"Peter David - Sir Apropos 03 - Tong Lashing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

about me or the various choices I made in my existence. In real life, however, he remained mute.

All preconceptions for Mordant, however, were eradicated when, at one point in our sojourn through
Wuin, he had opened his mouth and spoken with pure, clear diction. It had come in the midst of a
conversation I'd been having with Sharee--one in which I was actually claiming that I had come to believe
Mordant was a reincarnation of my departed mother--and I had just accused Sharee of sending me the
dreams with Mordant as a way of trying to warn me of... well, I didn't know of what.

Sharee, of course, had completely denied it. She pointed out that there was nothing in her history to
indicate she had any sort of powers of the mind. A stray squall or passing tornado, yes, those might be
laid at her door. But games being played by the sleeping mind were outside her normal realm.

We stood there on a desolate piece of land that really wasn't all that different from the rest of the
desolation. Flat, unyielding terrain, tufts of small bits of green giving their all to survive, and most likely
losing that all. High, high above us, carrion eaters circled lazily. I endeavored to ignore them. I figured
that looking at them would only encourage them.

"Bloody well right I'll deny it," she said. "You've got to start thinking for yourself, and stop ascribing
everything in your life to me."

Feeling in a slightly tongue-in-cheek mood, I turned to the drabit as if seeking an ally in the discussion.
"Do I have to do that, Mordant?" I inquired.

And without hesitation, Mordant replied, "Absolutely."

As you can well imagine, we stared at him, thunderstruck. For long moments, it seemed as if the
world had stopped turning. Sharee's horse even backed up, looking concerned over the fact that the
animal nearby had suddenly begun speaking. I wondered wildly if the horse was going to start conversing
as well. Perhaps say something such as, "Shut up, you fool! They're not supposed to know we can
speak! You'll ruin it for all of us!"

I had never encountered an animal capable of speech before. The closest I'd ever run into were
animal/human hybrids, such as the repellent Harpers Bizarre, or the feral but ultimately tragic Bicce. But
Mordant was... well, a pet, basically. Although he seemed like a curious combination of reptilian and
avian features, nevertheless he was fundamentally identifiable as a sort of dragon offshoot. An animal,
pure and simple. So for him to begin chatting with us left us both flabbergasted. Sharee and I exchanged
looks, trying to figure out if we were delusional.

"Did... you just speak?" I asked.

Mordant looked at me with vague contempt. "What do you think?"

"That I'm dreaming?Owwwww!" I suddenly shouted, looking daggers at Sharee as I grabbed my
upper arm. "You pinched me! What did you do that for?"

"To prove to you you're not dreaming," she said with an expression she no doubt thought was
mischievous, but I simply found irritating.

"I was willing to figure that out for myself."