"David Eddings. Castle of wizardry enchanters' end game (The Belgariad, Part two)" - читать интересную книгу автора

her smiling and laughing as if nothing at all had happened.
It was a difficult time for the princess. She had not fully realized
the implications of her unhesitating acquiescence to the command of UL
when he had told her to remain behind in the caves while the others
journeyed to Rak Cthol. For her entire life, Ce'Nedra had been at the
center of events, but here she was, shunted into the background, forced to
endure the tedious passage of hours spent doing nothing but waiting. She
was not emotionally constructed for waiting, and the outbursts that
scattered her companions like startled doves were at least in part
generated by her enforced inactivity.
The wild swings of her moods were particularly trying for the Gorim.
The frail, ancient holy man had lived for centuries a life of quiet
contemplation, and Ce'Nedra had exploded into the middle of that quiet
like a comet.
Though sometimes tried to the very limits of his patience, he endured
the fits of bad temper, the storms of weeping, the unexplained outbursts -
and just as patiently her sudden exuberant displays of affection when she
would throw her arms about his neck and cover his startled face with
kisses.
On those days when Ce'Nedra's mood was congenial, she gathered her
companions among the columns on the shore of the Gorim's island to talk,
laugh, and play the little games she had invented, and the dim silent
cavern was filled with the babble and laughter of adolescent girls. When
her mood was pensive, she and the Gorim sometimes took short walks to view
the strange splendors of this subterranean world of cave and gallery and
cavern beneath the abandoned city of Prolgu. To the unpracticed eye, it
might have appeared that the princess was so involved in her own emotional
pyrotechnics that she was oblivious to anything around her, but such was
not the case. Her complex little mind was quite capable of observing,
analyzing, and questioning; even in the very midst of an outburst. To the
Gorim's surprise, he found her mind quick and retentive. When he told her
the stories of his people, she questioned him closely, moving always to
the meaning that lay behind the stories.
The princess made many discoveries during those talks. She discovered
that the core of Ulgo life was religion, and that the moral and theme of
all their stories was the duty of absolute submission to the will of UL. A
Tolnedran might quibble or even try to strike bargains with his God. Nedra
expected it, and seemed to enjoy the play of offer and counteroffer as
much as did his people. The Ulgo mind, however, was incapable of such
casual familiarity.
"We were nothing," the Gorim explained. "Less than nothing. We had no
place and no God, but wandered outcast in the world until UL consented to
become our God. Some of the zealots have even gone so far as to suggest
that if one single Ulgo displeases our God, he will withdraw himself from
us. I don't pretend to know the mind of UL entirely, but I don't think
he's quite that unreasonable. Still, he didn't really want to be our God
in the first place, so it's best probably not to offend him."
"He loves you, " Ce'Nedra pointed out quickly. "Anyone could see that
in his face when he came to us that time."
The Gorim looked doubtful. "I hope I haven't disappointed him too much."