"02 - Faery Lands Forlorn 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

years old and she's been one of the Four for ... how long? "
"Dunno." Thinal had turned surly, hunched very small. "You wanna talk that sort
of thing, then I'll call Sagorn."
"No! "
They sat for a while, staring at the ever-rolling waves.
Little Chicken must have been following at least some of the story, for he
muttered sleepily, "Why Bright Water call me, not you?"
"I don't know," Rap said. "It's certainly you she's watching over. She keeps
warning me not to hurt you."
Little Chicken chuckled softly, raising goosebumps on Rap's skin, despite the
sticky heat.
But Rap could not deny that being magicked to Zark was preferable to being
chopped up by a platoon of angry imps. When there was enough light for the
others to see, then they all must go in search of something to eat. He was
impatient to be on his way, angry with himself for feeling so concerned about
food and sleep when he had more important worries. His failure to aid Inos was
maddening-he would never forgive himself. She had cried out to him, and he had
stupidly fallen over, flat on his back like a moron, helpless in the sorceress's
entrancement. It was easy enough for Thinal to say that no man could have
resisted such a spell, but that was small comfort to Rap. He had failed Inos,
his lawful queen, his friend, his . . . his queen.
"Tell me about Zark, Thinal. Have any of you ever been here?"
The thief brooded in silence for a while and then muttered, "I hope this is
Zark."
Rap grunted.
"Rap, I was wrong. Don't be mad at me, Rap?"
"You said palm trees meant djinns, and djinns meant Zark!"
"Yes, out not those palms. "
Rap glanced up, with eyes and with farsight, to where the frondy trees were
clearly visible now, dancing in a pewter sky. A wide belt of them flanked the
edge of the sand as far as he could scan in both directions. The jungle growth
behind them was different: matted, denser. "What about them?"
"There are two sorts of palm trees. These are coconut. "
"The djinn type grows dates. They're very alike, Rap, and it was dark! I
couldn't help it!"
Just when you think things are bad, they always get worse. "Then where are we?"
"Hear the birdsong? The dawn chorus?"
Rap could hardly avoid hearing it, even over the rush of the surf. It was
glorious, still increasing as new entrants added layer after layer of song to
the symphony. One of the innkeepers in Krasnegar had owned a canary and there
had been larks in the hills. Ravens croaked, geese honked, and seagulls cried,
but this was birdsong on a scale he had never dreamed of. Inos would love it.
"You've heard it before?"
"Sagorn did," Thinal said. "Once. Long ago. I mean, there's lots of places where
birds sing . . . "
"But not like this? Where?"
"Faerie. It has to be Faerie. Sounds right. Even smells right." Faerie was an
island, Rap knew, and there was something mysterious about it. "Ardor's been
there."
"Andor!" Thinal spat. "No, he hasn't. It was Sagorn, when he was much younger. A