"Jane Lindskold - Lord Demon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindskold Jane)

"I wonder what I know that someone wished removed from common knowledge?"
"Anyone who's been around as long as you have must know a hell of a lot."
I shrugged. "Not sufficiently specific," I said.
"I know. But I've a feeling you've accidentally found your way into something big, and someone wants to keep the fight c
and tidy."
"Shouldn't have brought in a theronic, then. Word's around our plane by now."
"Someone got scared."
"What will happen?"
"Nothing," she said. "Unless it reminds someone of something connected to what's going on and they come forth."
But the matter passed and nothing special happened, either in the world of humans or in the realm of demons.

I undertook the teaching of a course at the local community college, a course involving the construction and use of "acro
kites" and "fighting kites." An old man named Li Piao had taught it for many years, and I used to watch the hillside when h
classes met. He was very good. Then, that fall, when I looked in the catalog for the course, it was not listed. I phoned the
and learned that Li Piao had suffered a stroke. I obtained his phone number and address. After a phone call confirming tha
would receive me the next morning, I drove around to see him.
The house before which I parked my car was small but neatly kept. Still, as I came up the flagstone walk, I saw small si
the owner's recent illness: the heavy head of a dark pink peony brushed the earth; bits of windblown detritus clustered in
corners; a glazed porcelain flowerpot was knocked onto one side. I righted it as I passed, enjoying the cool feel of its smoo
glaze, then I rang the bell.
The old man who answered it was a little tall for a Chinese and vaguely Mandarin-like in his bearing despite the fact tha
leaned on a crutch. The longest wisps of his snowy beard touched his chest, but that same beard's thickness could not hide
mouth that bore the twisting of paralysis. Still, he smiled in greeting. Clearly, life had not completely borne him down.
"Do I have the honor of addressing Li Piao?" I asked politely.
"I am Li Piao," he answered, "and you must be Mr, Kai. Come in."
I did as he bid me, following him through a wide hallway and into a living room overlooking a fine garden. A fat, someho
jolly, little terra-cotta teapot rested upon a tray set on a low table. There were two cups and a plate of wafer-thin almond
cookies as well.
After directing me to a seat on a comfortable sofa, Li Piao maneuvered himself into a wooden chair with a high back an
arms. Clearly the chair had been chosen because it enabled him to push himself onto his feet and reach the crutches he
carefully leaned against a second chair.
As I watched him, I found myself admiring his spirit. Here was a man who had once enjoyed the vicarious flight of kites
bound firmly to earth by his crippled body, but refusing even to consider defeat.
"I must ask you to pour the tea," Li Piao said. "It is very fine green tea, imported from Taiwan. The cookies are of my
daughter-in-law's making. They are very goodтАФ not overly sweet."
I poured, making a small ceremony of the action. Li Piao accepted his cup with a nod of thanks. He rested it, along with
cookies his strong left hand plucked from the plate I held out to him, on the arm of his chair.
"How?" I asked, gesturing at the neatly laid tea tray. "How did you manage this?"
He chuckled, a sound as warm as his smile. "I did not, except for adding the hot water to the teapot and removing the pla
wrap from the plate. My grandson set it up for me last night when he came for a few hours to help me."
"Ah," I nodded, sipped. The tea was indeed good, the cookies excellent. "I have long enjoyed watching your classes fly th
kites each spring."
"So have I," he said, with the first trace of sadness I had seen in him.
"I was wondering," I continued, "if you would consider permitting me the honor of continuing your class for you. We wou
necessarily need to begin a few weeks late, but the registrar at the community college has said that adaptations could be m
I did not think it necessary to tell Li Piao that my offering to teach the course for nothing had helped to sway that doubtfu
lady.
"I would have no objections," Li Piao said, surprised. "How could I? Knowledge of kites, of their crafting and flying, is no
mine alone."
"True," I said. "I was hoping that you would consider coming and sharing your wisdom with the class. I can be your hand