"Lyndon Hardy - Riddle of the Seven Realms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hardy Lyndon)

dens and prove your worth by becoming a wanner of eggs?"


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Despite the iron-tight bands of his will, Astron felt his stembrain stir. Eggwarmer indeed. Only
the deformed and slow of wit were charged with such a task. His value to the prince was far
greater, as he had demonstrated dozens of times before. Who else had deduced the meaning of the
cakes of congealed fats that mortals called soap, the purpose of the forged metal they thrust into
the mouths of horses, or, the most perplexing of all, why their warriors grasped right hands in
greeting?

He opened his mouth to speak, feeling the words rush upward sharp and cutting, but at the last
moment he slammed his teeth together, biting off the sound. Deliberately he pushed the hot
thoughts away and concentrated instead on visualizing the safe and comfortable contours of his own
lair. Let the prince say what he would, Astron would not be provoked like some minor devil.

For a long moment nothing more happened. Then Astron saw Elezar's shadow retreat and heard the
swish of silk as the prince sat back down on his cushion. Cautiously Astron raised his head upward
and judged that finally he must speak.

10

"I have been of use to my prince in the past," he said. "Perhaps there is some additional service
that is to be performed as a result of this summons."

Elezar took another moment before answering. "Any of your brothers would have replied with bolts
of power, even though it would have surely meant their death," he said. "How could even one such
as you retain clear thoughts after what has been spoken?"

"I am not like my brothers," Astron said quietly. "I am different in more ways than those that you
have chosen to notice."

Elezar grunted. "And it is those very differences upon which I am now forced to depend," he said.

Before Astron could reply, the prince looked up into the cloud of imps above his head and gestured
rapidly with his left hand. Instantly the swarm began to twinkle rapidly with a kaleidoscope of
color, each sprite brightly glowing in a vivid hue. Their lazy hovering changed into a complex
tangle of loops and dives. Astron saw a pattern suddenly emerge from the random motion. Arcs of
fiery red imps, like droplets of molten lava, soared upward in a central column and then cascaded
over onto waves of emerald-green that seemed to dance in empty air. Blues and yellows threaded
through the rest, knitting complex tapestries that pulsated and changed in subtle ways that one
could not quite follow.

Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the synchronized display winked out. The cloud of imps returned
to their aimless hovering above the prince's head. The membranes retracted and Elezar's eyes
refocused. His brow wrinkled with a scowl.