"Watt-Evans,.Lawrence.-.Ethshar.5.-.Taking.Flight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

Oh, I dont live anywhere in particular, she said with a wave of her hand. Just wherever I happen to land. She smiled at him again, an intoxicating smile. He smiled back without knowing why.
What about your family? he asked.
Dont have any, she said. Theyre all long gone.
Oh, Im sorry, he replied.
She turned up an empty palm in a shrug.
They sat silently for a minute, each contemplating the sunlight on the grassy hillside and the road below. The place that Kelder had found so dismal the night before somehow seemed to be sparkling with beauties and possibilities now that Irith had appeared. Kelder wanted to say something to herhe wanted to impress her, to sweep her off her feet, to hurry along the process of courtship and marriage. Zindrщ had told him he would marry this creature, but she had never said how long it would take.
But Kelder found himself tongue-tied, unable to think of a word. Iriths beauty was overwhelming.
Then Irith asked, So, if youre off to seek your fortune, how old are you, anyway? The traditional age is still thirteen, right? You certainly dontlook thirteen.
Im not, he admitted. Im sixteen.
She nodded. I guess you left it a bit late, then?
He nodded. What about you? he asked.
Im fifteen, she said.
He nodded again. That was just right, a year younger than himself.
Not that he would have minded if she werent.
After a moments hesitation, he gathered his nerve and said, I never saw anyone with wings before.
She giggleddefinitely birdsong, he thought.
As far as I know, she said, thereisnt anyone else with wings. Just me.
Oh. That answered that, and disposed of any notion he might have had of finding a land of winged people, but left her background a complete mystery. Kelder tried to think of some clever way to phrase his next question, but couldnt. How did you come to have wings, anyway? he said. Were you born with them?
She giggled again. No, silly, of course not! She pushed playfully at his shoulder.
Startled and pleased by the unexpected familiarity, he asked, Then whered you get them?
She blinked at him, and then leaned over toward him as if she were confiding a secret. Well, she said, I was a wizards apprentice once, a long time ago. And I think I was pretty good at it, too. But my master was an old grouch, really stuffy about all these stupid rules and regulations and his precious guild and all my obligations as a wizard in training, and all that stuff, and I just got really fed up with it all, you know? So one day when hed been especially nasty to me, after I was done crying and while he was out at the market or somewhere, I borrowed his book of spellsor stole it, really, I guess, since hed told me never to touch it, but I gave it back. Anyway, I took it, and looked up a spell hed told me about that would give me wings, and I used it, and it worked! See? She preened slightly, flexing her wings so that they caught the sunlight and shimmered brightly.
Theyre beautiful, Kelder said, in honest admiration. He was tempted to reach out and touch them, but dared not.
He wondered what it would be like, taking a flying girl to bed. Would the wings get in the way?
She smiled as she peered over her shoulder at them. Arent they? And flying is suchfun!
He smiled back at her, sharing her delight, then asked, What happened after that? Did the wizard catch you?
She laughed. No, silly, she said. At least, not then. I just flew away and never came back. And the next time I saw him wasnt foryears, and by then nobody cared any more, and we just forgot about the whole thing.
Kelder nodded. So you never finished your apprenticeship?
No. Why should I? Ive got everything I need! She spread her wings wide, and the breeze they made blew the hair back from Kelders forehead. See? she said.
He stared in amazement. He wondered just what she meant when she said years, though. Shecouldnt mean it literally. After all, she must have started her apprenticeship at age twelvethat tradition was so ancient and sacred that Kelder couldnt imagine it being violatedand it must have taken her atleast a year before she learned enough magic to attempt something like a wing-making spell, and got fed up enough with her master to use it. He had always heard how difficult wizardry was, and he would have thought it would take at least a journeyman wizard to do something like that; the magicians hed seen mostly limited themselves to little stunts like lighting fires or making trees whistle. Nobody could have made journeyman before age eighteen, from what hed heardsixteen at the very least. And yet Irith claimed shed gotten her wings and run away years ago, and she was only fifteen now.
Of course, the wizards Kelder had encountered in a quiet nowhere like Shulara werent the best, but even so, she must have needed a year or two before she could have learned such a spell.
And shed talked about visiting Shulara, and travelling back and forth on the Great Highway hundreds of timesshe must just be prone to exaggerating, he decided.
Well, that was no big deal. Lots of the girls he knew liked to exaggerateand not just girls, either, for that matter. So what if she twisted the chronology a little?
Of course, it did make it harder to know just what had really happened. She must have been a good pupil, he thought, to learn a way to conjure her wings so young. She probably only ran away a few months ago.
Part of the prophecy ran through his headThe magic is strange, of a kind I have never seen, and that neither wizards nor witches know. It will both be yours and not be yours. His wifes magic would be his and yet not hiswere Iriths wings the strange magic that had been referred to?
But according to Iriths story this was a magic that wizards know, wasnt it?
Well, perhaps Zindrщ had gotten that one little detail wrong, or Irith had distorted something.
And the details didnt really matter, anyway, did they? He decided not to be nosy, and asked no further questions. When they were married he would have plenty of time to find out.
So where were you heading? she asked him. You said you came to see the Great Highway, right?
Thats right, he agreed.
Well, youve seen it; are you just going to go back home to your folks now?
Of course not! he said.
Actually, he had been planning to do exactly that, but he was not about to admit that in front of the girl he was destined to marry. He didnt want to look like a coward, or a fool, walking all this way for nothing.
Besides, her very presence proved that Zindrщ the Seer had not lied.
He had traveled far, beyond the hills and into strange lands; he had seen the road stretching before him; he had found the girl he was to marrybut he had not yet seen great cities or vast plains or strange beasts, he had not seen beautiful women in the plural. Iriths magic might qualify as mighty, or it might not, but the prophecy had saidmuch mighty magic. And he had not yet championed anyone lost or forlorn. It was not yet time to return safely home with his bride.
And he wasnt about to let Irith think he was a coward or a fool; if she spurned him, his entire destiny would be jeopardized.
Where are you going, then? Irith asked.
Where areyou going? he countered.
Oh, I havent decidedand besides, I asked first! She smiled brightly. So whereare you going?
That way, he said, choosing a direction more or less at random and pointing east along the highway.
Oh, good! She clapped her hands together in delight. All the way to Shan on the Desert?