"01 - A Difficulty With Dwarves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

22
I nodded. She was being much more reasonable now. I knew I should have spoken up sooner.

'So you're going to Vushta?' she asked more quietly.

I nodded. Perhaps she would understand after all.

'To the Vushta Art Theater?'

I nodded again. Somehow, Norei's voice seemed to be growing colder.

'To talk with whom, Wuntvor?'

'Why Hubert, of course, and, uh . . .'

'See?' she cried triumphantly. 'It's always dearest Norei this and sweetest Norei that, but the minute my back is turned, off to see another woman!' She shook both her fists at the heavens. 'Off to Alea!'

'Um, er . . .'I responded. I had already explained to her a dozen times that Alea meant nothing to me.

'My grandmother was right all along!' she repeated, 'I might as well go back to the Western Woods.'

'But Norei,' I managed at last, 'my master - the meeting

╗

'And you absolutely have to go see Alea personally and tell her about it? I understand! It is your duty as an apprentice! Men!'

'Norei?' I repeated. What else could I say?

'I will meet with the rest of you in an hour beneath the willow,' she replied coolly. 'As to what I will do after that, well, we will see.'

She turned and walked quickly away.

I wanted to call to her again, but the words died in my throat. How could my beloved think such a thing of me? Would she really leave us and go back to her home in the Western Woods? I shook my head and headed back into Vushta. I didn't see how things could get any worse.

But, of course, that was before I turned the corner.

THREE

ON DEALING WITH WIZARDS (a fable)

Once a wizard was on holiday, far from his native land. He had journeyed to a distant kingdom to see the wondrous sights, as well as witness local custom. And, on this particular day, he was on his way to see the most wondrous sight of all in this part of the world, the Grand Palace high atop Emperor's Crag. He walked down a broad highway, curiously devoid of traffic, with tall woods to either side, and as he turned a bend in the road, caught his first distant glimpse of the palace's golden towers.

'Go no farther!'a gruff voice cried.

The wizard, in a strange land full of strange customs, halted immediately. A tall man dressed in crimson walked briskly towards him from the woods.

'This is an official road, you know,' the crimson-clothed man remarked as he approached. 'A nd as you are walking upon it, you are subject to a toll. A piece of gold, please.'

'A piece of gold?' the wizard repeated. It seemed to him a very hefty toll to pay when one was merely strolling toward a wondrous sight.