"Sheri S. Tepper - The True Game - 3 books" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

"No one will hear you. We are alone. Still, if this place is too public, we'll go to my room.тАЭ And he was
sweeping out the door toward the tunnel which led to Havad's House before I could say anything. I
followed him, of course, even though I had sworn over and over I would not, not again.
The next morning I received a summons to see King Mertyn. It didn't exactly surprise me, but it did shock
me a little. I'd known someone was going to see me or overhear us, but each day that went by let me think
maybe it wouldn't happen after all. I hadn't been doing anything different from what many of the boys do
in the dormitories, nothing different from what I'd refused to do with Karl. Oh, true, it's forbidden, but lots
of things are forbidden, and people do them all the time, almost casually..
So, I didn't know quite what to expect when I stood before the Gamesmaster in his cold aerie, hands in my
sleeves, waiting for him to speak. I was shocked at how gentle he was.
"It is said you are spending much time with Gamesmaster Mandor of Havad's House. That you go to his
room, spend your sleep time there. Is this true?"

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 Tepper, Sheri S. - The True Game

He was tactful, but still I blushed.
"Yes, Gamesmaster."
"You know this is forbidden."
"Gamesmaster, he bade meтАж"
"You know he is titled Prince and may bid as he chooses. But, it is still forbidden.. "
I got angry then, because it wasn't fair. "Yes. He may bid as he chooses.. And I am expected to twist and
tarry and try to escape him, like a pigeon flying from a hawk. I am expected to bear his displeasure, and
he may bid as he choosesтАж"
"Ah. And have you indeed twisted arid tarried and tried? Hidden among the books of the library, perhaps?
Red sanctuary from the head of your own House? Taken minor game vows before witnesses? Have you
done these things?"
I hadn't. Of course I hadn't. How could I. Prince Mandor was my friend, but more than a friend. He cared
about me. He talked to me about everything, things he said he couldn't tell anyone else. I knew everything
about him; that he had not wanted to leave the True Game and teach in a Schooltown; that he hated
Havad's House, that he wanted a House of his own; that he picked me as a friend because there was no
one, no one in Havad's House he cared for. The silence between the Gamesmaster and me was be-coming
hostile, but I couldn't break it.
At last he said, "I must be sure you understand, Peter. You must be aware of what you do, each choice
you make which aids or prevents your mastery of the Game. You cannot stand remote from this task. You
are in it. Do you know that?"
I nodded, said, "We all know that, Gamesmaster. "
"But do you perceive the reality of it? How your identity will emerge as you play, as your style becomes
unique, as your method becomes clear. Gradually it will become known to the Masters-and to you-what
you are: Prince or Sorcerer, Armiger or Tragamor, Demon or Doyen, which of the endless list you are.
You must be one of them, or else go down into Schooltown and apprentice yourself to a shopkeeper as
some failed students do."
"It is said we are born to it,тАЭ I objected, wanting to stop his talk which was making me feel guilty.тАЭ
"Karl says he will be Doyen because father and grandfather were Doyens before him. Born to it. "
"What Karl may say or do or think is not important to you. What you are or may become should be
important.тАЭ He seized me by the shoulders and turned me to stare out the tall window. "Look there. In ten
years you must go out there, ready or not, willing or not. In ten years you must leave this protected town,
this Schooling place. In ten years you will join the True Game. "You do not know this, but it was I who
found you, years ago, outside Mertyn's House, a Festival Baby, a soggy lump in your bright blankets,
chewing your fist. If you have anyone to stand Father to you, it is I. It may be unimportant, but there is at