"Lisle,.Holly.-.Vincalis.The.Agitator1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)
УIТll be fine. Nobody ever pays me much attention. IТm good at not being noticed.Ф
Solander looked at him sadly. УNot good enough, apparently. When we move you back here, weТre going to have to make sure you look different.Ф
Wraith took the box of food, and followed Solander out the door and out of the house. Maybe I should have bowed, he thought. Maybe it would have worked out better that way.
But he didnТt think so. HeТd seen something in LuercasТs eyes that hunted for weakness, that took pleasure in pain.
Wraith decided to make avoiding Luercas one of his big objectives in the future.
Solander sat in his room after Wraith left, idly balancing the three gold balls in the air, and wondered what his father would make of the boy. Wraith showed every sign of being impervious to magic. Yet SolanderТs father had told him many times that magic affected everyoneЧthat magic was the sixth force of physics, and that one might as well look for a man who wasnТt affected by gravity as a man who wasnТt affected by magic.
The balls spun in a neat little circle before Solander, swimming through the air like trained fish. Light from the window gleamed off of them. They were solid gold and terribly heavy; without magic, Solander wasnТt strong enough to lift one of them off the floor. But, as heТd told Wraith, he had a remarkable aptitude for magic. And, he thought, a remarkable aptitude for spotting what might be the biggest flaw in theoretical magic in the last two thousand years when it presented itself to him.
I probably should tell my father about Wraith, Solander thought. HeТd want to know that such a person could exist.
But visions of unveiling Wraith on his ownЧand with him a new theory of magic that included proofs for Laws of Exclusion, those heretofore mythical and much yearned-after laws that would permit wizards to create spells without any rebound effects, or rewhahЧsang to him like the Temptresses of Calare. He wanted to earn his place in the Academy. No. He wanted to earn the highest place in the Academy, and he only had four more years to do something that would place him above all the other applicants. His father had said Solander was on his own in gaining admissionЧthat the elder Artis would not use his influence or his position on the Council of Dragons to gain a place for his son. And his reasons seemed validЧthat if Solander did not earn his way into the Academy without parental assistance, men who stood against him in later years would question his qualifications for any worthwhile position on the Council of Dragons, or for any worthwhile appointment within the sphere of influence of the Empire of the Hars Ticlarim.
If Solander could disprove one of the central tenets of current magical theory, though, and take not just a stack of papers into the exam room but physical demonstrations of his theory, no one would ever be able to question his right to stand among the MastersЧto lead the EmpireЧto become head of the Dragons and eventually Landimyn of the Hars. He balanced the three gold balls in the air and smiled, imagining himself carried through the underwater streets of Oel Maritias, dressed in glorious robes of state, cheered on by the thousands who lined the Triumph Road beneath the glittering arch of the ocean above. He would smile slightly. Wave his hand justа.а.а. soа.а.а. to let the people know that he had once been like them. One of them. OnceЧbut not anymore.
He sent the balls spiraling to the floor, then pulled his knees up to his chest and stared out the window by his bedside, which overlooked one of the many hidden courtyards in the grand old house. In that courtyard, three young girls played a game of skippers, laughing at the patterns the skipper-stones created in the floating fountain. Watching them, Solander was reminded that he would have to create identities for Wraith and his friends if they were to be successfully hidden in plain sight within the household. He might, he thought, create them as the children of distant relatives from across the Bregian Ocean. He liked Ynjarval. It was distant and poor, and adults seemed to mostly ignore anyone from there.
Better than BenedictaЧrelatives there were always sending their children to Oel Artis to get a real education and to meet the right people to further their careers. But they were the sort of relatives who called their children home for holidays and made surprise visits, which wouldnТt work well for SolanderТs needs. Or WraithТs.
Solander would have to create a couple letters of introduction and forge necessary identification papers. HeТd heard Luercas bragging about doing that so that he could get into adults-only taverns and theaters down in the Belows. If Luercas could find a way, then Solander thought he could find a way, too. But any chance Solander had of asking Luercas how he did it was now gone. If Luercas were to get wind of SolanderТs searching after forged papers, he would find out why and Solander would spend the rest of his natural life paying blackmail to the bastard. And Wraithа.а.а. Solander didnТt even want to think about what would happen to Wraith.
He flopped back on the bed and closed his eyes. Letters. Forged papers. A means of transporting three people from the Warrens to the Aboves, and some sort of excuse for going into the Warrens that wouldnТt raise suspicion. A foolproof, questionproof reason for three Warreners to be in Oel Artis and staying in Artis House more or less permanently. A good change of appearance for Wraith, so that Luercas wouldnТt recognize him.
Rone Artis cleared his throatЧevidently heТd been standing in the doorway for some time.
УAre you ready?Ф his father asked, and Solander, guilty of all sorts of disobedience in his heart, nearly jumped out of his skin.
УSorry,Ф he said, scrambling to his feet. Solander gathered all three balls and the cord with a single mental swoop. He began spinning the balls in the air, concentrating on their differing weights and masses, and the very different composition of the cord. УThis is what IТve been working on most.Ф The balls swam like fish through the air, forming the test patterns perfectly; the cord played counterpoint, weaving its way through each of the prescribed forms.
Out of the corner of his eye, he finally saw a small smile on his fatherТs faceЧthe first one in a long time.
