"Sorcerer's Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Phyllis Eisenstein)

тАЬShe might notice immediately.тАЭ

Gildrum spread her hands, palms upward. тАЬI have no other suggestions.тАЭ

тАЬWe would have to work quickly. A month is too long. Could I do it in a week?тАЭ

тАЬWorking night and day, my lord, working with perfect efficiency, you might possibly do it in a week. At the end, you would be exhausted.тАЭ

тАЬI have no choice.тАЭ He opened the drawer where he kept his stock of ring-metal. Gold lay within, and silver, copper, ironтАФwooden boxes held chips and chunks of each, surplus from old rings, and a few small ingots. тАЬI have a gold bar, never used. Will that be enough?тАЭ

тАЬYes.тАЭ

He hefted the bar in one hand. тАШThis will be a heavy garment.тАЬ

тАЬYou will grow strong wearing it.тАЭ

He set the metal on his workbench. тАЬWe have only one problem, my Gildrum.тАЭ He

glanced up at her. тАЬHow to bring about this pregnancy.тАЭ

Gildrum smiled. тАЬLeave that to me.тАЭ

RezhykтАЩs gaze traveled the length of the demonтАЩs girl-body. тАЬYou suit me well, but for herтАж for her we must give you another form.тАЭ

тАЬTall,тАЭ said Gildrum. Tall and lean and just past the first flush of youth.тАЬ

Rezhyk worked two days and two nights to model GildrumтАЩs new form in terra-cotta.

Life-sized he made it, strong of arm and broad of shoulder, sinewy and lithe, the essence of young manhood. Other sorcerers, when they gave their servants palpable forms, made monsters, misshapen either by device or through lack of skill, but Rezhyk molded his to look as if they had been born of human women. Complete, the figure seemed almost to breathe in the flickering light of the brazier.

Satisfied with his work, Rezhyk set his seal upon it: an arm ring clasped above the left elbow, a band of plain red gold, twin to the one he wore on his finger, incised with GildrumтАЩs name. Gently, but with a strength that would seem uncanny in so slight a body, were it truly human, Gildrum lifted the new-made figure in her arms and carried it across the workshop to a large kiln whose top and front stood open. She set the clay statue inside, upon a coarse grate.

Rezhyk nodded. тАЬEnter now, my Gildrum.тАЭ

The demon-as-girl smiled once at her lordтАЩs handiwork, and then she burst into flame, her body consumed in an instant, leaving only the flames themselves to dance in a wild torrent of light. Billowing, the fire rose toward the high ceiling, poised above the kiln and, like molten metal pouring into a mold, sank into the terra-cotta figure and disappeared. The clay glowed red and redder, then yellow, then white-hot

Rezhyk turned away from the heat; by the light of the figure itself he entered its existence, the hour, and the date in the notebook marked with GildrumтАЩs name. By the time he looked back, the clay was cooling rapidly. When it reached the color of ruddy human flesh, a dim glow compared to the yellow of the brazier, if began to crumble.

First from the head, and then from every part, fine powder sifted, falling through the grate at its feet to form a mound in the bottom of the kiln. Yet the figure remained, though after some minutes every ounce of terra-cotta had been shedтАФthe figure that was the demon, molded within the clay, remained, translucent now, still glowing faintly from the heat of its birth. The ring that had been set upon the clay now clasped the arm of the demon, its entire circle visible through the ghostly flesh. Then the last vestige of internal radiance faded, the form solidified, and the man that was Gildrum stepped forth from the kiln.

He stretched his new muscles, ran his fingers through his newly dark hair. тАЬAs always, my lord,тАЭ he said in a clear tenor voice, тАЬyou have done well.тАЭ

тАЬI hope she thinks as much.тАЭ He slipped the ring from GildrumтАЩs arm and tossed it into the drawer from which he had taken the gold bar. тАЬThere must be nothing that smells of magic about youтАФabove all, nothing to link you with me.тАЭ

Gildrum nodded. тАЬI shall steal human trappings, I know of a good source.тАЭ

тАЬYou must not fail.тАЭ

тАЬHave I ever failed you, lord?тАЭ