"Mercedes Lackey - Valdemar Anthology - Sun in Glory" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Master Thomas reassured them by explaining what the flash of light had meant, just as he had explained it
to me. Once the shields were up, we just settled down to wait. People began to relax and make
themselves comfortable. It had been lucky that nobody had put up their tents too far away from anyone
else. A smaller area meant a tougher shield. Master Thomas and I walked back the short distance to our
tent and went inside. I was worried, but I hadn't wanted to ask any questions in front of the rest of the
group. It would only have scared them.
"Master Thomas, if you think the magic will be dangerous for us, all the way over here, what would
it be like over there?" I asked. "Will anyone have survived?"
"I think Urtho's remaining people will have survived. They have experienced mages who are
experts at coping with the unexpected. But I don't think the land or the animals on it will ever be the same
again." He looked into the distance and seemed thoughtful.
"This means the changing of magic as we know it forever. The people like you, who can ration their
magic, will be the ones who prosper and survive. It is highly likely that I will never be able to perform
really powerful spells ever again. We have never seen anything like this before, this kind of magical
situation. You have just become part of an event that will be remembered forever as the day magic
changed."
***
Half an hour later the mage storm hit the shields with deadly force. I soon began to worry more
about us than the people closer to the blast. Master Thomas and I were the only mages here, whereas
they had many skilled mages to put up shields and protective spells. We really had our hands full,
considering what lay outside of our shields. Out there, the forest seemed to be in chaos. Magic was
swirling everywhere, and when I looked outside of the shields for too long, my eyes hurt. Just as I
thought we could hold the storm back up for no longer, it abated. The assault had only lasted for a day,
but to me it seemed like it had lasted for weeks. When we lowered the shields, the forest around us
seemed fairly normal. But then, when night would normally have fallen, there was only an eerie half-light.
There were places where piles of ash and soot were all that was left of great tree giants. Flickering lights
in the trees had everyone scared, and the few children in our group had to stay with their parents all the
time. I made an observation to Master Thomas about something that worried me a lot.
"Master Thomas, I have noticed something and I want to know whether it is just me. Weren't the
leaves green and healthy before the mage storm hit, and not brown and falling from the trees?"
 "I think you're right about that, Errold. But what is your point? There have been much worse things
done by the mage storm than simply changing the state of the leaves."
"That's just it! All the other effects of the mage storm have been obvious. But what if there are
effects that are even more subtle? If the state of the leaves could be changed, couldn't berries we know
are safe to eat have become poisonous?"
"That is a very intelligent observation to make, Errold. I will alert the rest of the group to this new
danger. They might not react very well, but I think it is necessary. Thank you. I wouldn't want to lose
anyone from the group, and your observation may have stopped that from happening because of foolish
mistakes."
As I sat in our tent, I continued to worry, and turned similar thoughts over in my head. This forest
had been changed dramatically by what Master Thomas now called the "mage storm." But could we
survive in it? Or was even the water no longer safe to drink? And what about the animals that hadn't been
within our shields? What about them?
***
We began traveling again the second morning after the storm. All seemed well until one of the
scouts saw huge animal footprints. We reported back to Master Thomas, as he didn't recognize what he
had seen. Everyone was told to be especially careful until we learned what the animal ate, and more
importantly, whether its diet might include us!
The next day, while the group was resting and eating, I wandered off in search of any recognizable
wild herbs. I had no luck in finding any, and decided that when we settled down I would experiment to