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

"News," said Madoc. "And wonders for my supper."
 Randal saw Sir Palamon begin to smile. "A magician, eh?"

"A wizard," corrected Madoc.

Randal stared. For all that the northerner went unarmed
and on foot, he'd spoken back to Sir Palamon as if he were an
equal. Even Walter, who was the lord's son and almost a knight,
couldn't get away with talking to the master-at-arms like that.

Sir Palamon only nodded, though. "Then you're doubly
welcome, Master Madoc."

The two men walked together past the stables and the
smithy to the castle tower, leaving Randal staring. So that's a
real wizard, he thought. He'd never seen a wizard
beforeтАФunless he counted the heal-wife down in the
villageтАФand Madoc's arrival filled him with a strange kind of
prickly excitement, like life returning to an arm or leg that had
gone to sleep.

That night, in the smoky great hall of Castle Doun, it was
Randal's turn to wait on the high table, where Lord Alyen had
given the wizard an honored place beside Sir Iohan, the oldest
of the castle knights. All through dinner everyone talked about
politics and looked grim. Randal supposed there might have
been a time when the state of the kingdom didn't make people
frown and shake their heads, but he couldn't remember things
being any other way. King Robert's only daughter had vanished
mysteriously from her cradle the year before Randal was born,
the king himself had died the year after, and the dukes and
earls had been quarreling over the crown ever since.

As soon as Randal had cleared away the empty plates, Lord
Alyen turned to the wizard and said, "Our table talk's been
gloomy tonight, Master Madoc. If your spells can lighten the
air somewhat, the rest of us will be grateful."

Randal felt his skin tingle with excitement. This was what
he'd been hoping for ever since Madoc had spoken back to Sir
Palamon and named himself a wizardтАФmagic. True magic.

The wizard stood up and bowed to Lord Alyen and to the
ladies present. Then he came out from behind the high table to
the middle of the hall and spoke a sharp word of command. All
the torches in the hall went out.

For a moment darkness reigned. Then, out of nowhere,
colored lights appeared. Music sounded, softly at first and