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

"Durnik!" Lady Polgara said to the smith with an odd note of complaint in
her voice.
"Mistress Pol," he said helplessly, "I don't know what else to do. No
matter how I seal it up, he always manages to get it open."
"Make him put it away," she told him with just a hint of exasperation.
Durnik went to the little boy, knelt and took hold of the pouch.
Without a word he held it open, and the child dropped the stone into it.
Durnik tied the pouch shut, pulling the knots as tight as he could. When
he had finished, the little boy put his arms affectionately around the
smith's neck. Durnik looked a bit embarrassed and was about to lead the
child away, but Errand pulled his hand free and climbed instead into
Ce'Nedra's lap. Quite seriously he kissed her, then nestled down in her
arms and promptly fell asleep.
Feelings moved in Ce'Nedra that she had never felt before. Without
knowing why, she was happier than she had ever been in her life. She held
the child close against her, her arms protectively about him and her cheek
laid snugly against his pale blond curls. She felt an impulse to rock him
and perhaps to croon a very soft lullaby to him.
"We'll have to hurry," Belgarath was saying to the Gorim. "Even with
Relg's help, it will take a week or more to reach the Sendarian border.
Then we'll have to cross the whole country, and the snow in Sendaria can
pile up in a hurry this time of year. To make things even worse, this is
the season for storms in the Sea of the Winds, and it's a long way over
open water from Sendar to Riva."
The word "Riva" jerked Ce'Nedra out of her reverie. From the very
moment that she and Jeebers had crept from the Imperial Palace at Tol
Honeth, one single thought had dominated her thinking. She was not going
to Riva.
Though she might have seemed on occasion to have surrendered on that
point, her acquiescence had always been a subterfuge. Now, however, she
would have to take a stand. The reasons for her adamant refusal to obey
the provisions of the Accords of Vo Mimbre were no longer entirely clear
to her. So much had happened that she was not even the same person, but
one thing was absolutely certain no matter who she was. She was not going
to Riva. It was a matter of principle.
"I'm sure that once we reach Sendaria, I'll be able to make my way to
an Imperial garrison," she said as casually as if the matter had already
been decided.
"And why would you want to do that, dear?" Lady Polgara asked her.
"As I said earlier, I'm not going to Riva," Ce'Nedra replied. "The
legionnaires will be able to make arrangements to return me to Tol Honeth."
"Perhaps you should visit your father," Polgara said quite calmly.
"You mean you're just going to let me go?"
"I didn't say that. I'm sure we'll be able to find a ship bound for Tol
Honeth sometime in the late spring or early summer. Rivan commerce with
the Empire is extensive."
"I don't think you fully understand me, Lady Polgara. I said that I'm
not going to go to Riva - under any circumstances."
"I heard you, Ce'Nedra. You're wrong, however. You are going to Riva.
You have an appointment there, remember?"