is an open doorway. You can't
guard every threshold."

All fear had left her voice; it was thin and absolute.