"Kerr,.Katharine.&.Martin.H.Greenberg.-.Enchanted.Forests.V2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

ful out the corner of your eye? When you look full-on, it's gone,
but you know it was there? Well, many of those living on the
edge of the Enchanted Forest can walk around that corner and

end up in the Real World. I'm one of them.

It look a year of studying combined with part-time jobs, too
many roommates, and too few visits back home, but I finally got
my Investigator's License and certificate of graduation. Okay, the
license was only good in the Real World, but the King wouldn't
know that. She wasn't allowed to leave the Enchanted Forest,
and as a result was a bit naive about these things.

When I finally returned to the Enchanted Forest, I didn't have
a home. The cottage I'd grown up in, and planned to continue
living in, was gone. It and quite a bit of the Enchanted Forest it-
self.

The fire was all anyone could talk about. The King of the En-
chanted Forest had set all her wizards on the case, but no one
had been able to figure out the cause. It was magical, but it
wasn't a spell. They were baffled.
Eager to show off my newly-learned skills, I went to the King
and offered my services. Once she finished laughing at my busi-
ness card, "Kit Marlowe, Private Investigator," she accepted. Af-
ter all, if no one else could solve it, what did she have to lose?
Five gold a day plus expenses, 1 told her. She gasped, but the
Treasury was good for it.

So I had my first case. Solve this one, and my career was
made. Fail, and I'd at least have the money to find a new home.
I'd attended a lecture on arson investigations, so I knew where
to start: First establish that an act of arson was committed.

I talked to the nearby Villagers, and got my youngest sister's
daughter, the Princess, to talk to the animals. No one saw the fire
start, but they all had the same answer for where it startedЧ
between my old cottage, and the edge of the Enchanted Forest.
A place with no trees, just grass. There were a few stumps, but
that was it- It definitely looked like arson.
Next step: Search for an incendiary device or inflammables.
I searched the area, and there was one stump more burned
than the others. Only a hole in the ground, really; it had com-
pletely disintegrated. The damage appeared to have radiated out-
ward from this spot.

I took the ashes of what remained of that one stump around
The Corner to my favorite instructor at the School, who had con-
nections to the County Forensics Lab. They owed him a favor,
and were happy to have him collect on something this easy.