"S. L. Farrell - The Cloudmages 1 - Holder of Lightning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farrell S L)

(Map: Ballintubber)




Chapter 1: A Fire in the Sky



THE stone was a gift of the glowing sky. Jenna
wasn't certain exactly when the first shifting curtain
of green and gold shimmered into existence among
the stars, for her attention wasn't on the vista above
her. She shouldn't have been out this late in the first
place-she should have been bringing the sheep into
their pen even as the last light of the sun touched
the hills. But Old Stubborn, their ancient and
cantankerous ram, had insisted on getting himself
stuck on a rocky ledge on Knobtop's high pasture,
and Jenna had spent far too long pushing and
prodding him down while trying to avoid being
butted by his curled horns. As she shoved the ram's
wooly bottom back down toward the winter scrub
grass where the rest of the flock was grazing, her
dog Kesh barking and growling to keep Old
Stubborn moving, Jenna noticed that the silver light
of the stars and crescent moon had shifted, that the
landscape around her had been brushed by gold.
She looked up, and saw the sky alight with cold
fire.

Jenna gaped, her mouth half open and her breath
steaming, staring in wonder at the glowing dance:
great sheets and folds of light swaying gracefully
above like her mother's dress when she danced with
Halden at the Corn Feast last month. The lights
throbbed in a strange silence, filling the sky high
above her and seeming to wrap around Knobtop.
Jenna thought there should have been sound:
wailing pipes, or a crackling bon-fire roar. There
was power there; she could feel it, filling the air
around her as if a thunderstorm were about to
break.

And it did break. The light above flared suddenly,
a gold-shattered flash that dazzled her eyes,
snatching away her breath and sending her
stagger-ing backward with her hands before her
face. Her heel caught a rock. She went down hard,
the air going out of her in a rush and a cry, her arms