"Andre Norton & A C Crispin - Song Smith - uc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

nearly everything she'd earned on her travels through the
Dales to pay for the long voyage aboard the Osprey.

Both fourth and fifth verses went even better. By now the
men were nodding in rhythm to her song. Eydryth finished the
ballad with a last triumphant, clarion strum, and they
thumped their tankards on the board appreciatively. "An-
other, minstrel! Another!" One of the Sulcar sailors, massive
and fair as were all his race, shouted bull-voiced over the
others, "A Sulcar tune, songsmith! Give us a song for the Sons
of Sul!"

Fortunately, the Sulcar sailors aboard the Osprey had

SONGSMITH 7

taught her a multitude of songs, since they sang constantly at
their work, and their music was easy for trained ears and
fingers to master. Eydryth closed her eyes as she strummed,
searching for the proper key. . . . There, she had it now.

"Very well, kind sirs. I give you 'The Fall of Sulcarkeep,'
which tells the tale of the great hero Magnus Osberic and how
he destroyed his own stronghold rather than let it fall into
Kolder hands."

The tune this time was in a somber, minor key, as befitted
a tragic tale. Eydryth began:

Wind and flame and earth and wave
Sulcarkeep, proud Sulcarkeep!
All sent to dig a trader's grave;

Sulcarkeep, lost Sulcarkeep!

" 'Tis built to ward," proud Osberic said,
"Sulcarkeep, strong Sulcarkeep!
There's none without permission tread
In Sulcarkeep, fair Sulcarkeep!"

She continued, losing herself in the music. Her tawdry sur-
roundings faded as the song bore her back into that ancient
stronghold, transporting her to the fateful night. Eydryth's
voice rose into an eerie wail as she described the desperate
battle throughout the doomed fortress:

Yet when the fog stole rank and thick
On Sulcarkeep, dark Sulcarkeep
Sent by a Kolder demon-trick
. To Sulcarkeep, cursed Sulcarkeep,