"Julian May - Boreal Moon 2 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

named Sender, the third major sigil that she owned. Its power, invoked only at the cost of terrible pain now that her debt to the Lights was
so heavy, enabled Ullanoth to inhabit a magical simulacrum of her natural body, in which her soul might travel anywhere in the world
while her true flesh lay senseless. The Sending was no vaporous ghost, but rather a warm and solid replica with a full palette of physical
sensation, able to carry from its point of origin all clothing and other accoutrements worn or held by the original. It could not, however,
draw sustenance from food or drink at its destination, nor could it carry back any foreign object. And if the Sending remained in existence
for more than a few hours, the true body would begin to deteriorate mortally.

file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/May,%20Julian%20-%20[Bor...0-%20Boreal%20Moon%202%20-%20Ironcrown%20Moon.html (16 of 228)2-2-2007 18:46:18
 May, Julian - Boreal Moon 2 - Ironcrown Moon




There was another important limitation to the Sending that only the most advanced arcane practitioners were aware of: it could
materialize only near a talented person, from whom it drew magical substantiation.

тАЬThen RisallaтАЩs unborn child is free of talent!тАЭ Conrig cried joyously.

Ullanoth nodded. тАЬYes. Tonight, IтАЩve used Vra-Stergos as my substantiator. Let us go to your wife now and determine whether the babe
is male or female.тАЭ

The three of them went into the room where Risalla lay, but after a few suspenseful moments Ullanoth stepped away from the sleeperтАЩs
couch and shook her head. тАЬAlas for your hopes, my king! Your wife carries a healthy girl, without arcane talent as all of her sex must be,
unless they are of far northern human bloodтАж or doubly descended from the Green Ones.тАЭ

Conrig groaned. тАЬIf the laws of Didion prevailed here, the lass might reign as their great Queen Casabarela did! But Cathra reserves its
crown for male issue, and so must my Sovereignty.тАЭ

тАЬUnless the law is changed,тАЭ Stergos put in with a hopeful smile.

тАЬDonтАЩt be a fool, Gossy,тАЭ the king exclaimed. тАЬWhy should the Lords of the South agree to change it now, when all save we three believe
there are two legitimate male heirs to the throne? We can only hope for a better outcome to a future pregnancy, and meanwhile pray that
no enemy learns the secret of my poor sons and I.тАЭ

тАЬThere are only two enemies,тАЭ Ullanoth said, тАЬthat need concern you now.тАЭ

Conrig and Stergos regarded her with open dismay, each thinking that she must have heard the rumor about Maudrayne and her son.

But the Conjure-Queen went on to say, тАЬMy little brother Beynor knows nothing of your own talentтАФnot yet. But heтАЩs up to some kind of
mischief with the Salka. IтАЩve been too indisposed to spy on him closely with the Loophole sigil of late, but my ordinary scrying reveals
him to be in a state of unusual excitement. IтАЩve told you that Beynor spends his time studying the historical archives of his monstrous
hosts in the Dawntide Isles. I cannot read lips well, and the Salka have erected magical barriers that dim my unaugmented oversight of
their citadel. But I believe that Beynor may have made some important discovery. And he may have shared it with your old enemy, Vra-
Kilian Black-horse, the former Royal Alchymist.тАЭ

тАЬBut how?тАЭ Stergos demanded. тАЬOur wretched uncle was deprived of all talent by the iron gammadion before being confined to Zeth
Abbey. Kilian is unable to speak on the wind himself, nor can he receive any windspoken communication from another. And no humans
dare set foot on the Dawntide Isles, so there can have been no written message from Beynor delivered to the abbey.тАЭ

тАЬMy brother may have been cursed by the Lights and stripped of his sigils,тАЭ Ullanoth said, тАЬbut he still retains the strong natural talents