"02 - The Wyvern's Spur - Jeff Grubb & Kate Novak [4.0]" - читать интересную книгу автора (Finder's Stone)

way the firelight caught Steele's blue eyes and made them glint red. As he had
in Mist's presence, Giogi winced when Steele spoke.
"So the exiled family jester has returned. Everyone in Suzail was talking about
your remarkable impersonation at the wedding last season. And, of course, about
the "duel" that followed. I trust you have fresh entertainment lined up for us
this year. Maybe you can debut at Gaylyn's baby's blessing ceremony."
Giogi winced again. It didn't look as though the family was going to forget the
wedding incident any time soon. Wondering if Gaylyn could ever forgive him,
Giogi shot her a guilty glance. The bride had the most right to be angry.
Gaylyn laughed, though. "I thought I would just die when that tent collapsed on
all of us," she said. "Remember what fun we had crawling out from under it? It
was such a relief to have an excuse to leave that stuffy old canvas and just
revel in the garden."
Steele squinted with annoyance at Gaylyn, and Aunt Dorath raised an eyebrow at
the woman's frivolous attitude, but Lord Frefford smiled at his wife's high
spirits.
A stranger might have guessed Frefford and Steele were brothers and not just
second cousins, because Frefford, too, sported most of the Wyvernspur features.
Frefford's face was always softened by a friendly smile, though, and his eyes
were more hazel than blue. He whispered something in his wife's ear, and she
giggled.
Giogi smiled at the couple with gratitude.
Aunt Dorath sniffed. "Now that we're all here, it's time to get down to
business," she announced imperiously. "Drone, leave that infernal cat and join
your family."
It was hard to believe, watching Uncle Drone shuffle across the room, that Aunt
Dorath's wizard cousin was eight years her junior. If time had avoided Dorath,
it made up its loss by visiting Drone twice over. His black hair and beard,
besides being shaggy and unkempt, was splotched with gray and white, much more
so than Aunt Dorath's hair. His blue eyes were rheumy, and his Wyvernspur
features were lost in the cracks and wrinkles that lined his face. Magic had
taken its toll on him.
Years of puttering in his lab, brewing magic potions, had also left Drone a
little careless of his appearance. Forgetting he did not wear a lab apron, he
wiped his hand on his chest, leaving a venison blood stain across his yellow
silk robe. He offered his hand to Giogi, saying, "Welcome back, boy. Heard
you've been jousting with red dragons."
Giogi held out his own hand nervously, afraid he was about to be censured again.
A cloud of Tymora's blackest luck seemed to hang over him this evening. It
hadn't been his fault that he'd been kidnapped by the red dragon Mist. Giogi
then saw that his uncle's eyes twinkled with amusement. The young man relaxed
and jokingly replied, "Uh, actually, it's a little difficult jousting with them,
don't you know, because they tend to eat your horse first."
Dorath, Steele, and Julia glared frostily at Giogi for treating the incident so
lightly, but Drone wheezed out a cackle and plopped down beside Dorath.
Giogi used his handkerchief to wipe the blood from the hand Uncle Drone had
shaken.
"Did you really joust with a dragon?" Gaylyn asked, her eyes shining with
excitement.
"Well, actually IЧ"