"Brooks, Terry - Heritage 01 - The Scions of Shannara" - читать интересную книгу автора (Brooks Terry)

in Varfleet was small stuff really and scarcely worth the trouble.
Callahom was only a protectorate of the Federation, and Var-
fleet so distant as to be almost into the free territories. It was
not yet army occupied. The Federation so far had disdained to
bother with it.

The Scions of Shannara 11

But Seekers? Par shook his head. Seekers were another mat-
ter altogether. Seekers only appeared when there was a serious
intent on the part of the. Federation to stamp out a practice of
magic. No one wanted any part of them.

' 'It grows too dangerous for us here,'' cole said, as if reading
Par's mind. "We will be discovered."

Par shook his head. "We are but one of a hundred practicing
the art,'' he replied. ' 'Just one in a city of many.''

cole looked at him. "One in a hundred, yes. But the only one
using real magic."

Par looked back. It was good money the ale house paid them,
the best they had ever seen. They needed it to help with the
taxes the Federation demanded. They needed it for their family
and the Vale. He hated to give up because of a rumor.

His jaw tightened. He hated to give up even more because it
meant the stories must be returned to the Vale and kept hidden
there, untold to those who needed to hear. It meant that the
repression of ideas and practices that clamped down about the
Four Lands like a vise had tightened one turn more.

"We have to go," cole said, interrupting his thoughts.

Par felt a sudden rush of anger before realizing his brother
was not saying they must go from the city, but from the doorway
of the ale house to the performing stage inside. The crowd would
be waiting. He let his anger slip away and felt a sadness take its
place.

"I wish we lived in another age," he said softly. He paused,
watching the way cole tensed. "I wish there were Elves and
Druids again. And heroes. I wish there could be heroes again-
even one."

He trailed off, thinking suddenly of something else.

cole shoved away from the doorjamb, clapped one big hand
to his brother's shoulder, turned him about and started him back