"Sean Russell - The Swan's War 2 - Isle of Battle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Sean)

alongside the fog-bound river and followed it through the tendrils of mist that reached
out to catch them.
There were people camped here and there along the roadside or not far off, sitting
around campfires, often playing or listening to music. Tam thought the music more
moody and sad than he would have expected, but perhaps that was fitting for the end of
the fair. It certainly suited his own mood.
Two riders came toward them, and they all hesitated a moment as though they might
slip off the moonlit road. Then Cynddl waved them all forward.
"These are Fael," he said.
In a moment they reached the companions.
"Cynddl!" said one of them, surprised.тАЭ Nann has sent riders out seeking you."
It occurred to Tam that they must look an odd bunch in their costumes, the fine fabrics
stained and torn to ruins.
"And you have found me," the story finder said.тАЭ What is it Nann wants that cannot
wait?"
The two wanderers glanced at each other.


"And so the swan finished its tale and swam away. In her despair and loneliness Ninal
threw the net into the river and then lay on the cold bank and wept beneath the stars.

"In the morning she went down to the river, and to her horror found the swan entangled
again in the net, but this time it was still and cold. Gently, she freed the drowned bird
and carried it up onto the bank where she made a pyre. When the pyre had burned to
nothing, Ninal took the ashes and poured them into the winter river.

"That night at dusk she came down to the bank and told a story to the night. And the
next night she did the same, and the next, until a hundred nights had passed. On the
hundredth night she paced along the bank telling her tale, but just as she finished the
bank beneath her feet crumbled and she was swept into the cold river.

"She struggled to reach the shore but the current was too swift and the bank crumbled
and fell wherever she touched. As she began to grow cold and weak she realized a black
swan swam just out of reach.

" 'Now you have had your revenge!' she wailed as she sank lower in the water.

" 'Revenge? I am but a spirit now, and have no influence on your world.'

" 'Can you not save me?' the maiden cried. 'I am not ready to cross over the river.'

" 'Few are/ the swan said. 'I am unable to help you even if I wanted to. But I will do this.
I will tell you a story about a sad, lonely maiden who lived on the banks of the great
river. . . .' '

Two

A

daan went down, too quickly, slipped and slammed his knee on the worn stone, tearing