"Fifth Millennium - 05 - Shadow's Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meier Shirley)

Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein

Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein

Our first inclination is to thank each other, but we're all getting paid for this, soЕ

For critical help and support, thanks to the rest of the Bunch of Seven, who at the time were: Janet
Stirling, Louise Hypher, Mandy Slater and Julie Czerneda. Also to Dave Edmund and Dave Kirby.

For letting us stay at the cottage in Muskoka, again: Margaret Layton and Dave Kirby.

For inspiration: Way Lem (who recently moved to Muskoka), Fred Foreman (who helped pioneer
Muskoka), A. Pajitnov and V. Gerasimov (the creators of Tetris), Mike Oldfield, and the usual host of
others.

For helping perfect strangers at the mere mention of the name Fred Foreman, in the spirit of Muskoka:
Gail Dempsey.

And a particularly large second thank you to Janet Stirling, for doing the dishes and putting up withthree
oversensitive, compulsive/obsessive, cranky, caffeine-gulping writers instead of the usual one.

Book I: Summons

The address was written with an Arkan pen, leaving none of the sputters and blots a quill would leave.
Megan Whitlock picked up the sealed envelope from the pile on her lap-desk.News I've waited for ?
No, probably more of the usual pieces of glass and luxury items have risen again, with the Arkan-Yeoli
war drawn out so much longer than anyone expectedЕ"Чthe usual information that came across the
desk of the proprietor of a great merchant house.

She put the packet down, stretched, and strolled to the gallery that overlooked the atrium, its roof of
glass and translucent agate letting in soft winter light, and leaned over the heavy oak railing. Megan was
short, even for a Zak, a race shorter on average by a good head and a half than most others, with pale
skin, a thin, faded white horizontal scar across the top of one cheek and the side of her nose. Her
mid-calf-long hair was black with an ice-white streak at one temple, woven into elaborate braids which
held the long mass neatly away from the heart-shaped face and out of her black eyes. The fingers of her
hands tapped the honey-colored wood, her gray steel claws making a clicking sound.

She'd been working all day; time for a break. Below, Shkai'ra sword-danced, the drill that began with
the Nine Cuts; beginning slow, her movements flowing into each other with a delicate grace incongruous
in a woman her size. She was near six feet, in Zak measure 178schentiam , a good two heads taller than
most Zak. Her copper-blond hair was tied back in Kommanza warrior braids, bouncing on muscular
shoulders slicked with sweat. The hawklike features too were unusual in F'talezon; now they wore a look
of introspection, lips parted in a slight smile.

I married a woman from across the Lannic, Megan thought, smiling to herself as she breathed in the
sweet cinnamon-scented oil burning in the lamps that hung from the iron strapping of the roof.I'm used to
how she looks, but I'm still not used to her being my wife; or Billa; or Shyll being my husband
either .