"Lyndon Hardy - The Master of Five Magics" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hardy Lyndon)

Standing scarcely taller than the basket's occupant, he stepped back from the box, holding the
scrap of wood at waist level, glanced again at the position of the sun, and began the incantation.

He spoke with skill; the words came quickly but with the sharpness necessary for success. His tone
was even and the rhythm smooth. The two words of power sounded with a lack of distinction. They
fitted unnoticed into the stream of improvised nonsense which surrounded them. In a moment he was
done.

Alodar nodded a warning to the man-at-arms facing him and slowly began to raise the splinter
upward. Simultaneously the basket lurched and cleared the stonework of the platform. The splinter
rose with almost imperceptible slowness but the gondola with its passenger climbed at a rapid
rate.

The big man returned to Alodar's side. "Can you not


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go faster? They will spy him before he lines with the sun."

"No, sergeant," Alodar said, not turning to nod in reply but keeping his attention on the sliver
he held in his hand. "This splinter is about one part in a thousand of the basket as a whole. For
each palm I raise it, your man climbs another forty rods. Were I to move faster, we might use too
much of the wheel's spin just in fighting the wind we would make with our haste. I do not yet wear
the cape of a master, but I understand enough of thaumaturgy to do what is proper for this task."

The sergeant grunted and Alodar continued to raise the splinter upward. Several minutes passed and
the basket rose to become but a speck in the sky.

"High enough," one of the men shouted while sighting through his sextant. Alodar glanced at the
wheel. The crank now turned lazy circles about the axle with no hint of the blurring speed it had
possessed moments ago. The sergeant followed his gaze and looked back at Alodar.

"If there is but little wind," Alodar explained, "there is enough spin left to keep the gondola
properly positioned for some time. It takes far less energy to resist a sideward thrust than to
fight the earth for height."

While he spoke, Alodar began to step in the direction of the hills. The platform far above moved
in proportion. The two observers darted their instruments about, sighting first the sun, then the
basket, and finally the crags themselves. Alodar made but two slow steps and part of another
before one of the observers called him to stop.

"A little more forward now. Hold it an instant. Now to the left a palm. Freeze it in place," he
directed as Alodar shifted the splinter back and forth.