"Sorcerer's Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Phyllis Eisenstein)

Cray glanced down the road. They were some hours travel from the hut, from the grave, and they had passed two other homesteads, both abandoned and overgrown with weeds, before stopping in a grove of trees. He had not wanted to speak to his mother where the old man might overhear, and then he had not found the heart to set his spiders spinning until the hot morning sun had burned some of the tears from his eyes. The corroded shield hung on Gallant’s saddle behind his own, and the sword was wrapped in a linen shirt and thrust into one of the saddlebags; he could not look at his father’s arms without feeling his heart tighten in his breast.

“He was young,” Cray said at last. “Even by mortal standards.”

“Not younger than you are, though, I’ll warrant.”

“Than I? No. But he was a knight, of course. If I started my training tomorrow, it would be years before I could be knighted.”

“To me, Master Cray, you are already a knight. And a better one than most.”

“Nonsense, Master Feldar. How many knights have you known?”

“I have never known one before, but I have encountered them a-plenty, thank you. Big, fierce men, without a care for anything but themselves. I once saw one trample a small child that happened to be playing in the road. He just rode over it, as if it had been a weed.”

“He must not have seen it. Those visors, you know—sometimes they obscure the vision enormously.”

“He saw it. But he didn’t care. The mother cared, though. She screamed loud enough.

But he rode on.”

“Well, I suppose there must be evil knights as well as good ones, as there are of other men. You must not judge them all by the actions of a few. In the webs I have seen them courteous and kind, helping ladies with their knitting, playing with children, laughing, joking. The oath of knighthood demands that they be good and true to their friends. In battle, of course, toward their enemies, that is something quite different.”

“Where did you see these knights?” Sepwin wondered.

“As I told you… in the webs.”

“No, I mean where were they?”

“In various castles. Perhaps a dozen in all. So you see, I have seen a goodly number of knights.”

“Well, I have never been in a castle, Master Cray. I only know the knights who have passed me on the road or in villages. Perhaps they are as you say among their own. A man would hardly do evil to the lady or children of his host, or to the man who might guard his back in battle. But among the peasants, among the people who are of no consequence, these knights are not so kind and courteous. I will not go so far as to say they are evil, no. But they are selfish and uncaring, and we who do not belong in castles, in fine clothes and jewels, we do not matter to them an eye blink.”

“They protect you,” said Cray.

“They protect themselves. We work the land to make them rich. Well… my father does.

He pays his taxes promptly each year. I am not in a position to make anyone rich.

Perhaps that is why they spit on me. A beggar pays no taxes. He is worth less than the poorest peasant.”

Cray said, “You have had some bad experiences, Master Feldar. You see the world in a twisted way.”

“Ah, no, Master Cray. It is you that sees the world twisted. The webs have limited your vision to the best side of these men, and you know nothing of the rest.”

“You are wrong, Master Feldar,” said Cray. “I know that evil exists in them; I do not delude myself on that score. The webs have shown me ugly things as well as beautiful—

theft and betrayal and even murder. Yes, murder. Still, I don’t believe that every knight would ride down a child playing in the road. Perhaps if you did not have eyes of two different colors, you would see a more balanced version of the world.”

Sepwin fingered the kerchief which had served as an eye patch; he had worn it about his throat since they had left the old man behind. “Perhaps because I have eyes of two different colors, I have seen things that you have not.”