"Huff, Tanya - We Two May Meet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

"Sure. I guess."
"With great power comes great . . . ?"
"Booty!"
Her chaise lounge collapsed.
"Hey! It was the first word that came into my head!"
"No surprise!"
"Lady Wizards! Please. Let's try something else. What is the last thing you remember before this happened."
"I went to bed."
"Alone?"
"Yes. I'd just got back from Venitcia and I was tired."
"Venitcia?"
"A city." Two frowned, trying to remember.
"And you were there because?"
"I don't know."
The doctor turned to One, who shrugged. "You got me, Doc."
"This is important." Dr. Bineeni pushed his glasses up his
nose. "I will begin the thought, I want you to finish it. I went to Venitcia because . . . ?"
"Someone asked for my help."
"Our help."
Right hand gripping the rail with white-knuckled fingers, Magdelene straightened and wiped her mouth on the back of her left. "Did I happen to mention how much I hate boats?"
"You did." Trying not to smile, Antonio handed her a water-skin. "And then you called a wind to speed our passage, and then, if I'm not mistaken, you mentioned it again." He waited until she drank, then reached out and gently caressed her cheek. "Did I happen to mention how grateful I am that you would not allow this hatred to keep you from helping my people?"
"You did." Leaning into his touch, Magdelene all but purred. Not even the constant churning of her stomach could dull her appreciation of a beautiful, dark-eyed man. She liked to think that she'd have agreed to help regardless of who the Venitcia town council had sent to petition her, but she was just as glad that they'd hedged their bets by playing to her known weakness.
Until he'd climbed the path to the turquoise house on the hill, Antonio had thought he'd been sent on a fool's errandЧthat the most powerful wizard in the world was a legend, a story told by wandering bards. Told enthusiastically by bards who'd wandered in the right direction. Magdelene had always been partial to men who made music.
And to those who actually made an effort to seek her out.
"My village was built many, many years ago on the slopes of an ancient volcano, a volcano that has recently begun to stir. My people cannot leave a place that has been home to them for generations."
"Cannot?"
"Will not," Antonio had admitted, smiling, and Magdelene was lost.
"We're close," he told her, tucking her safely in the curve of
his arm as the boat rolled. "That is the smoke of the volcano. When we round this headland, we'll see Venitcia. . . .
When they rounded the headland, they saw steam rising off the water in a billowing cloud as a single lava stream continued to make its way to the sea. There was no town. No terraced orchards. No temples. No wharves. No livestock. No people.
The captain took his vessel as close as he dared, then Magde-lene and Antonio took the small boat to shore. It took them a while to find a safe place to land and then a while longer to walk back to the town. Antonio said nothing the entire time.
Magdelene laid her palm on the warm ground, on the new ground, so much higher than it had been. "It happened just days after you left. Long before you found me. It was fastЧash began to fall and then the rim of the crater collapsed. The town was buried."
"How . . . ?"
"The lava told me." It had been bragging actually. She left that part out.
Antonio walked to the edge of the crust and stared down into the last river of molten rock. "Is everyone dead?"
"Yes."
He sighed, brushed a fall of dark hair back off his face, and half turned; just far enough to smile sadly at her. "It wasn't your fault," he said.
Before Magdelene could stop him, he fell gracefully forward and joined his people in death.
Until that moment, she hadn't even considered that it might be her fault.
"I didn't take it seriously enough."
"I should have hurried."
"You called a wind to fill the sails of the boat," Dr. Bineeni reminded them gently.
"That was for my comfort," Two said bitterly. "Not for Venitcia."
Sitting with her back against the wall, legs tucked up against her chest, One wiped her cheeks on her knees. "I was too late."
The doctor shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. Antonio was right."
"Antonio is dead."
"Yes. But he made his choice. You have to let that go." Looking from one to the other, he spread his hands. "You can't raise the dead."
"Actually, I can."
Dr. Bineeni blinked. Then he remembered to breathe. "You can?"
"If the flesh is still in a condition for the spirit to wear it," Two amended.