Chapter 2
Vincalis GateЧa lesser gate, unfrequented, unimportant, mostly unnoticedЧled to a place no one wanted to go. Its broad arch sat next to a narrow, rarely used thoroughfare, providing a comfortable, hidden perch for anyone agile enough to clamber up to it and slender enough to lie across it without sticking up above the little parapet. It was JessТs favorite perch. Jess, tiny for her age and whisper-thin, could lie along its gentle curve and watch the wondrous traffic that traversed the cloud road to the Aboves, and the occasional pedestrians who passed on the walkway beside her from mysterious points of origin to mysterious destinations, and wonder at the world outside of the gatesа.а.а. a world denied to her by tradition, by lawЧand by the murderous gate that only Wraith could pass at will.
Wraith, who dared challenge the gate, told her about what lay beyond her narrow view, and she loved to hear his stories. More than anything, she yearned to move from the dreary, dead confines of the Warrens into the living world beyond.
And where was Wraith?
Jess dreaded giving him her bad newsЧand at the same time, she feared that this time something had happened to him, and that he would not come back. That she would have to faceЧaloneЧthe choice between Sleep and death.
Now, thirsty, hungry, and worried, and with the sun dropping toward the horizon for the second dayЧwith still no sign of WraithЧshe contemplated her choices. She tried to imagine stepping into one of the homes, taking a bowl from the dispenser, pouring in the Way-fare, and eating herself into oblivion. Her memories of her time in Sleep were vagueЧlittle flashes of conscious desire to move, to breathe, to act, to escape, that lay in the middle of vast, deep, ugly pools of nothing. The Sleep terrified her. But she didnТt know if she had the courage to choose death. Already, she felt the burning in her gut that the few bites sheТd allowed herself from the last crusts of old bread, doled out over two days, did nothing to assuage. How much worse would the pain be in four days, or in ten? How long would she take to die?
And then, movement down the narrow road. In the twilight, she could not at first be sure the boy was Wraith, though he was thin enough. His way of moving was right, but his clothes were all wrong. And he carried an enormous box with him. She wondered what it wasЧhe had never brought anything with him that he could not hide beneath his shirt. This he carried openly.
But it was Wraith. She checked on the street behind to make sure the Warren guards were nowhere nearby, then shinnied down the arch, dropped to the low roof of the guardsТ shed, then lightly to the ground.
Wraith came through the gate, heralded by the usual explosion of light, and said, УQuick. We need to get out of sight. I have wonderful news.Ф
And I have terrible news, Jess thought, but she kept her silence and ran beside him. Her news would become obvious all by itself, and if she did not need to crush his apparent joy right away, she would not. She loved him, and she loved this new smile he wore on his face, and this air of excitement that he carried in his step.
They ran down their street, ducked into their stairwell, and squeezed through the broken window into their hideaway.
Boxes and crates stacked along all the walls and in the middle of the floor, a dirt floor with a little nest of rags for sleeping on, and darkness, always, because they did not dare any light to call the guardsТ attention to their presenceЧthis was the home that was, to Jess, freedom and life.
УWhereТs Smoke?Ф Wraith asked, putting his box on one of the crates. УHe has to be here to hear this, too.Ф And without waiting for an answer, he handed her something beautiful, and cool, and smooth, and round, and said, УTake a bite. ItТs the best thing IТve ever tasted in my life.Ф
She took a bite and almost cried. It crunched, and its juice burst on her tongue, and its sweetness seemed to her to have not just smell and flavor, but color and sound as well. She took another bite, and the sweetness began to mix with the salt of her tears. Smoke would have loved this thing, whatever it was.
УGreat, isnТt it?Ф Wraith asked, grinning.
She swallowed around the growing lump in her throat and put the round thing aside. УSmoke is gone,Ф she said.
WraithТs smile vanished. УGone? The guards found him?Ф
УHeа.а.а. he gave up. He said you couldnТt provide for two of us anymoreЧthat we ate too much and that trying to keep us both fed was killing you. And he said I was the smallest and I ate the least, so I had to stay, and he would go back. He ran out of the door. I chased him, but he runs faster than me, and I donТt even know which of the homes he went into.Ф
УWhen?Ф Wraith whispered.
УRight after you left.Ф
УThen heТs been asleep for two full days, and then some.Ф
Jess nodded.
УToo long. And heТs too old now. If we tried to take him away from the Way-fare again, this time it would probably kill him.Ф
УIf we even knew where to look for him.Ф
УYes. That, too. He would still be easy to pick outЧhe wonТt start actually looking like them for months. But where would we start looking?Ф
УHe didnТt want you to find him. He didnТt want to be a burden anymore.Ф
WraithТs face wore anguish. УBut I found us a way out. All of usЧyou, me, and him. I found us a home, a place where the three of us can live, where they serve food this good and better several times a day, every day, and where they walk in the streets whenever they want, and wear different clothes every day.Ф He buried his head in his hands. УWhy couldnТt he have just waited?Ф
УHeТs been talking about this for a while now,Ф Jess said. УHe made me swear to keep silent; he worried for you, that something bad would happen to you because of us. IТve worried, too, but I was too much of a coward to do what he did and go back. If I werenТt so weak, I would have just gone to Sleep one day, tooЧand then you wouldnТt have had to risk the gates anymore. You could have stayed out there, where itТs wonderful.Ф She whispered, УBut I miss him.Ф
Wraith had his knees pulled tight to his chest and his face pressed into them. He sobbed. Jess sat beside him for a long time, patting his back and stroking his hair. УHe wouldnТt have gone if heТd thought you would ever find a way out of here for us. He only gave up because he could see us getting you killed, and for nothing.Ф
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