"Kate Forsyth - Eileanan 01 - The Witches Of Eileanan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forsyth Kate)

"The Mesmerdean are creatures o' mists and mud. They come from the Murkmyre, and are
perhaps the most dangerous o' all the fairy, for they do not think or feel as we do. What one sees,
all see, and what one hears, all hear, and ye canna lie to them for they do no' listen to your words
but only to the intent behind. They never forget, never, and are utterly ruthless. I have never heard o'
a Mesmerd out o' Arran beforeтАФI wonder if the NicF├│ghnan is meddling in our affairs again? That
clan has always been an enemy o' the MacCuinns ..."

"They sound most blaygird, though no one I spoke to had actually seen one, only . . . found the
bodies they left behind."

"I wonder . . ." Meghan looked as though she was about to say more, but then her eye fell upon
Isabeau, noting her shining eyes and eager face, and she stopped herself, picking up her knitting
instead.

"What kind o' witch are ye?" Isabeau asked Seychella, gazing intently at the woman whose untidy
hair snaked around the seat of her chair and fell to the floor.

"What makes ye think I am a witch?" Seychella asked in a voice of deadly calm. Isabeau said
nothing. After a moment Seychella laughed. "I appear out o' nowhere, I speak o' power and Talent;
I ken Tabithas. Silly question." After another pause, she said quietly, "I am a wind witch, Isabeau."

"Can ye teach me to fly?" Isabeau asked eagerly. That had always been her secret desire. Once
she had broken her ankle, trying to take flight from the bough of a tree after reading of the antics of
Ishbel the Winged, a witch who flew as effortlessly as any bird. Meghan set her ankle and bound it
with herbs and mud, and fed her bone-strengthening teas, scolding and mocking all the while.
Isabeau had only tossed her red head and ignored her, sure she would one day crack the secrets of
flight, as Ishbel the Winged had done.

The two witches looked at each other, and Seychella curled her lip. "The bairn canna even walk
yet and she wants to fly! Only the most powerful learn to fly, my dear, I doubt ye have the
capacity."

Isabeau flushed again, and blurted out. "Well, do ye? Can ye fly?" With her red hair falling out of
its braids into twists and tangles around her face and her red cheeks, Isabeau looked as though
sparks would literally burst from her head.

Meghan had to laugh, murmuring, "Ye see why I think she will take to fire!"

The other witch looked quite taken aback, then angry at Isabeau's question. Then she gave a
harsh laugh. "No, lassie, I canna. At least, no' the way ye mean it. I can jump a twelve-foot fence
and I'll never fall out o' a tree, but I canna fly."

"I've read about a witch who could fly from one end o' the country to another in a week, and who
could do somersaults and backflips in the air."

"Ishbel! Well, a Talent like Ishbel's does no' come along too often." Seychella sighed, "I fear we'll
no' see a Talent like it again in our lifetime. Damn and blast the Banr├мgh! So many witches killed, so
much ability lost."