"Feist, Raymond E - The Riftwar Legacy 01 - Krondor- The Betrayal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

ONE

Encounter

T he fire crackled.

Owyn Belefate sat alone in the night before the flames, wallowing in his
personal misery. The youngest son of the

Baron of Timons, he was a long way from home and wishing he was even
farther away. His youthful features were set in a portrait of dejection.

The night was cold and the food scant, especially after having just left
the abundance of his aunt's home in Yabon City. He had been hosted by
relatives ignorant of his falling-out with his father, people who had
reacquainted him over a weeles visit with what he had forgotten about
his home-life: the companionship of brothers and sisters, the warmth of
a night spent before the fire, conversation with his mother, and even
the arguments with his father. 'Father, "Owyn muttered. It had been less
than two years since the young man had defied his father and made his
way to Stardock, the island of magicians located in the southern reaches
of the Kingdom.

His father had forbidden him his choice, to study magic, demanding

Owyn should at least become a cleric of one of the more socially
acceptable orders of priests. After all, they did magic as well, his
father had insisted.

Owyn sighed and gathered his cloak around him. He had been so certain he
would someday return home to visit his family, revealing himself as a
great magician, perhaps a confidant of the legendary

Pug, who had created the Academy at Stardock. Instead he found himself
ill-suited for the study required. He also had no love for the
burgeoning politics of the place, with factions of students rallying
around this teacher or that, attempting to turn the study of magic

into another religion. He now knew he was, at best, a mediocre n1agician
and would never amount to more, and no matter how much he wished to
study magic, he lacked sufficient talent.

After slightly more than one year of study, Owyn had left Stardock,
conceding to himself that he had made a mistake. Admitting such to his
father would prove a far more daunting task - which was why he had
decided to visit family in the distant province of Yabon before
mustering the courage to return to the east and confront his sire.

A rustle in the bushes caused Owyn to clutch a heavy wooden staff and