"Phyllis Eisenstein - Elementals 01 - Sorcerer'S Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eisenstein Phyllis)

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

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 viable 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 yon, lord?тАЭ

тАЬNo, my Gildrum. Not yet.тАЭ

тАЬAnd not now.тАЭ His form wavered, shrank, altered to that of the fourteen-year-old girl, naked in the light
of the brazier. тАЬWill you give me the seed for the child, my lord? Or must I find some beggar on the