"Scott Mackay - The Sages Of Cassiopeia2" - читать интересную книгу автора (Mackay Scott)

this Magnus, building this well-designed and thoughtful palace of wood?

Magnus leaned forward and blew on the embers, coaxing the flames. Was it a
miracle? Magnus stirred the embers again, turning them the way a baker folds
currants into a pudding his fingers, for the first time ever, nimble and
careful. The fire sprang up, licked the fresh wood, then cracked and popped.
The
light of the fire played over Magnus' freckled face, danced in his mongoloid
eyes, rippled through his carrot orange hair. Was this God's fair hand at
work,
a divine intervention turning a fool into a sage?

Tycho put his hand on his brother's shoulder. Magnus looked up at Tycho, and
in
the idiot's eyes the mist of stupidity lifted, and a brother's recognition,
love, and devotion took their rightful place. Tycho leaned forward.

"Magnus?" he said.

Magnus got up, straightened his shoulders, stood to his full height, and
walked,
not lumbered, to the sextant. With unexpected delicacy he put his eye to the
instrument. Tycho stood back, his blood running lightly through his body,
tickling his heart with anticipation. The idiot worked his lips back and
forth.
Then he looked at Tycho, his eyes bright with discovery.

"Venus?" said Magnus.

His brother's first word; so fitting it should be the name of earth's sister
planet. Tears came to Tycho's eyes. This was a miracle. Nothing like this had
ever happened in Knudstrup before.

"No, Magnus," he said. "Not Venus. A new star in the Cassiopeia constellation.
But you will learn, dear brother. You will learn everything I know."

Tycho sat on the hard uncomfortable chair across from Bishop Anders, feeling
out
of place in these holy chambers, uneasy, as if the mounted stag's head above
the
large and never. extinguished fire watched him. Despite the bright day and
unseasonable warmth, the shutters remained closed. The bishop wore his
heaviest
black robe. Tycho was here to show the old man his latest astronomical notes.
The bishop was an important man, the king's envoy in this province of Scania,
and if Tycho could please the king through Bishop Anders, his work would
continue unhindered, and with royal sanction.

The bishop pushed the sheets aside, his brow knitting. He got up, ambled over
to