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

forgers were unusually long, his palm soft. Rap's own attitude toward occult
power had just changed. Up until now even his farsight and his mastery over
animals had been more than he wanted, but with Inos in the clutches of a
sorceress, new rules applied. The more magic the better now! Anyone who knew a
single word of power was a genius at whatever his talent was. Knowing two words
made a man an adept, a genius at anything. So Andor and Sagorn had said, but did
he really trust either of them?
He was too fogged by weariness to decide now. He must not open any doors yet. An
admitted thief like Thinal would just take Rap's word and then not tell his
own-the temptation would be irresistible. And even if he didn't cheat, one day
he or one of the others would certainly call Darad. Then the warrior would come
after Rap and knot his neck, as he had killed the woman in Fal Dornin. Thus he
could gain the rest of the power from both words, becoming a more powerful
adept. Sharing with Thinal would be suicide.
Rap's eyelids closed. Angrily he jumped to his feet and rubbed them open again.
"It's light enough!" he said. "Let's go!" The little imp shot him a scowl. "Go
where?"
"Breakfast. We'll starve here. North or south?"
Thinal didn't know. Little Chicken wanted to go north, because it was
homeward-his grasp of geography was even worse than Rap's-but north was as
likely as south to bring them to some sort of habitation. They ripped themselves
loincloths from King Holindarn's robe, and set off along the beach.
Thinal kept edging seaward. "You're casing the jungle, I hope?" he asked Rap
anxiously.
"There's nothing there but birds and lizards and things. What did you expect?
People?"
"Headhunters!" For a moment he showed the whites of his eyes. "And monsters:
griffins and harpies and hippogriffs!"
"They're not home at the moment." The coming of daylight had revealed a wide,
shallow bay, with beaches curving smoothly away north and south to headlands so
distant that even the tall palm trees at their tips were barely visible. There
were no signs of life, either human or monstrous. Nothing moved on land or sea,
at the moment. Why would Bright Water have moved her precious Little Chicken to
a refuge so isolated?
"Faerie's an island?"
Thinal hesitated. "Andor probably told you more than I can remember, Rap. He's
the tourist. Fin the lifter."
"He said something about a town. Only one, I think. Milsomething?"
"Milfior!" Thinal grinned at this triumph. "We can get on a ship there?"
Thinal frowned warily. "I dunno. Certainly you can get on a ship. The trouble
would be getting off. Where're you thinking of going?"
"lark, of course."
Thinal trudged over the sand in silence for a moment. Then he burst out, "It'll
take months, Rap! Probably years. You got any idea how big Pandemia is? And that
djmn sorceress may magic Inos right back to Krasnegar by lunchtime."
Rap's heart sank. "What else can I do? I must try to help her!"
"Go to Hub, maybe? Hub knows everything, and it's in the middle. You can find
out there where Inos is and from Hub you can go anywhere. You can call on the
imperor, or the witch of the north, if she's a friend of yours." He sniggered.
"Or ask the imperial marshal why his legions marched on Krasnegar?"