"Lisle,.Holly.-.Vincalis.The.Agitator1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

HeТd thought he wanted to free the Warreners. But now, standing at the beginning of his new life, he discovered that more than anything, he wanted to be sure that he stayed free himself.

Rone Artis held the paper in front of him and sighed. УTen years of research, and all we have to show for our work isа.а.а. well, simply more of the same.Ф
His assistant shrugged. УEveryone has followed every lead. Just because we canТt find a way to pump enough magic out of the sun right now to keep the Empire running doesnТt mean that weТll never find the key. The same with the sea, and with the world-heart. Sometime soon, someone will figure out how to make those power sources work. This is just a temporary measure.Ф
Rone laughed. УDo you really believe that?Ф
УOf course. The Empire would never accept this as a permanent solution.Ф
УDo you know how long this temporary solution has gone on so far?Ф
УNot long, certainly. Five years, perhaps. Or maybeа.а.а. ten?Ф
Rone Artis, Master of Energy for the city of Oel Artis, smiled at her slowly. УIn its current form, more than a thousand years.Ф
She paled and looked sick. УThat canТt be.Ф
УIt is. And before that, we were doing the same thing, but in a less organized fashion.Ф
УButа.а.а. thatТs not right.Ф
УNo,Ф he agreed, and took out his official pen, and checked the tip on a plain piece of paper to make sure it was working. УIt isnТt right at all. But what are our options? Let Oel Artis Travia fall into the Belows? Let the citizens starve and live without light and heat? Let the seas crush Oel Maritias and the other undersea cities? Give up flight? Give up magic?Ф
УWellа.а.а. noа.а.а. not that.Ф
He nodded. УNo. Not that. We maintain a magnificent civilization, but men pay a price for civilization. We do the best we can. Sometimes our best isа.а.а.Ф He slowly signed his name across the bottom of the paper that permitted the Research Department of the Dragons to take an additional five hundred units a month from the Warrens for energy experimentation. УSometimes our best is very, very bad.Ф
Book Two



Master Gellas
I stood with one foot in three worldsЧwhich is one foot too many. The Warreners, the stolti, and the Kaan all owned a piece of me: I loved the beauty, the grace, and the luxury of the stolti world, which I knew to be fed by unthinkable evil; I could see the impracticality of the Kaan world, which worked well enough for a few people, but which would leave Matrin a stinking ruin were it the only option; and my heart cried out for the Warreners, dying body and soul for a life they could never experience, while remembering that the price of the WarrenersТ freedom would be the lives of innocents.
I knew the costs and the benefits, had discovered and listed for myself the favorables and the unfavorables. The only thing I could not find was an answer.
а
VINCALIS THE AGITATOR
THE SECRET TEXTSЧOF THE FALCONS
Chapter 4
In the last days of spring, when the sun in Oel Artis begins to roll across the land like an invading army and the heat turns everything green to brown, the rich and powerful of the Aboves begin their annual migration to their city beneath the sea, Oel Maritias.
In the spring of the year that Solander turned twenty, and that Wraith, still known by all but Solander, Jess, and Velyn as Gellas, guessed that he must have turned nineteen or twenty, the household took itself down to the cool blue depths of the summerhouse yet again, down to the world of perpetual twilight where the sun was merely a promise of light that lay, painted and flat and dull, on the top of the blue-black liquid sky.
To celebrate their arrival, they and the other families who summered there held each year a First Week Festival, and for the first time, both Wraith and Solander were deemed old enough to attend the adult celebration, instead of being kept with the children.
УWhat do you suppose is the difference between the adult celebration and the childrenТs festival?Ф Wraith asked.
Solander, stretched out on his bed with his feet propped on the wall, said, УNo one will ever really say. They serve distilled wines and set up vision chambers, I know. And sometimes the adults go into the festival chambers and donТt come out again until the end of the week. I know my parents used to leave me with the house staff when I was younger. I wouldnТt even see them for days, and when they did come back, they looked tired.Ф
Wraith laughed. УThat sounds promising.Ф He draped himself over one of SolanderТs overstuffed chairs, head on one arm and legs across the other, and sighed. УJess is furious that weТre going and she canТt.Ф
Solander let his head hang off the side of the bed so that he was looking at Wraith upside down. УIТd take her with me if I could. I wish she would go places with me.Ф
УI wish she would, too. SheТs about to drive me mad.Ф
УHow can you not be in love with her?Ф Solander asked. Wraith guessed that his expression was meant to be mournful, but upside down it wasnТt coming across. УSheТs beautiful, sheТs cleverЧФ
УSheТs moderately clever. She plays zith and metachord well enough not to offend, but sheТd never be able to play for anyone but us. She has no skill with numbers, is only moderately successful at getting off a spell correctly, canТt find her way from one part of Oel Artis to another without getting lost, and is useless at history, science, and literature. She doesnТt even like to read. Beyond that, sheТs bothersome and domineering and vexing and always certain that sheТs right and that she knows best.Ф
УShe adores you.Ф
УMmmm. IТm glad to have her for a friend, but I truly wish she adored you. Every time she sees me talking to a girl, her eyes go all daggers at me.Ф
Solander flopped over and rested his chin on his hands. УWeТll get back to research after the festival.Ф
Wraith said, УYou only have another two months before you have to present your research before the Board of Advisors, and you still donТt have anything.Ф
УI have a lot. ItТs all work that I got as spin-offs from trying to figure out why you are the way you are, but if nothing else, I can present that. I have a refinement for a spellТs energy transport mechanism thatТs rather elegant, and a few applications for the self-powered magic system that IТm developingЧthose are completely original. And I have my theory on you. I simply donТt have any real-world proofs yet, and I canТt drag you in with me, for obvious reasons.Ф
УNo, you canТt. I donТt want to be a caged exhibit, or a study case for the entire Division of Theoretical Magics.Ф
УHave you given thought to what you will be doing?Ф
УIТve had offers from some of the covils. I scored so highly on history that the Ancients and Devoteds of the Fen Han Covil have been at me to join them right after the festival. One of the literary covils offered me a seat, too.Ф
УWhich one?Ф
УThe one that thinks all of PremishТs work is excrement.Ф
УOh. The Clickers.Ф
Wraith nodded. УBut those are covils. They donТtа.а.а. matter. And the fact that my roll of tutelage lists nothing but theoretical magics makes anything worthwhile off limits. No one needs a stolti with theoretical but no practical magical skills. Which takes us back to you and what youТre doing.Ф Wraith shrugged. УI would help you with more than the theory if I could.Ф
Solander nodded. УI know. But if you could, you would be just like everyone else. The fact that you canТt do any of the basic prep work or anything magical is part of what makes you unique.Ф
Wraith considered the frightening truth of that for a while. His uniqueness was the only thing that had let him be a human in the prison of the Warrens, that had given him a ticket out and allowed him to bring Jess with him, that had moved him into the highest circles of Harsian society and had given him access to science, history, philosophy, magicЧhe knew the theories well, even if his uniqueness prevented him from gaining any practical experienceЧliterature, music, art, and government.