Читать онлайн «Hero's Song: The First Song of Eirren»
Автор Эдит Патту
Table of Contents
Title Page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Crann's Map
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
Fire Arrow
ONE
Copyright © 1991 by Edith Pattou
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work
to the following address: Permissions Department, Harcourt, Inc. ,
6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, Florida 32887-6777.
Chapter One from
First Magic Carpet Books edition 1998
First Published 1991
registered in the United States of America and/or other jurisdictions.
The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier edition as follows:
Pattou, Edith.
Hero's song: the first song of Eirren/by Edith Pattou.
p. cm. —(The songs of Eirren)
"Magic Carpet Books. "
Summary: On a quest to rescue his kidnapped sister, Collun discovers
that he is a key figure in the struggle to save the kingdom of Eirren
from conquest by Medb, the Queen of Ghosts.
[1. Fantasy. ] I. Title. II. Series: Pattou, Edith. Songs of Eirren.
PZ7. P278325Hg 1998
[Fic]—dc21 97-30181
ISBN: 978-0-15-205542-4
Text set in Granjon
Designed by Kaelin Chappell
Map by Barry Age
E G H F D
Printed in the United States of America
I am a salmon in wisdom's fountain
—from
Irish poet, ca. 1270 B.
C.(translation by A. P. Graves)
ONE
The Kesil
Collun was on his knees, working in the flower beds, when he spotted the kesil coming up the road. He leaned back on his heels, watching the tall figure approach. Pinching off the dead head of a cornflower, he wondered why the ragged forest man was back so soon.
Ordinarily the kesil only came through Inkberrow twice a year, begging for food and muttering strange words under his breath. He had visited their farmhold, Aonarach, just a month ago. Collun's mother had given him food as she always did.
But here he was back again, and, even more odd, instead of heading around to the back door to beg for scraps, he walked right up to Collun.
"Good evening," Collun said, his voice uneasy.
The kesil mumbled words that Collun could not understand. He kept running his hands up and down his knotted gray beard.
"Are you hungry? May I bring you bread? Or a drink from our well?"
The wild man shook his head.
"It won't be long before the first frost," Collun said awkwardly, to fill the silence. The kesil's hands continued moving on his beard, and Collun turned back to his work. He concentrated on uprooting a weed with his trine. A feeling of dread made his hands shake and he cut the weed off short, its jagged edge white against the soil. Collun stared at it. Why did the kesil not go away?
