"Mercedes Lackey - Heralds of Valdemar 2 - Arrow's Flight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Paface-Cottegia at Haven (Capital)

Prologue

Long ago—so long ago that the details of the conflict are lost and only the
merest legends remain—the world of Velgarth was wracked by sorcerous wars. The
population was decimated. The land quickly turned to wilderness and was given
over to the forest and the magically-engendered creatures that had been used
to fight those wars, while the people who remained flecv^p the eastern
coastline, there to resume their shattered lives. Humans are resilient
creatures, however, and it was not overlong before the population once again
was on the increase, and folk began to move westward again, building new
kingdoms out of the wilderness.

One such kingdom was Valdemar. Founded by the once-Baron Valdemar and those of
his people who had chosen exile with him rather than facing the wrath of a
selfish and cruel monarch, it lay on the very western-and-northernmost edge of
the civilized world. In part due to the nature of its founders, the monarchs
of Valdemar welcomed fugitives and fellow exiles, and the customs and habits
of its people had over the years become a polyglot patchwork. In point of
fact, the one rule by which the monarchs of Valdemar governed their people was
"There is no 'one, true way.'"

8

MERCEDES LACKEY

Governing such an ill-assorted lot of subjects might have been impossible—had
it not been for the Heralds of Valdemar.

The Heralds served many functions; they were administrative overseers,
dispensers of justice, information gatherers, even temporary military
advisors; answerable only to the Monarch and their own circle of peers. Such a
system might have seemed ripe for abuse—it would have been, but for the
Companions,

To the unknowing eye, a Companion would seem little more than an
extraordinarily graceful white horse. They were far more than that. Sent by
some unknown power or powers at the pleading of King Valdemar himself, it was
the Companions who chose new Heralds, forging between themselves and their
Chosen a mind-to-mind bond that only death could sever. While no one knew
precisely how intelligent they were, it was generally agreed that their
capabilities were at least as high as those of their human partners.
Companions could (and did) Choose irrespective of age and sex, although they
tended to Choose youngsters just entering adolescence, and more boys were
Chosen than girlvThe one commonality among the Chosen (other than a specific
personality type; patient, unselfish, responsible, and capable of heroic
devotion to duty) was at least a trace of psychic ability. Contact with a
Companion and continued development of the bond enhanced whatever latent
paranormal capabilities lay within the Chosen, With time, as these Gifts