"Andre Norton - WW - High Hallack Gryphon 2 - Gryphon In Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

farm, soon I must turn into the southern way-path. Still I could not control
my
backward-looking thoughts.
When I had made that same cry to the Past-Abbess she had answered me with what
I
had not expected--agreement.
"No, what you have is not enough."
"Kerovan." She had said his name in her soft voice, as if she blessed him.
"He
has been ever made poor. His father--to him a son was needed for his own
pride,
that one of his blood follow him in the great seat of his hall. Kerovan knew
this with his heart before he could understand.
"Darkness feeds and grows stout on unhappiness, draws also thoughts which are
misshapen and hurtful. We all have such thoughts--some held so secretly we do
not
know with our full minds that they exist. Yet, in spite of such a fashioning,
Kerovan was not wrought into what they term him--monster. Rather he is
stronger
within than he believes.
"I have met your lord."
That startled me, for I knew that no man entered the inner part of the Abbey.
I
must have made some sound, for the Past-Abbess had smiled at me.
"Great age brings its own privileges, my child. Yes, when I heard your story
I
wished to learn more of him. He came and--in spite of his inner wall against
the
world--he talked. What he said was less, of course, than what he did not, but
he
revealed more than he knew.
"He now stands in a place from which run many roads--he must choose and that
choosing shall make of him, for good or ill, a different man. Child, we know
so
little of the Old Ones. Though, in spite of prudence telling us to walk with
care, we are drawn to the unknown--those wonders and perils beyond our
understanding. Kerovan has their heritage; he is now like a child who faces a
pile of glittering toys. But the caution born of his strange birthing makes
him
ever suspicious. He fears giving way to anything that he senses will make him
feel instead of think. Most of all he fears himself, thus he will not be
drawn
to any he loves--"
"Loves?" I had been bitter then.
"Loves," she repeated firmly. "Though he knows it not, nor, even if he did,
would he allow himself to be moved now. He feels safe within those walls of
his--not only safe for himself, but for others. He will not come again to you,
Joisan--though he does not admit this even to himself. He will not come
because
he cares--because he fears that the strange blood in him shall, in some