"Mercedes Lackey - Mage Storms 1 - Storm Warning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Tremane rose from the bow, backing out of the room with his eyes lowered
properly. Charliss could not find fault with his posture or the signals his body gave;
his demeanor was perfect.
The great doors opened and closed behind him. Alone once again in the Throne
Room, Emperor Charliss, ruler of the largest single domain in the world, leaned to
one side and chuckled into the cavernous chamber.
This would be the most enjoyable little playlet of his entire reign, and it came at the
very end, when he had thought he had long since exploited the entertainment value
of watching his courtiers scramble about for the tidbits he tossed them. But here was
a juicy treat indeed, and the scramble would be vastly amusing.
Charliss was pleased. Entertainment on this scale was hard to come by!
***
Steam curled up from the water as AnтАЩdesha gingerly lowered himself into the
soaking-pool of FiresongтАЩs miniature Vale. A Vale in the heart of Valdemar - no larger
than a single Gathering-tent. I would not have believed that such a thing was
possible, much less that it could be done with so little magic - yet here it is.
It was amazing how much could be created without the use of any magic at all.
Most of this enchanted little garden had been put together by ordinary folk, using
nonmagical materials. There were only two exceptions; the huge windows, and the
hot pools. The windows were not the tiny, many-paned things with their thick, bubbly
glass, that AnтАЩdesha had seen in all of the Palace buildings, which would not have
done at all for the purpose. These eight windows, two to each side of the room, went
from floor to ceiling in a single flawless triangular piece. Each had been made
magically by Firesong, of the same substance used by the Hawkbrothers for the
windows in their tree-perching ekeles. He had also created a magical source for the
hot water for the pools. The rest, this garden that bloomed in the dead of winter, and
the pseudo-ekele above it, was all built by ordinary folk, mainly due to Firesong
taking shameless advantage of the Queen of ValdemarтАЩs gratitude and generosity.
Firesong felt that if he must remain here as the Tayledras envoy to primitive
Valdemar, then by the Goddess, he would have the civilized amenities of a Vale!
Valdemar. AnтАЩdesha had never heard of this land until a year ago. As a child and
even a young man among the Clans, he had not heard of much beyond the Walls -
indeed, the only places beyond the Walls he had learned of as a youngster were the
Pelagiris Forest and the trade-city of KataтАЩshinтАЩaтАЩin. The ShinтАЩaтАЩin as a general rule
cared very little for the world beyond the Plains; only TaleтАЩsedrin of all the Clans had
any measure of Outland and outClan blood.
In some Clans - such as AnтАЩdeshaтАЩs - such foreign breeding was occasionally
considered a minor disgrace - not a disgrace for the child, but for the ShinтАЩaтАЩin parent.
тАЬCould he not draw to him a single woman of the Plains?тАЭ would come the whispers,
or тАЬWas she so unpleasant that no ShinтАЩaтАЩin man cared to partner her?тАЭ So it had
been for AnтАЩdesha, child of such an alliance - and perhaps that was why his own Clan
had never so much as mentioned the lands outside the Dhorisha Plains. Perhaps
they had feared that talking about the lands Outside would excite an un-ShinтАЩaтАЩin
wanderlust in him, a yearning for far places and strange climes.
Well, I found both - without really wanting either.
The blood-path Adept who had flamboyantly named himself Mornelithe
Falconsbane had never heard of Valdemar, either, until the two white-clad strangers
from that land had come into the territory of Clan kтАЩSheyna of the Hawkbrothers.
AnтАЩdesha had been a silent, frightened passenger in his own body, which
Falconsbane had usurped by magic and trickery. With the Adept possessing him, he