"P. N. Elrod - Jonathan Barrett 02 - Death and the Maiden" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

"That has not yet been decided."
"Who is it that thinks so?"
His lips closed, and he busied himself at brushing lint from my shoulders.
"I hope you have discouraged such idle gossip," I said, adjusting my neckclo
th. It had become rather tight in the last few moments.
"I have. There will be no problems from it. I only mentioned this because y
ou were seen."
"Doing what?"
"Something .. . extraordinary. The person I spoke to said he saw you ... flyin
g."
"Oh."
"Of course, no one really believed him, but his story was disturbing to the m
ore gullible."
"You hardly surprise me." One or two of our slaves, not as well educated as J
ericho, would certainly be prey to all sorts of midnight imaginings, especial
ly if they'd been listening to fanciful tales before bedtime.
"Can you fly, Mr. Jonathan?" Jericho's face was utterly expressionless.
I gulped, my belly suddenly churning. "What of it, if I could?"
There was a considerable pause before he replied. "Then I would suggest tha
t you be more discreet about it."
My belly stopped churning and went stone still. "You . . . you've seen me?"
"Yes."
Oh, dear.
He stopped brushing at lint and turned his attention to the shelves in my al
ready orderly wardrobe.
"You seem to have taken it rather calmly."
"I assure you, I was most troubled when I saw you floating over the treetops
yesterday evening . . ."
"But... ?"
"But you looked very happy," he admitted. "I concluded that anything capab
le of giving you such wholesome joy must not be a bad thing. Besides, my b
omba has told me tales of his childhood that talk of men turning themselve
s into animals. If a man can learn the magic to become an animal, then why
 can a man not learn the magic to fly?"
"This is not magic, Jericho."
"Are you so sure? Then what is it that turns a tiny seed into a tree? Is that n
ot a kind of magic?"
"Now you're speaking of science or philosophy."
He shook his head. "I speak only of what's been said. If I choose to ascribe a
ll that has happened to you to magic, then it is magic."
"Or superstition."
"That comes in only when one is afraid or ignorant. I am neither, but I have
adopted an explanation that is tolerable to me."
"Maybe I should adopt it for myself, as well. Nothing else I've considered h
as come close to explaining things so handily. Especially things like this."
I touched my miraculously healed arm.
"And this?" he asked, his hand hovering over a small mirror that lay facedo
wn on one of the shelves.
"Yes, that, too. You can get rid of it, y'know." Since my change, I'd found t
hat particular vanity item to be singularly useless, not to mention unsettlin