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

I stood alone and lost in the midst of the terrible light. Columns of white heat rose all around in an
unbroken circle. No exit, no entrance. Sweat slicked my body. I smelled my own fear.

I turned around and around, seeking escape, seeking answers, seekingтАж anything but this circle of
blinding whiteness.

A golden sword with a jeweled hilt hung before my eyes. Ancient runes engraved on the blade burned
red with power. All light seemd to radiate from that magical blade.

I knew that sword from my lessons and my dreams. It came from the past and lived on in the future. I
knew the otherworldly power it contained. Only a chosen few wielded it with impunity.

I lunged for the weapon. It eluded me.

Again I reached, with my mind as well as my hands. Again it backed away before I could so much as
brush the blade with my fingertips. Then it shifted, molded, shrank, became three crowns one atop the
other, forming a vague miter suspended within a pillar of blue flames. I had seen a simpler version of that
crown before, on the head of a bishop at a great mourning procession in the streets of Carlisle after the
death of the old king. Da had bowed to the authority of the man wearing that mitered crown.
Grandmother Raven had not.

But these visionary crowns were older, more powerful, filled with wisdom and kindness. I knew they
came from God.

тАЬHoly Mary, Mother of God,тАЭ I breathed.

I think I fell to my knees, hands clasped before me in prayer. Even with my eyes closed, the vision of the
crowns and sword and the eldritch flames remained clear and bright within my mind.

The crowns grew brighter. Behind them, the sword hung suspended, its hilt forming a cross.

тАЬI must become a man of God in support of the Holy Father in Rome,тАЭ I murmured. Only that could
explain the triple crown. тАЬI must defend the church from her enemies.тАЭ

I must defy family tradition and honor one religion over another. We had survived the persecutions of
Henry VIIIтАЩs reformation of the church by switching allegiance quite readily. Mostly we realized that God
had many names and no matter what we called Him, He would listen. I knew that when Edward VI died
of a sickening of the lungsтАФas surely he must soonтАФwe would survive his sister MaryтАЩs restoration of
the Catholic church just as easily. But if I embraced the church, I must renounce the magic that governed
much of my life; I must renounce any claim to being the Pendragon of Britain. Raven would never forgive
me.

Chapter l

Kirkenwood Castle, 24 April 1553, just after dawn. тАЬYOU planned to do this all along,тАЭ Donovan
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