"Stephen Lawhead - Pendragon Cycle 05 - Grail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lawhead Stephen)

As soon as the wagons were loaded, we left the grove and hurried back to
find that the Cymbrogi had struck camp and were ready to leave on
another day's march. Seeing no good reason to tarry, Bedwyr called the
order, and Rhys raised the hunting horn and blew a lengthy, rising blast to
signal our departure. The long, disorderly ranks of Vandali began moving
once more. I watched for a moment; then, steeling myself for another
endless, scorching day in the saddle, I lifted the reins and rode on.
 THREE


The only person I ever loved did not love me. I was young then and
foolish, I know. I wielded not a fraction of the power I now possess, or
things might have gone differently. The arrow was meant for my sister.
Does that surprise you, my sweet? How so? Charis never spared a thought
for me. She was already grown when I was born, and though we shared
the same father, Avallach the Invalid never spoke two words to me in all
the time I lived under his roof.
The beloved Briseis was dead and cold in her grave long, long before my
mother shared the great king's bed. He needed Lile; and it is true he
would have died but for her healing skill. Avallach used her, depended on
her, but he never loved her. Even in death Queen Briseis commanded
Avallach's affections, and Lile the nursemaid was merely tolerated. Poor
Lile, she wanted so to be his wife, and though he married her in the end,
she was never more than his mistress.
Even I, a barefoot grubby child with dirty hands and snotty nose, could
see that my mother was insignificant, and in my infant heart I vowed never
to allow myself to descend to insignificance.
Oh, but I would look at Charis, so beautiful and strong. The sun in its
glory was not more radiant and bright. I wanted nothing more in all the
world than to be like her, to be her. When I saw the way my father looked
at her, the way his eyes filled with love and admiration for his golden-
haired daughter, I wanted it all the more. I would have given the world
and everything in it just to have Avallach smile at me the way he smiled at
her.
He never did.
At first, we harboured some small hope that the drought would slacken its
hold the farther north we rode. That was not to be, however, for the hills
beyond the Hafren Vale were just as dusty as those we had left behind,
and the streambeds were just as dry. Nor did a single cloud ever darken
the sky. From dawn to dusk the heavens remained empty, the sun rising
and setting in a firmament of fiery white, like a ball of flame simmering in
a lake of molten iron.
I have heard of desert lands where rain falls but once a year, though I had
never known Britain to suffer so for lack of rain. Searching for water to
keep ourselves and the Vandal horde supplied became our sole
occupation. Fortunately, there are springs in the central hills where we
could refill our casks. If not for these founts deep in the earth, we might
have died of thirst.
Thus, with God's help, we were able to keep moving until reaching Afon
Treont. Though the bracken on the hills was brown and tinder-dry, and the