"George R. R. Martin - Ice Dragon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Martin George R R)

was sent to the king. No answer ever came.
"A bad business, ice dragons," Hal said that summer when he visited the
farm. "They're not like real dragons, you know. You can't break them or train
them. We have tales of those that tried, found frozen with their whip and
harness in hand. I've heard about people that have lost hands or fingers just
by touching one of them. Frostbite. Yes, a bad business."
"Then why doesn't the king do something?" her father demanded. "We sent
a message. Unless we can kill the beast or drive it away, in a year or two we
won't have any planting season at all."
Hal smiled grimly. "The king has other concerns. The war is going
badly, you know. They advance every summer, and they have twice as many
dragonriders as we do. I tell you, John, it's hell up there. Some year I'm not
going to come back. The king can hardly spare men to go chasing an ice
dragon." He laughed. "Besides, I don't think anybody's ever killed one of the
things. Maybe we should just let the enemy take this whole province. Then it'd
be _his_ ice dragon."
But it wouldn't be, Adara thought as she listened. No matter what king
ruled the land, it would always be _her_ ice dragon.
Hal departed and summer waxed and waned. Adara counted the days until
her birthday. Hal passed through again before the first chill, taking his ugly
dragon south for the winter. His wing seemed smaller when it came flying over
the forest that fall, though, and his visit was briefer than usual, and ended
with a loud quarrel between him and her father.
"They won't move during the winter," Hal said. "The winter terrain is
too treacherous, and they won't risk an advance without dragonriders to cover
them from above. But come spring, we aren't going to be able to hold them. The
king may not even try. Sell the farm now, while you can still get a good
price. You can buy another piece of land in the south."
"_This_ is my land," her father said. "I was born here. You too, though
you seem to have forgotten it. Our parents are buried here. And Beth too. I
want to lie beside her when I go."
"You'll go a lot sooner than you'd like if you don't listen to me," Hal
said angrily. "Don't be stupid, John. I know what the land means to you, but
it isn't worth your life." He went on and on, but her father would not be
moved. They ended the evening swearing at each other, and Hal left in the dead
of night, slamming the door behind him as he went.
Adara, listening, had made a decision. It did not matter what her
father did or did not do. She would stay. If she moved, the ice dragon would
not know where to find her when winter came, and if she went too far south it
would never be able to come to her at all.
It did come to her, though, just after her seventh birthday. That
winter was the coldest one of all. She flew so often and so far that she
scarcely had time to work on her ice castle.
Hal came again in the spring. There were only a dozen dragons in his
wing, and he brought no presents that year. He and her father argued once
again. Hal raged and pleaded and threatened, but her father was stone. Finally
Hal left, off to the battlefields.
That was the year the king's line broke, up north near some town with a
long name that Adara could not pronounce. Teri heard about it first. She
returned from the inn one night flushed and excited. "A messenger came