"Suzette Haden Elgin - Ozark 1 - Twelve Fair Kingdoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Elgin, Suzette Haden. Twelve fair kingdoms.
(Her Ozark fantasy trilogy; book 1)
I. Title. II. Series.
PS3555-L42T8 813'.54
ISBN: 0-385-15876-9
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 80-2837
First Edition
Copyright ┬й 1981 by Suzette Haden Elgin
All Rights Reserved
Printed in the United States of America




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Twelve Fair Kingdoms - [Ozark 01] - Suzette Haden Elgin




CHAPTER ONE

^┬╗
I should have known that something was very wrong when the
Mules started flying erratically. I was misled a bit, I suppose,
because there were no actual crashes, just upset stomachs. The
ordinary person on the street blamed it on turbulence; and
considering what they understood of the way the system worked,
that was as reasonable a conclusion as any other. However, I had
full access to classified material, and I knew perfectly well that it
was magic, not aerodynamics, that kept the Mules flying. And
magic at the level of skill necessary to fly a bulky creature like a
Mule was not likely to suffer any because of a little disturbance in
the air. You take a look at a Mule sometime; it surely isnтАЩt built for
flight.
Even someone whoтАЩs gone no farther in magic than Common Sense
Level knows that the harmony of the universe is a mighty frail and
delicately balanced equilibrium, and that you canтАЩt go tampering
with any part of it without affecting everything else. A child knows
that. So that when whatever-it-was started, with its first symptoms
being Mules that made their riders throw up, I should of known that
something sturdy was tugging hard at the Universal Web.
I was busy, letтАЩs grant me that. I was occupied with the upcoming
Grand Jubilee of the Confederation of Continents. Any meeting that

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