"Andre Norton - WW - Estcarp Cycle 04 - Warlock of the Witch World" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

Warlock of the Witch World
A Witch World novel by Andre Norton
Version 1.0


I

AT HAS BEEN an oft-told story of our birthing
that our mother, the Lady Jaelithe (she who put aside her
witchhood in Estcarp to wed the outland warrior, Simon
Tregarth), did demand of some Power she served certain
gifts for us, whom she bore in great and painful travail. That
she named my brother Kyllan, warrior, my sister Kaththea,
witch (or one to control powers), and asked for me, wis-
dom. But it has been that my wisdom consists in knowing
that I know very little, though the thirst for learning has
ever been in me. Only, in spite of all my striving, I have
done no more than nibble at the edges of knowledge's rich
cake, liplicked the goblet rim of true wisdom. But perhaps
to know one's limitations is, in itself, a kind of sagecraft.

In the beginning, when we were children, I did not lack
fellowship, for we three, born at one birth (which in Est-
carp was something hitherto unknown) were also one in
spirit. Kyllan was formed for action, Kaththea for feeling,
and I—supposedly—for thought. We worked together smooth-
ly, and the bond between us was tight, as if it were

wrought of flesh as well as of spirit. Then came that bleak
day when Kaththea was rift from us by the Wise Women
who kept the rule of the land. And for a period we lost
her.

Still, in a war a man can lose himself, or be able to put
aside one set of fears for another, living from each sun's
rising to its setting, each dusk to dawn. And that we were
forced to do. For Kyllan and I rode with the Borderers
who kept a thin line of ever-ready defense between Estcarp
and the darksome menace of Karsten.

Then luck deserted me in a single swing of a short sword,
and I was swept from usefulness into that human wastage
resulting from the chances of war. Yet, for this once, I wel-
comed such a respite, painful as it was for my body. For
from it came the freeing of our sister from the bondage
of the Witches.

Though my right hand was maimed, my warrior life ap-
parently past, I waited hardly past the outward healing of
my wound before I went to Lormt. For during my days in the