"Tanya Huff - Be It Ever So Humble" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

"I have decided I could use a wizard." He waved his free hand expansively. "You are to put yourself
under my command." Pompous bloody twit. He actually sounded as if she should be thrilled with the
opportunity. She folded her arms and glared up at him. "Why would I want to do that?" she demanded.
"If you don't, I will kill the boy."

"And if I do?"

"I will spare both the boy and the village." Magdelene ..." Carlos's voice sounded strained, all the
laughter gone from it. "It's all right, Carlos," Magdelene muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "I've
got things under control." Or she would have shortly. A man who expected his mere presence to
overwhelm all opposition could be dealt with. "While I appreciate your very generous offer," she told
him, preparing to launch a special-effects extravaganza that would convince him to never tangle with her
village again, "I'm afraid I shall have to decline." His smile never wavered. "Pity," he said. Throwing
one arm about the boy's upper body, he grabbed the small head and twisted. The crack sounded very
loud. Juan's body slid to the ground to lie in a crumpled heap, the head bent around at an impossible
angle.

Magdelene's mouth worked but no sound emerged. She hadn't really believed he would do that.

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Behind her, she heard a wail of grief from Juan's mother.

The warlord's men moved forward until they surrounded the villagers with a wall of steel.

"Now," said the warlord, still smiling, "what have you to say to my most generous offer?"

The smile slipped as Magdelene raised her head and met his eyes.

"Die," she told him.

He didn't have time to look surprised. His eyes rolled up, his mouth went slack, and he collapsed
forward over the pommel. Startled by this new limp weight, the horse tossed its head and shied
sideways, dumping the warlord's body to the sand beside the small heap of bones and flesh that had been
Juan.

In silence that followed, the breathing of the surrounding horses sounded unnaturally loud. Their
riders made no sound at all, each hoping desperately that the wizard would not now turn her attention to
him.

The silence grew and stretched, broken only by the sobbing of Juan's mother. Pushing her hair back
off her face with a trembling hand, Magdelene knelt by the boy's body. She straightened his tangled
limbs and gently turned his head until it sat naturally once again.

"Lady-wizard . .." It was the first time Carlos hadn't used her name. "... this isn't to say you haven't
done what you felt you had to in removing this man from the world, but..."

He fell silent as Magdelene took Juan's cold little hand in hers and called his name.