"Debra Doyle & James D. MacDonald - School of Wizardry" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

Instead, Randal turned into the woods to the left of the
road. He moved silently, as if he were hunting rabbits with his
cousin Walter in the hills around Castle Doun, and found the
camp soon enough: nothing more than a small fire in a little
clearing, tended by a man in the saffron tunic and plain gray
kilt of a northern tribesman.

Madoc, thought Randal with satisfaction. He started to
step forward and call out the wizard's name, but then he
hesitated. Right now, if he wanted, he could still return to his
uncle's castle and the only life he had ever known. Lord Alyen
would punish him, of course, and not lightly, but whatever tale
Randal spun of time spent lost and wandering would never be
questioned, and his offense would soon be forgotten.

But if he went on forward, and Madoc didn't turn him
awayтАФthen for good or ill, his life would be changed forever.
For a moment longer he stood undecided, and then he made his
choice.

"Hello the camp!" he called, and stepped from concealment
amid the undergrowth.
 Madoc turned, seeming unsurprised at the sudden shout.
Randal walked forward toward the camp-fire until he stood
about twenty feet away from the wizard. Then he stopped,
aware of a great and unexplainable reluctance to go any
farther.

Madoc made a hospitable gesture with one hand. "Won't you
join me for dinner?"

Randal felt a sudden lightness in both body and spirit as
the invisible barrier fell away. He took a few steps forward
into the ring of firelight. As he did so, he noticed he had
crossed a dark line cut into the turf. Madoc repeated his
earlier gesture, and the line shone for a second with a faint
blue-white glow; Randal saw that it made a circle all around the
little clearing. Then the light faded.

Magic, Randal thought, once again feeling the tingle of
excitement he had felt in the great hall at Doun. It's an
invisible wall of magic . . . like the one in my dream last night.

The northerner was the first to speak. "What brings you out
this far from your uncle's castle?"

"I want to be a wizard," said Randal.

Madoc shook his head. "I tell you, ladтАФI'm not the one who
can teach you."