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

allowed no witnesses. I cannot tell you how, nor will Arthur speak of it.
Perhaps one day he will tell us, but not yet.'
Despite Myrddin's words, I sensed there was still much that he would not
say. 'But Cai said -'
'Cai refuses to believe his eyes,' Myrddin declared flatly. 'As for the
golden armband,' he continued, 'it belonged to Uther. Ygerna had it made
for him after they were married; it gave him the idea for the dragon
standard. When Uther died, Ygerna kept it for her son, always believing
he would one day become High King like his father.'
'Why did you wait until now to give it to him?'
'Whenever did I have a better chance?' Myrddin demanded. 'We have
scarcely had space enough to draw breath from one battle to the next.'
'No doubt that will change,' I mused. 'Now that we have rid ourselves of
invaders and rebellious Britons, we can enjoy a season of peace.'
'That is what I have been saying all my life,' Myrddin replied tartly.
 SIX


I remember lost Atlantis. Though I was but a babe in arms when the
calamity came upon us, I can still see the Isle of Apples as it was then,
before the destruction. The Great Palace was much reduced from its
former glory; owing to Avallach's long, wasting illness, everything was
falling into neglect. Even so, to my childish recollection all was leaf-green
and golden sunlight, endless gardens and mysterious rooms no one
entered anymore.
My mother turned the gardens to her use. Lile was wise in the ways of root
and stem; she knew the lore of herbs, and her medicines were most potent.
We would spend entire days in those gardens, my mother and I- she
working among her herbs, and I playing at her feet. She believed me too
young to understand, yet she told me everything she knew about the plants.
'This is Three Hearts,' she would say. 'It is useful for stanching the flow of
blood, and for purging the bowel.'
In this way Lile awakened in me the thirst to master the plants of healing
and death. But there was much, much more than she knew. The Magi of
Atlantis had amassed the lore of every age and realm, and though it took
what would have been a lifetime for a mortal, this lore I also acquired. In
Broceliande's deep wood I found what I sought. A remnant of our race had
taken root there - Kian's people, Avallach's son and Charis' brother. There
among the tall trees and deep shadows, they had built a city. I found it,
and found, too, the knowledge I craved.
There was a book -from Briseis' library it came. The queen loved her
books. I do not think she ever read it, but it was saved. I think Annubi, the
royal family's faithful sage and counsellor, may have had something to do
with that. If Lile kindled the flame of love for secret lore, Annubi fanned
that flame into an all-consuming fire. At first it gave him pleasure to tell
me things; he was lonely, after all. Later, however, he had no choice. I
made certain of that. He served me, and lived at my command.
Annubi was the first man I bent to my will, and I learned much about the
power of the female sex. When I had wrung him dry, I let him go. Indeed, I
hastened him on his way. He was the first, but not the last. Far from it!