"Angus Wells - The God Wars 3 - Wild Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells Angus)

WHEN she saw the riders approaching, she felt
genuinely thankful, for her own sake, as if
she were truly lost. She watched them, crouched in
the grass, until she was certain they were not
clansmen, then rose, waving and calling.

They came toward her at a canter: a beautiful
woman, whose flaxen hair streamed out, glinting in
the morning sun, mounted on a grey horse; a dark-
skinned Kern astride a big black stallion, his hair
black and bound in a long tail, his eyes hard and
blue as he sighted her; a younger man, tanned dark,
but Lyssian to judge by his features and the sun-
bleached mane that he wore in the Kernish style,
his expression puzzled.

She ran toward them and they slowed, eyeing her
curiously, hands lightly touching their swordhilts,
glancing round as if anticipating some trick, wary
of ambush.

"Praise all the gods you've come," she cried. "My
name is Cennaire."

^ Calandryll stared, torn between surprise and sus-

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2 ANGUS WELLS

picion, wondering how she came here, and in equal
measure how she could appear so lovely. Hair tan-
gled and dusted with tares fell in raven folds about
a dirt-smudged face, that discoloration seeming
only to emphasize the lush redness of her full lips,
her great brown eyes. She wore traveling gear of
soft brown leather, disheveled and stained, the tu-
nic loose, so that as she approached he saw full
breasts outlined against her dirtied shirt, long legs
beneath the breeks. He thought her the loveliest
woman he had ever seen. He reined his horse to a
halt and bowed from the saddle, letting go his
swordhilt: he perceived no danger. He smiled as he
dismounted, ignoring Bracht's warning grunt, the
open suspicion in Katya's grey eyes.

"Cennaire?" He moved a pace toward her. "I am
Calandryll."

Cennaire repeated his name, softly, scarcely need-