"Anthony, Piers - Adept - 06 - Unicorn Point" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

Neysa's action impossible.

"Neysa," Stile said now. "It is time. Fetch Flach, take
him on the circuit of allies, and take no note when he leaves
you. Bring the golem to me."

She made a querying note.

"He will ask you," Stile replied. "Signal yes, then coop-

14 | Piers Anthony

erate with anything he asks. His life will be at stake. He will
be afraid; support him. This is the crisis."

She blew an affirmative note. Stile said no more. The spell
of privacy depended on his intent as much as on his invoca-
tion; now it dissipated. The music summoned his magic; the
intent interpreted it; the words denned it, approximately. An-
other person might sing as he did, and speak similiar words,
and wish the same effect, but would not be able to achieve
the same result because only the Adepts had the necessary
underlying talent. Any person could do some magic, but most
could perform only poorly unless gifted with the talent and
willing to train carefully. Some tried, but the established
Adepts were quick to detect such effort and to act against it;

they did not desire competition. So successful Adepts were
few; usually the only new ones were those protected by ex-
isting Adepts. Thus Stile's son Bane had been training to
assume the status of Blue Adept, and the Tan Adept's twin
offspring had trained to become the Tan Adept. Sometimes
an Adept died without a successor; then there could be a
certain free-for-all, unless some accommodation was achieved
with the other Adepts. As a general rule, those who became
Adept were not nice people; rather, they were the most tal-
ented and unscrupulous. That was why the majority of them
opposed Stile; they preferred to operate without ethical hin-
drance. Only Red, who owed his position to Stile, and Brown,
in her time somewhat smitten by him, were on his side.

But now they were coming up to the pass, and the snow
demons were waiting. They were about to suffer the hospi-
tality of Icebeard.

Stile had been to these mountains before, a generation ago,
but had encountered a different chieftain: Freezetooth, who
had had a passion for a lovely fire spirit whose proximity
would have melted him. Stile had enchanted the snow demon
to make him invulnerable to fire, and a heated romance had