"Simon Hawke - Wizard 5 - The Samurai Wizard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawke Simon)

a remora. Though it was twenty-third-century Japan and most
modern Japanese had been thoroughly westernized for generations,
there were certain things that never changed. His arrogance in
petitioning the mage, his audacity in even thinking that his petition
might be granted, and his being hoisted on his own petard would
become a story told among all students of thaumaturgy for years to
come and he would never be able to look any of them in the face.
Nor would any other wizard accept him as an apprentice after he
had made such a complete fool of himself. His entire education, his
whole life, would be wasted. He would shame his family. He really
cared very little about that, because of his arrogance and
selfishness, but he couldnтАЩt face the prospect of seeing the smug
expressions on the faces of the other warlocks, hearing their
whispered remarks behind his back, or seeing their malicious,
knowing grins. Or, worse still, their looks of pity. There was simply
no way out.
He gazed at the knife before him, and suddenly everything took
on a shocking clarity. The glint of the sun off the razor-sharp steel
blade; the faint whisper of the wind; the singing of the birds; his
very own heartbeatтАж Everything became sharp-edged and
amplified. His senses had never felt so acute. Death was looking
him right in the face and Kanno calmly met its gaze with a
profound sense of resignation. He had gambled all and he had lost.
He seemed to be drifting somewhere outside himself as he
watched his hand, as if it were somehow not a part of him, reach
down toward the knife. He felt his fingers close around the hilt, as
if they were doing so of their own accord. He picked up the knife.
The sun had never seemed so bright. The sky had never seemed
so blue. He opened up his shirt. He was profoundly sorry that he
had to die, but somewhere deep within, in a part of him that he had
never known existed, he had accepted it. He held the tanto by the
hilt with both hands, the blade pointing toward him. He took a deep
breath and let it out slowly. Quickly, he thought, do it quickly.
Resolve is everything. With all the force that he could muster, he
stabbedтАж
And the blade stopped, of its own accord.
His arms trembled with the shock. It was as if he had
encountered some sort of invisible wall, an impenetrable barrierтАж
but no, the blade had pierced his skin, only just barely. He looked
down, awestruck, at the tiny trickle of blood welling up out of the
small cut where the point of the knife had just barely broken his
skin and suddenly realization dawned.
Yohaku.
The master had been testing him. He had never intended for him
to die. He had only meant to measure the sincerity of his intent.
And in that moment Kanno had felt weak and dizzy, on the verge
of passing out, yet at the same time he had an almost
uncontrollable urge to break out in laughter. He stifled it, because
the significance of what had happened suddenly broke upon him
like a tsunami. Like a tidal wave, it overwhelmed him, because he