"Mary Stewart - The Arthurian Saga 02 - The Hollow Hills" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stewart Mary)

towards the good company and the better supper that awaited him at the inn. It remained now for me to
tell Ralf.

This was more difficult even than I had expected. His face lit when I told him about the messenger, and
he looked eagerly about for the man, seeming very disappointed when he found that he had already gone.
Messages from his grandmother he received almost impatiently, but plied me with questions about the
fighting south of Vindocladia, listening with such eagerness to all I could tell him of that and the larger
news that it was obvious that his forced inaction in Maridunum fretted him far more than he had shown.
When I came to the Queen's summons he showed more animation than I had seen in him since he had
come to me.

"How long before we set out?"

"I did not say 'we' would set out. I shall go alone."

"Alone?" You would have thought I had struck him. The blood sprang under the thin skin and he stood
staring with his mouth open. Eventually he said, sounding stifled: "You can't mean that. You can't."

"I'm not being arbitrary, believe me. I'd like to take you, but you must see it isn't possible."

"Why not? You know everything here will be perfectly safe; in any case, you've left it before. And you
can't travel alone. How would you go on?"

"My dear Ralf. I've done it before."

"Maybe you have, but you can't deny I've served you well since I've been here, so why not take me?
You can't just go to Tintagel тАФ back to where things are happening тАФ and leave me here! I warn you"
тАФ he took a breath, eyes blazing, all his careful courtesy collapsing in ruins тАФ "I warn you, my lord, if
you go without me, I shan't be here when you come back!"

I waited till his gaze fell, then said mildly: "Have some sense, boy. Surely you see why I can't take you?
The situation hasn't changed so much since you had to leaveCornwall . You know what would happen if
any of Cador's men recognized you, and everyone knows you round about Tintagel. You'd be seen, and
the word would go round."

"I know that. Do you still think I'm afraid of Cador? Or of the King?"

"No. But it's foolish to run into danger when one doesn't need to. And the messenger certainly seemed
to think there was still danger."

"Then what about you? Won't you be in danger, too?"

"Possibly. I shall have to go disguised, as it is. Why do you think I've been letting my beard grow all this
while?"

"I didn't know. I never thought about it. Do you mean you've been expecting the Queen to send for
you?"

"I didn't expect this summons, I admit," I said. "But I know that, come Christmas, when the child is born,
I must be there."