"Elgin,.Suzette.Haden.-.Ozark.-.01.-.Twelve.Fair.Kingdoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

right through but enjoyed just the same. And I went to church.

I was in church the morning that Terrence Merryweather
McDaniels the 6th, firstborn son of Vine of Motley and
Halliday Joseph McDaniels the 14th, was kidnapped, right in
broad daylight . . . when the man came through me cnur-
chdoor on a scruffy rented Mule, right in the middle of a
Solemn ServiceЧright in the middle, mind you, of aprayer!Ч
and rode that Mule straight down the aisle. He snatched
Terrence Menyweather in his sleeping basket from between his
parents, and be flew right up over the Reverend's head and out
through the only stained glass window he could count on to
irisЧMule, basket, blankets, baby, and all, before any of us
could do more than gape. February the 21st, that was; I was
there, and it was that humiliating, I'm not likely to forget it.
The McDaniels were guests of Castle Brightwalei; and under
our protection, and for sure should of been safe in our church.
And now here was their baby kidnapped!

Although it is possible that kidnapping may not be precisely
the word in this particular instance. You have a kidnapping,

Twelve Fair Kingdoms 3

generally there's somebody missing, and a ransom note, and
whatoot. In this case, the Reverend shouted an AAAAmen!
and we all rushed out the churchdoor; and there, hanging from
the highest of the three cedar trees in the churchyard in a life-
support bubble, was Terrence Menyweather McDaniels the
6th, sucking on his toe to show how undisturbed he was by it
all. And the Rent-a-Mule chewing on the crossclover against
me church wall, under the overhang. There was no sign of its
rider, who could make a claim to speed if to nothing else.

We could see the baby just fine, though we couldn't hear
him. And we knew he was safe in the bubble, and all his needs
attended to indefinitely. But he might as well of been in the
Wilderness Lands ofTinaseeh for all the good that did usЧwe
didn't dare touch him.

Oh, we had Magicians there skilled enough to put an end to
that bubble and float the baby down to his daddy's arms
without ruffling one bright red hair on his little head. If we
hadn't had them, we could of gotten them in a hurry. It wasn't
mat; it was a matter of diagnosis.

We had no way, you see, of knowing just what kind of magic
was on the forcefield holding mat bubble up in the tree and
keeping it active. Might of been no problem at all, just a bit of
Granny Magic. Ought to of been, if the man doing it couldn't