"Nancy Springer - Isle 05 - The Golden Swan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Springer Nancy)

The loom, and on the loom

Thematic colors woven,

The prophecies within the web.
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The lake, and in the lake The mirroring reflection, The shadowshining face of fate.

The grove, and in the grove

The riddle of the goddess,

The dwelling of the guessing god.

Prologue

In her secluded valley in the midlands of Isle lived Ylim, the weaving seeress, and thither rode young
King Trevyn with Dair, his small son. Dair was a wolf. Leggy, half grown, he bounded along by the
horse, his paws huge and playful, his slate gray fur unruly. Sometimes Trevyn smiled and slapped the
saddle, and the yearling wolf would leap up to ride with him for a while. Dair was a wolf because his
mother had been one at the time of his birth. She had since taken back her human form and returned
across the sea to Tokar, Trevyn surmised. He was a Very King and a sorcerer in the truest sense; the
kiss of the goddess was on him. But he did not know what to do for Dair. Destiny is a personal matter.

The young wolf entered the cottage at his heels and sat courteously by his side. "Laifrita thae, llderweyn,"
said Trevyn to Ylim. "Sweet peace to thee, Grandmother." It was the Old Language, the language of the
Beginning, which only a special few still remembered. She was not his grandmother in fact, though she
might have been grandmother of earth and moon.

"Laifrita thae, Alberic." She called Trevyn by his elfin name. "Laifrita thae, Dair, how are you?"

Quite well, Grandmother, thank you. His voice was a murmur or a growl. Only these special ones could
understand him, they who conversed with the animals as all men once had.

"Is it good, being a wolf?"

It is very good. The smells, and the air in my nostrils, the chase and the -warm meatтАФHe stopped with a
sidelong look at Trevyn, afraid of being laughed at. He had only recently killed Ms first rabbit; more often
he ate at the king's table and slept by the king's bed. But both Ylim and Trevyn listened to him soberly.

"He is quite content," Trevyn said, "and I am glad of it. But I wish I knew what is to become of him,
Grandmother."

"Look your fill," she said.

Dair looked as well. Most folk when they looked on the work of that loom saw nothing. Some who saw