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

two horsemen coming back that way, from the shore below the castle rock." He hesitated. "And then
you, my lord."

I said slowly, holding him with my eyes: "Listen now, and I will tell you who the horsemen were. Last
night, in the dark, King Uther Pendragon rode this way, with myself and two others. He rode to Tintagel,
but he did not go by the gate-house and the bridge. He rode down the valley, to the shore, and then
climbed the secret path up the rock and entered the castle by the postern gate. Why do you shake your
head? Don't you believe me?"

"Lord, everyone knows the King had quarrelled with the Duke. No one could get in, least of all the
King. Even if he did find the postern door, there's none would dare open it to him."

"They opened last night. It was the Duchess Ygraine herself who received the King into Tintagel."

"But тАФ"

"Wait," I said. "I will tell you how it happened. The King had been changed by magic arts into a likeness
of the Duke, and his companions into likenesses of the Duke's friends. The people who let them into the
castle thought they were admitting Duke Gorlois himself, with Brithael and Jordan."

Under its dirt the boy's face was pale. I knew that for him, as for most of the people of this wild and
haunted country, my talk of magic and enchantment would come as easily as stories of the loves of kings
and violence in high places. He said, stammering: "The King тАФ the King was in the castle last night with
the Duchess?"

"Yes. And the child that will be born will be the King's child."

A long pause. He licked his lips. "But тАФ but тАФ when the Duke finds out..."

"He won't find out," I said. "He's dead."

One filthy hand went to his mouth, the fist rammed against his teeth. Above it his eyes, showing white,
went from my injured hand to the bloodstains on my clothing, then to my empty scabbard. He looked as
if he would have liked to run away, but did not dare even do that. He said breathlessly: "You killed him?
You killed our Duke?"

"Indeed no. Neither I nor the King wished him dead. He was killed in battle. Last night, not knowing that
the King had already ridden secretly for Tintagel, your Duke sallied out from his fortress of Dimilioc to
attack the King's army, and was killed."

He hardly seemed to be listening. He was stammering: "But the two I saw this morning...It was the Duke
himself, riding up from Tintagel. I saw him. Do you think I don't know him? It was the Duke himself, with
Jordan, his man."

"No. It was the King with his servant Ulfin. I told you the King took the Duke's likeness. The magic
deceived you, too."
 He began to back away from me. "How do you know these things? You тАФ you said you were with
them. This magic тАФ who are you?"

"I am Merlin, the King's nephew. They call me Merlin the enchanter."