"Irene Radford - Merlins Descendents 03 - Guardian of the Vision" - читать интересную книгу автора (Radford Irene)

of every life within the village, natives and invaders. I doubled over in empathic pain every time a life fled.
Raven had warned me. Sometime, when I least expected it, my powers would mature and grow into their
full potential. I had to be cautious. I had to control that moment. And nowтАж I shared each death with
agonizing clarity. The echoes and cries disappeared. My ears became as numb as the rest of me. I
looked down upon it all and saw myself sitting dumbly upon my horse, inert, in the middle of the fray.

Donovan dragged a young woman from the end cottage. He held her easily with one arm around her
throat. His other hand fumbled to release his now swollen codpiece. She screamed and kicked. She
clawed at him. Not the willing maid of yesterday. Her gray eyes widened with panic and fear. I shared
the emotions with her and nearly fled the scene. MegтАЩs plight became more real. For a moment I relived
her rape. I felt the shame, the stabbing pain, the humiliation and degradation. My privates withered.
Behind Donovan another maid, perhaps a year younger, with hair to match her sisterтАЩs, slammed an iron
griddle into the back of his head. He sprawled headlong in the dirt, his clothing half undone and his foul
deed incomplete. He was in danger of being trampled by our own men. DonovanтАЩs victim stared at
meтАФor the spirit of me that hung above my bodyтАФfrom beneath DonovanтАЩs inert body. Our gazes
locked, hearts beating in the same erratic rhythm. The soulless depth of her gray eyes drew me in,
threatened to drown me in her anger and despair. I knew her then for kin. Kin in talent if not blood.

тАЬI will remember,тАЭ she said quietly.

I heard each syllable distinctly.

The two women fled into the arms of a waiting wall of warriors I did not recognize.

The men of the Black Douglas of Hermitage Castle.

He wanted the girl. He wanted her talents as well as her body. My soul sank with a sickening lurch. My
head reeled. I looked out upon the world through my own eyes. Ghostly double images superimposed
upon real ones. тАЬDonovan!тАЭ I screamed with my mind and my voice as I kneed my horse closer to my
fallen twin.

Friend and foe alike impeded me. With every pounding hoof I feared for my twinтАЩs life.

I honed the link of communication with Donovan to a fine barb and aimed it to rouse him. He moaned
and stirred. The pain in his neck and behind his eyes became my pain. Under this new onslaught, my
heart stuttered and nearly failed. Light flared all around us, bright white, smelling of strange acids. The
sharp and deafening bang of gunfire.

тАЬDonovan!тАЭ I cried again in panic. Who among us could afford enough powder to fire an arquebus?
Who had the time to mount one upon a tripod and aim it? None of our men carried firearms, preferring
cold steel to the expensive toys of clockmakers.
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




Lord Douglas had stockpiles of black powder stolen from a hundred raids across the border. Rumor
placed at least three wheellock weapons in his possession. All grew unnaturally still around me. I lost the
ever-present awareness of Donovan in my mind. HelwriaethтАЩs comforting touch faded as well. I no
longer sat atop a horse. The battle, the fires, the screams from the hurt and dying disappeared.