"Pierce, Tamora - The Circle Opens 01 - Magic Steps" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

"Power or none, it don't matter, lady," Pasco said gloomily. "You don't know my
family, begging your pardon. If I was a harrier-mage, that would please them no
endЧbut even if there is such a thing as dancing magic, it's still dancing, get
it? The moon'll drop plumb out of the sky afore my family lets me dance for my
supper."
"Explain it to them," Sandry told him firmly, trying to keep her growing
impatience hidden. She supposed he'd been through a lot today, but surely he
could see what was right under his nose. He acted as if he were to ignore his
power long enough, it would go away. "Surely they must have noticed something
odd about you by now."
"Other than me not having the sense of a butterfly?" Pasco inquired, meeting her
eyes. The curl of his mouth was bitter. "They've noticed that, right enough. But
no one's said anything to me of magic. I never saw pictures in the fire or made
things dance in the air when I was a babe, like all the mages doЧ,"
"I didn't," Sandry told him flatly. "Any more than my friends did." Pasco winced
and she sighed. Where had people gotten this silly notion that Briar, Daja, and
Tris were to be feared? "Not all magic shows itself like that," she went on.
He looked from her to the boats, black eyes wide with panic, then shook his head
and clapped his hands to his ears. Still covering them, he bowed and walked
away, toward Summersea's east gate.
"Shall I fetch him back, my lady?" asked Oama. "Knock sense into that head?"
"No, please don't," Sandry replied. "He's frightened, that's all. Besides, I'll
be able to find him when I need to." Thinking it over, she knew she was in over
her head. She hadn't the first notion of what to do next, but she knew who
would.
"I have to go to Winding Circle," she told her guards.
CHAPTER 4
Once inside the curtain wall that sheltered the temple city of Winding Circle,
Sandry told Oama and Kwaben to ride to the east gate stables, where they and
their mounts would be made comfortable until Sandry was ready to go home. They
insisted on remaining with her until she had dismounted in front of the small
cottage that lay behind the Earth temple. Only then did they take her mare's
reins and leave.
The cottage known as Discipline was set back from the temple's spiral road and
framed in gardens. For a moment Sandry remained outside the gate, looking around
her. She had left in a hurry, hoping to be back in a day or two. Now she felt
like a stranger. She had not helped to whitewash the cottage, weatherproofing it
against the winter storms. She had not helped to put a fresh layer of thatch on
the roof, or to bring in the last fruits and veg etables. The shutters on her
room and the rooms of her three friends were tightly shut, as they had almost
never been when the four were there.
Lark must be so lonely with no one at home, Sandry thought sadly. That spring
Tris, Briar, and Daja had left Winding Circle with their teachers, who had
decided they needed to see more of the world and of the magics used outside the
temple city. Sandry and Lark had rattled about the empty cottage all summer,
until word had come of the duke's heart attack. It had been just like Lark to
urge Sandry to go and stay with her great-uncle for as long as was necessary.
Sandry shook her head. She had seen Lark since the duke's illness, but always at
the citadel. This was her first trip home, and she felt as if she'd lost
something. She missed open shutters, the sight of Briar's miniature pine in his