"Cunningham, Elaine - Forgotten Realms - Starlight And Shadows Trilogy 02 - Tangled Webs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cunningham Elaine)

A single glass-covered portal, not much wider than the palm of Liriel's hand, admitted a narrow stream of light into Hrolf's cabin. The drow sat cross-legged on the cot, her books scattered about her. The dim light, softened by the setting sun to a rosy glow, did little to banish the claustrophobic gloom of the tiny space, but it was more than enough illumination to meet the needs of a drow wizard.

At last she closed her spellbook and stretched, working out the stiffness caused by several hours of study. She rose and padded over to the portal to watch the fading sunset colors and wait for her time under the stars.

Liriel had grown accustomed to the brightness of the surface lands, but daylight at sea was another matter. The endless vista of sea and sky was a brilliant, blinding shade of blue. Even on cloudy days the glare from the silver water pained her eyes. And the relentless sun that baked the humans' skin to a weathered brown had set hers paInfully aflame after but one day at sea. None but Liriel could see the burn on her ebony skin-to her heat-sensitive eyes, her face and arms shone like molten steel-until the blisters rose the next day. A penitent Hrolf, aghast at his own lack of forethought, had insisted that the drow take his cabin as her own. So Liriel hid herself away during the lengthening days of spring to sleep and to study her spells, and each day she added to the Windwalker's store of power.

The young wizard fingered the golden amulet that hung over her heart. The Windwalker was a simple thing, a small sheathed dagger of ancient make suspended from a chain of gold. Simple, but it held enormous power. It was her link with her drow heritage and her hope for the future.

The amulet had been crafted long ago by magic-users who took their strength from natural sites of power and from the place spirits that once were common in the northern lands. It could store such powers, temporarily, so that a magic-wielder could leave the place of power for a time. Liriel had reasoned that the innate magic of the Underdark drow, which dissipated in the light of the sun, was a form of place magic. She had adapted spells and rituals that stored her magical drow heritage-and her darkelven wizardry-in the amulet.

The drow waited until the last rays of sunlight had vanished; then she carefully twisted the amulet's tiny hilt. Instantly the cabin was flooded with eerie blue lightinvisible to the heat-blind-that pulsed with the strange radiation magic of the Underdark. Quickly, as she did every night with the coming of darkness, Liriel performed the rituals that stored her newly learned spells in the amulet.

The Windwalker did not accept and retain all of Liriel's spells, but held enough to indicate a seemingly endless capacity. No wonder Kharza-kzad, her former tutor, had told her half the drow of Menzoberranzan would cheerfully kill to possess such power. Yet it saddened Liriel that the power she most wished to master-the ability for Fyodor to control his berserker rages-remained stubbornly beyond reach.

When her day's work was finished, Liriel snatched up a book of Ruathen lore and made her way up to the deck. It promised to be another clear night, with an endless sky and stars beyond counting. Most of the crew had been released from their labors. A group of them sprawled comfortably on deck, spooning up seafood stew and listening as Fyodor spun a tale from his homeland. The young man was a natural storyteller, and the sailors were caught up in the rhythm of the tale and the rich cadences of Fyodor's resonant bass voice. The story was one Liriel had heard before, one that described a battle between Rashemen's warriors and the Red Wizards that ruled neighboring Thay. The sailors met each mention of the wizards with hisses and dark murmurs and cheered the exploits of the Rashemi berserkers. Fyodor paused in his storytelling long enough to meet Liriel's amused gaze with a sober nod.

The drow caught his meaning well enough. Most Ruathen distrusted wizardly magic. The daring escape from Skullport had left the crew shaken and in awe of the elven wizard, and most of them gave her a wide berth.

"You're out and about late this evening," observed a tentative voice behind her.

Liriel turned to face Bjorn, the youngest member of Hrolf's crew. The lad had a mere tuft of yellow beard and gangly limbs too thin for strength and too long for grace. But Bjorn could read the winds and sense the coming weather with an almost magical precision. This gift earned him a solid place aboard any ship. Nor was it his only gift. When not about his work, the lad whittled wood into clever little statues and painted them in the bright colors loved by the Northmen. At the moment Bjorn was seated on the deck, packing up the pots and flasks that held his paints. The drow stooped to examine his latest work. It was a wall plaque depicting a single ship upon a storm-tossed seascape. A beautiful, wild-eyed goddess emerged from the crest of a crashing wave, her hand outstretched-perhaps to steady the faltering vessel, perhaps to crush it. "Umberlee?" Liriel asked.

"Yes. The Lady of the Waves," Bjorn said reverently, but he made a sign of warding as he spoke of the goddess. Liriel understood his reaction completely. She'd heard enough about the capricious Umberlee to recognize that particular brand of devotion. Fear and worship-Lloth inspired and demanded both, as well. The drow nodded and copied Bjorn's gesture, which seemed to puzzle the young artist.

"Is Umberlee your goddess?" he asked.

Liriel shrugged. "No, but dry her off and paint her black, and you'd hardly notice the difference."

The lad's eyes bulged, and he repeated the warding sign as if to stave off the result of such blasphemy. Eager to change the subject, he reached for a steaming bowl and handed it to the drow. "You were late this evening. I saved you some soup, knowing there'd be none later."

Surprised and grateful, Liriel took the bowl and settled down on deck beside the boy. He picked up his own supper, and they ate in silence. Still, it was the most companionable moment she'd spent with anyone other than Fyodor or Hrolf since coming aboard. Most of the twenty-odd crewmembers dealt with Liriel's presence by ignoring it. Most, but not all. From the corner of her eye, the drow noted that Ibn was watching her again. There was something about the burly, red-bearded sailor that seemed disturbingly familiar to Liriel. Where most of the Ruathen approached life with a bluff, straightforward manner, Ibn seemed to think far more than he spoke. His few words gave away little, his eyes still less. More complicated than his mates, Ibn occasionally reminded Liriel of a drow. Which was to say, he was trouble.

Liriel pondered the matter as she finished off the saltladen chowder. The first mate was plotting something; in Liriel's mind, that was a given. She could wait for him to play out his hand, or she could confront him in an open and forthright manner. She'd learned the latter approach often befuddled dark elves, who fully expected their plots to be met with equally convoluted counterstrategies. The response this tactic invariably elicited-a moment of veiled surprise, followed by a frantic effort to ferret out the layers of conspiracy that surely must be hidden under the seemingly simple approach-amused her. How, she wondered, would Ibn respond to a direct challenge?

At length, Liriel decided to take the man's measure. She bid Bjorn a good night and made her way over to the redbearded sailor.

"Speak your mind and have done," she demanded.

The mate seemed not at all disconcerted by her blunt words. He took the pipe from his mouth and tapped the ashes into the sea.

"Every hand aboard shares the work. I don't see you doing aught but sleeping away the days and staring into books by night," he said scornfully, nodding toward the lore book tucked under the drow's arm.

Liriel's chin lifted. "Might I remind you that I am a paying passenger? If you feel the need to assign me a role, you may consider me ship's wizard."

"Wizard!" Ibn leaned over the rail and spat to demonstrate his contempt. "There's things that need doing, but magic ain't one of them. Harreldson's been cooking. Waste of a good sailor."

The drow's eyes widened with disbelief. This man expected her to take the part of a scullery servant? "In my family's household only slaves prepare food," she said coldly. "Male slaves, at that. What you suggest is absurd."