"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Olivia 2 - Crusader's Torch" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yarbro Chelsea Quinn)

Having you go ahead and make all the arrangements necessary will serve both our
purposes well. And while all that is true," she said, her voice softening, "still I will
miss you while you are gone, and I will worry about you until I have word you are
safe."
Niklos laughed once and shook his head slowly. "Well, you've said what I wanted
to hear, I suppose. But I still don't like having to leave you."
"I know." She went to the Persian chair, but hesitated before sitting down. "It
seems strange to me, to have to think of Roma as a foreign city, to treat it as if I had
never been there. It is my home. I was born there."
"It has changed, Olivia," Niklos said with hard kindness.
"Yes."
He watched her, aware of her inwardness. Over the years these brief withdrawals
to her memories had increased, and though they were still infrequent, they happened
more often. At such times Niklos was at a loss. He started toward her, then stopped.
"Olivia?"
She gave a little shake to her head at the sound of her name, and took a moment to
answer, "What?"
"Is it Roma?" He knew the answer, but wanted her to tell him.
"Of course," she said ruefully. "What else would it be? Oh, I don't relish moving,
and the thought of an ocean voyage makes me ill, but the thorn is Roma." She
fingered the tooled leather on the worn arm of the chair. "It was strange to me long
ago. I don't know why it has upset me to remember it now."
 "Perhaps because it is strange?" he suggested.
She turned toward him. "You know me too well."
"After all this time, I hope so," Niklos said, rallying her.
"You're right," she said. "If I am ever to get out of this house, you must put your
plans in order." As she rose, she smoothed the Babylon skins that trimmed her
mantel-a-parer.
Niklos caught the gesture. "You love that fur, don't you?"
"It is soft and warm," she said at her most neutral.
"And you love it," Niklos added.
"Yes," Olivia said, nodding once. "But I may have to leave it behind."


***
Text of an unofficial letter from the secretary of the Metropolitan of Hagia
Sophia to the Abbot of the Benedictine monastery on Rhodes.
To my devout fellow-Christian, I pray that you will set aside the differences that
divide Christendom long enough to read what I have to impart to you, for our faith,
in all its forms, is again in the gravest danger, and at the behest of my most pious
master, I approach you in the hope that you will consider what I tell you with all the
wisdom that God can give imperfect men.
Surely, since the Knights Hospitaler share part of Rodhos with you, you are aware
of the increasing menace of the desert followers of the banner of Islam, and have
yearned to come to the rescue of the True Church, which is the Heart of Our Lord. So
we in the Greek Church feel as we learn of the fall of Jerusalem into those terrible
hands. In spite of the concession made to the Greek Church, and the returning of the
Holy Sepulcher to us, the ploy is an obvious one; all Christendom can agree that the
presence of Saladin in Jerusalem besmirches every one of us who have accepted
salvation in the name of the Christ. Who can be certain how long Saladin will grant