"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 11 - The Fire Dragon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

‘Not a very secret one, I must say, with a noise like that. Bellyra took a
few steps forward to peer through the opening. ‘It wants oiling, most like.’

Maddyn joined her and peered through the opening. ‘It’s more a
passageway than a room inside,’ Maddyn said. ‘It might lead to the
council chamber. I wonder if the kings had this made to eavesdrop on their
councillors. There was a hidden chamber like this in Dun Cerrmor. By the
end my father didn t trust anyone, and so he had one built ‘ ‘Shall we find
out?’ Maddyn said

‘By all means’ Bellyra gestured at the pages. ‘You two stay out here. If
that door swings shut, we could be trapped. Don’t look so disappointed!
You can explore it once we come out again, and we’ll watch the door for
you.’

The narrow passage smelled heavily of mice. Some twenty feet along
they heard voices: Nevyn and Councillor Oggyn. Grinning, Bellyra held a
finger to her lips. When they stopped to listen, the sound came clearly.

‘The spring’s upon us,’ Oggyn was saying. ‘We need to requisition
mules and suchlike.’

‘I’ve no idea how many we’ll need,’ Nevyn said. ‘It depends upon the
muster.’

Bellyra could just make out Maryn’s voice. Apparently he was sitting
at some distance from the wall. As the two councillors continued talking
about provisions and transport, Bellyra felt on the edge of tears. The army
would ride out soon, leaving her and the other women behind with only
the familiar summer terrors for company.

When she glanced at Maddyn, she found him leaning against the wall
with his eyes closed. It never ceased to amaze her how fighting men would
sleep whenever they could, no matter how precarious their balance. Grey
streaked Maddyn’s dark curly hair, and he was weather-beaten and gaunt
from his soldiers life, but it was his kindness that had snared her. This
summer she would worry doubly, she realized, both for her husband and
for the man upon whose devotion she had come to rely when dark moods
overtook her. For a moment she found herself tempted to kiss him awake.
The feeling brought a cold panic with it. As the queen of all Deverry, she
would have to keep her honour as pure as a priest of Bel. She took a sharp
step back, kicked a rattling stone, and woke him.

‘It’s stuffy in here,’ she whispered. ‘Let’s leave.’

Out in the cleaner air of the chamber Maddyn took a few deep breaths
and rubbed his eyes. Bellyra sent the boys in for their look around, then
watched him while he studied the fragment of map.

‘Truly interesting,’ Maddyn said at last. ‘So kings eavesdrop like