"Mercedes Lackey - Brightly Burning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Master KeilethтАЩs eyes showed that he had noted the flush and found it satisfactory.
Lan dropped his eyes, and Master Keileth did not see the flush of anger that had followed the
guilt. Why was Father willing to pay for this, but not to let me go home and live there? Why did he
give up the house in Alderscroft where I was happy?
He only raised his eyes again when he had his feelings under control. Master Keileth was
watching him as carefully as a cat at a mouse hole.
тАЬIтАЩm going to ask you some questions, Lavan, so that we know where to place you.тАЭ Another
thin smile that did not reach the cool gray eyes. тАЬYou are fortunate in that your family chose to move
when they did. Our school term is just beginning; we will not have to place you in a special class and give
you extra tutoring to force you to catch up.тАЭ
Without waiting for Lan to answer, the Master began asking, not a few questions, but a great
many. Lan was forced to dredge up everything he had learned at the hands of the village priest and quite
a bit he thought he had forgotten.
By the time Master Keileth was done with him, he was sweating, and quite sure that the Master
had decided he was a complete ignoramus. He sat slumped over slightly, feeling completely drained.
Master Keileth gave no indication how he felt about Lan. He simply made more notes, ignoring
Lan altogether. After what seemed like an eternity, the Master finally looked up again.
тАЬSatisfactory, given your limited education,тАЭ he said. тАЬI believe we can place you in the Third
Form.тАЭ
Lan had no notion what that was supposed to mean, but when Master Keileth beckoned
peremptorily, Lan rose and followed him out of the office and into the hall.
They climbed to the third floor, the murmur of voices all around him. Master Keileth brought him
into a corridor identical to the one below. This time, they went as far as the middle of the corridor-far
enough to see that there were others branching from it-before Master Keileth stopped at a door and
opened it without knocking.
The sounds from within the room stopped immediately, and with a scrape of chairs, everyone in
the room stood up.
When Lan entered, he saw that there were eight adolescents, six males and two females, at small
desks facing a larger one, at which an adult teacher presided. They were all younger than he, about
fourteen to his sixteen.
тАЬHerewan, this is a new student, Lavan Chitward,тАЭ Master Keileth said in his brusque manner. тАЬI
have assigned him to the Third Form. Choose someone in this section to take him through his classes.тАЭ
That said, the Master left as abruptly as he had arrived, leaving Lan to face nine strangers alone.

*

OWYN, the boy assigned to show him around, was a serious, studious youngster with huge
brown eyes, untidy dark brown hair, and an unfinished air like a young owl, who performed his duty with
utmost solemnity. As Lan had expected, if he had been ranked with his age group, he should have been
in Fourth or Fifth Form, and being ranked with the students his junior was a mark against him. His own
classmates regarded him with a certain veiled scorn for his lack of what they considered common
knowledge.
Their lives were marked by bells which rang to signify the changing of classes and mealtimes.
Pupils remained in their seats; it was the teachers who moved from room to room to impart their
specialized knowledge. LanтАЩs set began with Geography, which meant trade routes; routes whose
particulars they were expected to have by rote. This knowledge was not only that of finding the way on
an unmarked map, but of climate, conditions in each season, dangers on the way, and so forth. They
were drilled mercilessly until every person in the class had the current route down perfectly, and only then
did the class as a whole move on to the next route. This fascinated Lan; in his mind, he saw the
conditions the teacher described, and he had no difficulty in memorizing the route, though he wondered if