"Robin McKinley - Damar 1 - The Blue Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (McKinley Robin)

"and you can tell the royal blood by something about the eyes."
There was another pause. Harry said, "Something?"
Again they both shrugged. "Something," said Beth. "That's one of the things Daddy always leaves out.
Like the madness."
"You're hoping he'll froth at the mouth," said Cassie.
Beth threw a peevish look at her sister. "No. I'll settle for the third eye."
This conversation had taken them well away from the outlying houses of the station, and the dust
kicked up by their ponies' feet was giving up even the pretense of being anything other than desert sand.
A silence fell; Cassie suggested a canter, which was duly accomplished. The sun was hot enough that
when they pulled up again, after only a few minutes, the ponies' shoulders were dark with sweat. Harry
sent another of her long looks across the desert, and had to squint against the shivering light.
"Do you think we might turn back now?" Beth asked wistfully, shading her eyes with an elegantly
white-gloved hand.
Harry grinned. "We can spend the rest of the morning in my sitting-room, if you like. It overlooks the
front door, you know."
Beth gave her a grateful look, Cassie chuckled; but they all three turned their ponies' heads with
dispatch and sent them jogging homeward as quickly as the heat would allow.
By the time they reached the suggestion of shade offered by the thin determined trees marking the
outskirts of the station proper, Harry was hot and slightly headachy, and cross with herself for rushing
back for no reason. Nothing could have escaped their notice; the Residency stood a little apart from the
rest of the station, in its own grounds, and the road that ended at its front door had been under their eyes
for the entire ride. They had been gone only a little over an hour. Harry considered suggesting that they
meet again after another hour, time enough to change and have a bath; in her present condition she didn't
feel like meeting any kings, mad or otherwise.
But she stole a glance at Beth and saw how anxious she was not to miss anything; and she thought,
Oh well, I can wash my face at least, and we can all have some cold lemonade, and watch the front door
in comfort.
The horses walked slowly up the street to the Residency. Cassie pulled off her hat and fanned herself
with it. Harry shut her eyes for a moment. An execrable habit, she told the insides of her eyelids. What if
this fat sleepy fourposter with ears and a tail should bolt, or shy suddenly? What if the sky should fall?
responded the insides of her eyelids.
The fourposter stopped dead in the road and raised its head a few inches just as Beth said in a
strangled whisper: "Look."
Harry and Cassie looked. They had come nearly to the end of the road; what was left was the broad
circle in front of the Residency, suitable for turning carriages in, or forming up half a regiment. Off to one
side, where the tall house cast a little shade, seven horses and one man stood. The horses stood in a little
semicircle around the man, who sat cross-legged near the wall of the house. They stood quietly, stamping
a foot now and then, and occasionally one would put out its nose to touch the man; and he would stroke
its cheek a moment, and it would raise its head again. The first thing Harry noticed was the beauty of
these animals; not a one was less than sixteen hands high, with long clean legs and tails that nearly
touched the ground. Three were chestnuts, their coats shining even in the dusty shadow; one grey, one
dark bay, one golden dun; but the finest horse stood farthest from three fat ponies standing foolishly in the
carriage drive. He was a blood bay, red as fire, with black legs and tail; he stood aloof from the other
horses and ignored the man at his feet. He stared back at the newcomers as if it were his land he stood
on, and they intruders. As the other horses slowly swung their heads around to see what their leader was
looking at, Harry noticed something else: they wore no bridles.
"He's here," said Cassie flatly.
Beth drew a deep breath. "How?" she said.
"Look at those horses," said Harry, and the longing in her voice was so clear that even she heard it.
Cassie looked away from the impossible sight of seven horses that had made their way invisibly