"Andre Norton & Rosemary Edghill - Carolus Rex 1 - The Shadow of Albion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

flames became a portal, a window, the curtains a stage upon which fire-phantoms
capered н
The tumbrel lurched and swayed, moving slowly through the streets of Paris.
All about the cart the mobile surged, jeering and catcalling, come to see the
Marquise de Rochberrщ brought low at last. Sarah gazed out at them icily, as if
she wore silks and jewels instead of a filthy calico shift; as if her head were
elegantly dressed with feathers and lace instead of shorn nakedly bare н
,,We can do nothing for her, whose pride was greater even than yours. Look
again," Dame Alecto commanded.
White Bird Dancing, a warrior of the Cree, gazed down at the pale skin village
from which her father had stolen her as a babe. Around her a dozen of her brother
warriors lay concealed, awaiting the signal that would commence the raid н
,,That one has the spirit that we need, but we cannot reach her н nor do I think
she would help us if we could. Again."
The deck of a ship, the wooden railing salt-harsh and slick beneath her hands.
She was Sarah Cunningham of Maryland, and in a few moments the ship that
bore her would dock in Bristol Harbor. There was no one she could turn to, no
one who could help her н
,,That one," said Dame Alecto decisively, and the fire-pictures dissolved, leaving
Lady Roxbury blinking dizzily, me jumbled memories of half-a-hundred Sarahs
inhabiting all the worlds of What Might Be capering through her brain.
,,What have you done to me?" she demanded at last. ,,You have bewitched me!
Pictures in the fire н I do not have time for such shabby hoaxes!" That former
Sarah's life lay like a shadow in her brain; the unimaginable childhood in an
independent America that was not a Protectorate of the Crown; the self so like
Sarah's own and the temperament so different.
,,As much a hoax as the oath you swore among the stones," Dame Alecto said
imperturbably. ,,You must summon this other Sarah to you, Lady Roxbury. She
rides not to fortune, but to Death, do we not interfere н and so we may take her
without breaking the Great Law. You, child, will take her death, and she н "
,,Will have my life? Her? That Puritan churchmouse?" Lady Roxbury demanded
indignantly. She gasped for air, choking on the struggle and then surrendering to
another spasm of coughing. It seemed to her that she could feel her life ebbing with
every wracking spasm н and with her life, all the things that she might have done,
ought to have done; the things that needed desperately to be done-
,,That child? She will never do what I might have done!" Lady Roxbury cried
breathlessly.
,,She will do all that you could have н and more. She will save England н if you
have the courage to bring her to us," Dame Alecto said.
 Lady Roxbury lay back against the ornate brocade of the chair. Behind her closed
eyes the room seemed to spin; she could feel Grandma Panthea's painted gaze
upon her, and felt the weakness pulling her on a blood-dimmed tide toward an
eternal starlit ocean. Eternal peace, eternal rest, but not yet, not yet...
She raised her head proudly.
,,Say what you want of my life, madame, but never say I lacked courage!" It was
madness to follow this madwoman, but fate had left her no choice. She was
Roxbury; her death would leave no promises unkept.
Dame Alecto nodded approvingly. ,,You must go at once, and alone. Take your
fastest chaise and drive like Jehu to that place where you swore your oath. You must
reach it by sunset. Can you find it again?"