"Mercedes Lackey - EM 3 - The Serpents Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

was in the midst of her own medical education. Fortunately, both her
parents were as supportive of her ambition as Maya's had been.
Unfortunately, this gave young Amelia a distorted view of the
prejudices of the majority of the male population of her land.
"I don't think I convinced him until I told him that I intended to
practice among the poor." Maya smiled again, then laughed, thinking
what shock the poor mummified man would have felt had she told him
the entire truth.
"There's no harm in intentions, is there?" Amelia giggled. "And if
there are those besides the poor who decide to ask for your services,
well, that has nothing to do with your intentions."
"True enough," Maya laughed. "But can you imagine what he would have
said if he had known what I really planned to do?" Now that she was
up and moving, warmth and life had returned to her feet, at least.
And now that the ordeal was over and her victory laurels were firmly
in her hands, she was feeling celebratory and just a little reckless.
Amelia was the only person outside Maya's household who knew what
Maya intended, and even she blushed a brilliant scarlet as they moved
side by side across the echoing foyer, heels clicking smartly on the
tiles. "I daren't even guess," Amelia murmured, fanning her scarlet
cheeks to cool them.
Just before they reached the doors giving out onto the street, Maya's
fingers moved surreptitiously, and she murmured a few words that
Amelia did not hear. She sensed a thin breath of energy wafting
upward from the well of strength within her, and as they stepped out
into the weather, the rain ceased for a moment.
"Well! There's more luck!" Amelia exclaimed as the clouds parted a
little, letting a glimpse of blue peek through. She raised her hand
imperiously, signaling their need for transportation. There was
always a great coming and going of cabs here, both horse-drawn and
motorized, and they procured a hansom without any difficulty
whatsoever. Maya climbed in and gave her address to the driver
through the little hatch above. It shut with a snap, and Amelia
joined her.
It was, as she had specified with her tiny exercise of magic, a clean
cab: no mud or worse on the floor, no cigar ash anywhere. And just as
they settled themselves within the shelter of their conveyance and
pulled their skirts well in, away from possible mud splashes, the
rain began again. The cab moved off into a thin curtain of gray, the
poor horse's ears signaling his dislike of the wet.
This was just as Maya had intended. It didn't do to change anything
with magic, not if one wanted to remain undetected; one could only
arrange. In this case, the break in the clouds that would have
occurred a little later, and a few blocks away, happened above them
and at the time they left the building, and closed again as soon as
they were in shelter. And the cab was in good repair, the driver
neither drunk nor mean spirited.
The precious certificate, now folded and safely inside Maya's
handbag, rested beneath her hands on her lap. Amelia made small talk
to which Maya responded with half of her attention. London, from