"Julian May - Trillium 1 - Black Trillium" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

heard often from their nurses and their parents the story of that strange scene
attending their birth. However, to the girls it began to seem more and more to be a
fanciful tale, especially the baleful warning, for there was nothing to disturb the
comfort of their days as they matured, and like most young people they were
much more interested in the present than the past.

Princess Haramis was her scholarly father's favorite. While she was yet a small
child, she craved such knowledge as is to be found in books, pestering the royal
scribes and sages with questions unbecoming to royal females. She also found
magic in music, especially that drawn from the flute and the strings of the ladu-
wood harp. She spent much of her time with the Oddling Uzun, who was a famous
singer of songs and raconteur. He could change the most melancholy mood into
one of good cheer through his jolly tale-spinning and wise counsel.

Princess Kadiya early proved to be a lover of animals and birds, especially the
queer creatures of the deep swamp. Her passion was to live under the open sky
and explore the wilder reaches of the realm, and for her guide and teacher in
matters of natural history she turned to the Oddling Jagun, who was the royal
Master of Animals and chief huntsman of the Citadel.

Princess Anigel, as dainty and delicate as one of the flowers she loved so much,
was a shy child, although much given to laughter, and had a tender heart that went
out to any sick or suffering thing. She was a special delight to Queen Kalanthe,
taking pleasure in domestic and ceremonial duties that her sisters scorned. Her
closest friend was that same Immu who had been the royal midwife and her nurse,
who now served as the Citadel apothecary, brewing not only potions and simples
but also sweet perfumes, confectionary essences, and very good beer.

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Trillum 01 - Black Trillium by Bradley, May and Norton (v1.0) (html).html




The time came when the three Princesses were of marriageable age, Ruwenda
having prospered for seventeen years at the expense of Labornok. At the behest of
the sorcerer Orogastus, Crown Prince Voltrik sued for the hand of Haramis, the
heiress. To his fury he was rejected, King Krain having decided that, failing a
male heir, he would on the next Feast of the Three Moons betroth his eldest
daughter to the second son of King Fiodelon of Var. This Prince, named
Fiomakai, would then share the Ruwendian throne as co-monarch with Haramis.
The nation of Var, lying to the south of the Tassaleyo Forest on the fertile plain of
the Great Mutar, had very little commercial or diplomatic intercourse with
Ruwenda. (It was, however, a notable maritime trade rival of Labornok!) But if
the savage Glismak Oddlings could ever be subdued and the Great Mutar
subsequently opened to the mercantile vessels of Var, Labornok might very well
find the lucrative Ruwendian trade cut out from under it…

At this critical junction in Peninsular history, old King Sporikar finally closed his
eyes to the world and Voltrik became King of Labornok. At the urging of