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

More agreeable to the inhabitants of the city of Ren-delsham, and certainly better to look upon than
colored-glass windows that refused to keep to their original design, were the four living trees that had
long flourished in the
Fane's forecourt. Oak, Ash, Yew, and Rowan, they, even more than the marble columns within, stood as
tall symbols of the four ruling Houses of Rendel. And yet even these trees carried their own grim message
that all was not well within the Kingdom. Oak leaves suffered blight, only a trace, but present and
spreading. Ash drooped sadly, shedding leaves even during the period of growth, and no amount of care
seemed able to reverse the tree's decline. Even Rowan looked ill with some unknown disease, a few
green leaves still valiantly struggling to keep the tree alive. Yew, however, thrived. No trace of the ills that
afflicted the other three touched this one, and people looked upon the

Trees and wondered.

Queen Ysa could look upon the Trees in the Fane's forecourt from the window of her tower room. This
was a place in the castle that was hers alone. More than thrice the height of any twisted tree of the Bog,
the tower rose from the very heart of the castle. This tower, higher than any of the other lofty towers in

Rendelsham, had long been deserted as too inaccessible before she took it for her own. At a distant time,
it had been a place of farsee-ing, centered as it was in the main stronghold of the Kingdom. No spot was
loftier, and only Ysa ever came here, by her own command. From this aerie she could see the entire city,
and from here she frequently looked down upon the Four Trees in the courtyard of the Fane of the
Glowing. Its very isolation was what she desired.

Gazing down at the trees, she was not alarmed. Yew, symbol of her own Family, grew ever strong and
healthy, and that had always been her aim, even if the other three faltered, even if they perished.

And when had the decline of Oak begun? She fingered the pendant about her neck, the shape of a yew
leaf and set with a cabochon emerald, Yew's color. It had been about the time when Ash's sickness
could no longer be ignored, when the

Fane gardeners who were charged with tile care of the Four Trees had begun to consult among
themselves, trying to find the cause of Ash's ailing, and perhaps a cure. Eight yearsтАФ

Ysa tried to cut off the thought before it could be fully articulated. Yes, eight years, but certainly the
timing had to be merely coincidental with the unfortunate death of the last Ash rival to her power. Why
King Boroth seemed drawn only to pale, wispy Ash-women, she had never been able to fathom. But
drawn he was. She could overlook the serving-wenches and those from the common folk he was
constantly taking to his bed, but highborn women connected to the great ruling Families she could not
ignore. And so each of them hadтАФshe delicately rephrased it in her mindтАФmet with an untimely end
before Boroth could be tempted to bed them. Such folly would have led to civil war as Yew turned
against Ash and, if encouraged, Rowan marched on Oak.

At one time early in Rendel history, Ash had been the wellspring of kings. As a consequence, the main
branches of the House of Ash had always been quarrelsome among themselves as they sought
precedence of place. It took just a little prodding to make Ash turn against Ash, each faction thinking that
the other was plotting its downfall.

Alas, so many Ash-kin had died that the entire Family was now in danger of being extinguished.
However, Bor-oth had only himself to blame for this. If he had had the sense to forgo flirtation with Ash-