"Andre Norton - Witch World - The Turning 03 - On Wings of Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

a swordmaker expends upon a trusted blade. There was a coming and
going, and more and more of those who saw that the sharing of knowledge
was of great value at such a time were called upon for help and advice.

So it fell on Ouen, Nolar, and I, and sometimes Morfew, who was the
most approachable of the older scholars, to handle the requests from
abroad, to answer many concerning what might lie in the past.

At the same time we heard reports and rumors enough that for the first
time Lormt was forced to look to defenders. Chaos brings to the fore
masterless men who quickly may become outlaws. Also what had been
loosed in Escore did not always stay within the boundaries of that land. I
found myself again a leader of fighting men, with Derren of Karsten as my
second, and a force of landbred boys and a few stragglers from the old
Border companies to command. We sent out scouts and had sentry posts
in the hills, though the severity of the winter season kept us mainly free
from raids while it lasted in these new years.
 I was returning from my first round of sentry posts for the spring when
I came upon a cup of green in a bit of the forest which was of the old
growth. There was such a fragrance on the air that I reined in my
mountain pony and looked groundward. There grew a small clump of
those flowers called Noon and Midnight by the shepherds and found only
near Lormt, their shaded, nine-petaled heads nodding in the breeze. I slid
from the saddle and limped to gather four of them, and those I guarded
very carefully while I rode to Lormt, eager to give Nolar this token of
spring.

She was with Morfew and her face was very pale except for that stain
on her cheek which was her birthmark and for which she had been
shunned by those too dense to see aught but that which did not truly cloak
a very brave and gallant spirit.

"Of a certainty her way has been hard, and when she came here she was
hardly more than a child. Also she has listened too much to the Lady
Nareth and that one—" I heard the sting in Nolar's voice as I entered
Morfew's study "—has ever kept herself apart. There is good in Arona and
a quick cleverness, also a love for what she does. I have long hoped that
those prejudices born and fostered in her, the bitterness which has ridden
her these past years, could be assuaged. Me, I think, she might trust if she
would let herself. Mainly, I suppose, because I am a woman. There are few
enough of us here. That is why she has listened to Nareth. I cannot think
why a girl of Arona's intelligence would put up with the arrogance of that
one. And now that Nareth is so old— Well, I shall make one more attempt,
but if she takes on Nareth's airs and graces—"

"I believe, my daughter, that Arona is one who has not been able to fit
herself to change. She sees that as an enemy. There are many others
within these walls not unlike her in that. Still, she likes you. I have seen
her watch you at one of our common meetings and there is plainly a
struggle within her," Morfew said slowly.