"Phyllis Eisenstein - Elementals 02 - The Crystal Palace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eisenstein Phyllis)

тАЬShe must serve a sorcerer,тАЭ Cray said one time. тАЬOnly a sorcererтАЩs walls could hide her from you so
completely.тАЭ

Sepwin shook his head. тАЬMy bond with you is too strong for that. I would know at least where those
walls lay. But I have been thinking ... тАЭ He hesi-tated. тАЬPerhaps ... she is a demon.тАЭ

Cray looked at him sharply.

тАЬDemons are beyond me,тАЭ Sepwin said. тАЬA Seer can only deal with things of the human realm.тАЭ

тАЬBut ... a child, a growing child?тАЭ

Sepwin shrugged. тАЬWho can say what whim a sor-cerer might have, to give his demon a slightly older
human form each year, as if it were growing up before his eyes. IтАЩve heard of stranger things.тАЭ

тАЬWell, if she is a demon, and with such an unusual form, then Gildrum might know of her.тАЭ

But he did not, and when he asked among his fellow demons, he found none who had ever heard of
such a creature.

When the girl was in her late teens, the stuffed animal finally vanished, and with it, at least in CrayтАЩs eyes,
went the last vestiges of her childhood. Now she was tall and slim, with an almost regal carriage. Her
eyes were large and dark, her skin as pale as milk, her hair a shining cascade all about her shoulders.
From a pretty child, she had metamorphosed into a beautiful young woman. Her clothing, too, had
transformed with her, into the finest velvet. No one would mistake her for a servant these days; she
would have to be the daughter of the house, perhaps of a very great house.

And now, upon her breast, dangling from a thin gold chain and rimmed by a silvery band, was a fac-eted
pendant of purest white sapphire.
тАЬIтАЩve never seen a gem so large,тАЭ Cray said to Sepwin. тАЬIt makes a handsome piece of jewelry. And
possibly ... more than that.тАЭ

тАЬMore?тАЭ

тАЬA hoop of precious metal set with a gem is a ring, Feldar, even if it isnтАЩt worn on the hand.тАЭ He turned
an exultant smile on his friend. тАЬA ring might com-mand a demon, and if it does, then Gildrum can find it.
And its wearer.тАЭ

With the skilled eye of one who had cast hundreds of rings and set nearly as many stones upon them, he
scrutinized the pendant. He estimated its weight, drew its shape, enumerated its facets, pinpointed its
color. And by the time he was finished, Gildrum, who had been his mentor in ring-making, knew the
stone and its setting as well as he did.

тАЬWhether it does command a demon or not, I canтАЩt say,тАЭ Gildrum told him. тАЬBut this gem was cut and
polished and set in metal, and some demon will know what happened to it, even if it is only a piece of
jewelry. Even if it lies inside a sorcererтАЩs home, some demon will know that it was delivered there.тАЭ And
he turned to flame and soared into the sky for his search.

Gildrum was gone for days. Cray could have returned home for that time, returned to the studies that