"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 4 - Lady Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

lady knight, and Duke Baird of Queenscove, chief of the realm's healers and father of Kel's best friend
Neal. Everyone else turned in the saddle to see what could make the easy-going Raoul so angry. He
pointed a finger that shook with rage.
Below them lay the city of Corus, sprawled on both sides of the Olorun River. Across from them on
the high ground south of the river lay the royal palace, its domes and towers clear in the growing light of
sunrise.
Above those walls and the palace flew Stormwings by the hundreds, males and females, like a swarm
of hornets. The sun bounced off their steel feathers and claws, shooting beams at anyone who looked on.
Higher the Stormwings rose until they were well clear of the palace. Slowly, lazily, they wheeled over the
capital city, then streamed north over the army as if they pointed the way to battle.
2

TOBE

Riding with Third Company of the King's Own, Kel had spent plenty of time slogging through mud and
slush. She was used to that. It was her frequent riding companions, Prince Roald and Sir Nealan of
Queenscove, who made her sometimes wish her family had stayed in the Yamani Islands. The bitter
conditions were echoed by the moods of both young men. They were betrothed and in love with the
women they were to marry. They moped. Kel tried to make them think of other things, but the moment
conversation lagged, they returned to the contemplation of their Yamani loved ones.
Kel felt sorrier for Prince Roald. Two years older than Kel, the prince was to have married Princess
Shinkokami in mid-May, before the arrival of word that Maggur had taken the Scanran throne. Instead
of an expensive ceremony, he and Shinko had decided to put their wedding off. Both showed cheerful
faces to the public, saying they had traded rose petals for arrows to arm their soldiers, but to their close
friends their disappointment was plain.
Neal, usually dramatic in love, would not talk about his lady, Yukimi, at all. It was such a change from
his normal behaviour that Kel was convinced he truly loved her Yamani friend. Before, he'd made high
tragedy of his beautiful crushes and his own heartbreak, but not this time. Not over a plump and peppery
Yamani.
With Roald on one side and Neal on the other, Kel had to wonder about her own sweetheart, Cleon
of Kennan. They hadn't seen each other in over a year. As a knight two years older than Kel, he was
stuck in a northern border outpost, where he had been assigned to teach the locals how to defend
themselves. He'd been unable to get or send letters during both winters. Had he forgotten her? She
wasn't even sure if he knew she'd survived her Ordeal.
I'll write to him when I know where I'm to be posted, she promised herself. Maybe we'll even be
assigned to the same place. I'd like that.
She smiled at the idea. They'd never got much time alone: something had always interrupted them.
Perhaps by now he'd be over his impractical idea they should marry before they made love, as proper
young noblemen did with proper young noblewomen.
Nothing would come of waiting to marry. Years ago, Cleon's mother had arranged his marriage to a
young noblewoman with a fine dowry. Cleon thought that, given time, he might convince his mother that
Kel would make a better wife. Kel was not so sure. As the youngest daughter of a family that was not
wealthy, her dowry was small. She was also not ready to marry. She'd only just got her shield; there was
so much to do before she could think of settling down. Cleon loved her, wanted to have children by her.
She wanted love and children, too - someday. Not now. Not with Scanra ready for all-out war against
Tortall. Not with a future that included Blayce the Nothing Man.
Romance wasn't the only thing to think about, but it was more pleasant than reality. Knights used their
powerful mounts and the wagons of armour, tack and weapons to break trail through snow and ice,
clearing the way for the foot soldiers of the regular army. It was slow going.
At least Peachblossom, Kel's infamous, temperamental warhorse, behaved. He was a strawberry roan: