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

"If I must, I can."

He was silent, puzzled again, at the certainty in her
words. "It can't be the sword," he said at last. "The
magic is in you, not that. True?'' He caught the blade

8 Patricia A McWp

in one hand, so quickly that not the flick of an eyelash
forewarned her. She wrenched at it; it might as well
have been sunk in stone. "Not," he mused, "the
sword, then." He loosed it as abmptly. She steadied
herself, breathing audibly, while he studied her, his
eyes quizzical, secret- "Perhaps," he said finally,
"it's what you guard in this tower that gives you such
power. Is that it?"

She raised the blade again, swallowing drily. "No
one may enter the tower at this time without permis-
sion from the Holder. Those are my instructions. You
may not enter."

"But the Holder will never know," he said softly.
"What I want has been hidden for centuries. No one
knows it is here, and no one will miss it when it is
gone. I will never return to Ro Holding. Let me pass-
If all you're brandishing against me is a point uf
honor, you won't be dishonored. No one will ever
know."

"I will," Meguet said succinctly. "And so will
you. Honor is a word you would not bother to toss at
me, if it meant nothing to you. You may not enter."

He was silent again, so still he might have put him-
self under his own mysterious spell. His eyes had nar-
rowed; light or memory flashed through them. "What
made you time or honor's guardian?" he breathed.
"You have seen a few of its back roads, its crooked
lanes and alleyways. Haven't you. But you are not a
mage- Or are you?" She did not answer. He stepped
closer, she did not move. He stepped so close that the
blade snagged the golden eye of the winged beast

THE CYGNET AND THE FIREBIRD 9

across his chest. He said, "If you do not let me enter,
I will turn every rose on this tower into flame."

"Then you will bum what you have come for."