"Andre Norton - Oak, Yew, Ash & Rowan 1 - To The King A Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

"There are places you may not yet approach," Zazar always told her. "When you are old enough, I will
personally take you to them so that you may learn more of who you are, and what you are, and what you
must be. Until then, be patient."
There was something about the Wysen-wyf's tone, and the way a spark sometimes came from her
fingertip, that inclined Ashen to obedience. However, because of her own errand, Zazar had not been at
the hut for several days now, and with the passage of this much time, her discipline had weakened. Ashen
was more than ready to take as much advantage of the situation as she dared. And so with a light heart,
she left Kazi behind and disappeared into the underbrush that marked the edges of the clearing where
Zazar's hut stood.

In the capital city of Rendelsham stood the Great Fane of the Glowing, the largest and most important
cathedral dedicated to the Ultimate Ruler of Sky and

Land. A thing of conscious beauty as well as of reverence, it was the product of the best artisans in the
land. Tall white columns held up the lofty roof, carved to represent the four Great Trees, which, in turn,
were the badges of the four ruling Houses.

The Fane also boasted windows both great and small, decorated with pictures made of pieces of colored
glass, set into the openings with great skill and artisanship. The largest of these windows surmounted the
main doors. In the shape of a circle and designed with nothing in mind other than sheer decoration, this
window glowed with the least amount of light. Flowers and leaves, picked out in jewel tonesтАФruby and
garnet and rose quartz; sapphire and spinel and aquamarine; golden topaz and yellow quartz and citrine;
emerald and chrysophase and tourmalineтАФrepresenting the four Houses, shed rainbows upon any and all
who ventured inside. There other windows, both small and large, depicted scenes of edifying content that
represented the daily life such edification was supposed to improve. Not surprisingly, many of the
tableaux featured artistic renderings with likenesses of the patrons who had commissioned the work.

Three of the smallest windows were virtually hidden from all but the most inquisitive, few of whom, after
discovering them, would return again. Exquisite as these windows were, they nonetheless inspired vague
feelings of dread, for they changed with time and no artisan's touch could account for the shifting.

One of the panes depicted the Hands and Web of the Weavers. With the advent of the thunder-star and
its impact when it struck the northern lands hard enough to make the entire earth quiver and certain
fire-throated mountains to awaken, this window, which had changed only a little from the oldest man's
memory, began to shift. Now the dark Hands of the Weavers moved more quickly, and the Web upon
which they worked began to take on a different appearance.

The second window, the one showing a Bog-lupper, also began to change. The small lupper had moved
away from the pool it had been sitting beside and vanished into the underbrush. Now the surface of the
pool was starting to be disturbed, as if something dark and fell were trying to fight its way onto land.

But it was in the third window that the biggest peril was beginning to emerge, though the few who
observed the change had no idea of what they were witnessing.

This mysterious pane had ever shown a blank face, white and barely translucent.

Its very lack of design made it uninteresting. Now, however, something was stirring in its depths, as if a
creature more deadly, more horrifying even than the one still hidden beneath the surface of the Bog-pool,
were emerging from a heavy snowstorm.