"Irene Radford - Draconis Ex Machina" - читать интересную книгу автора (Radford Irene)to me. I bent and placed my dominant left hand atop a clear print. It was nearly as broad a
palm. Stray leaves and twigs as well as dust had blown across it. It was not fresh. St needed to keep up the pretense of ignorance and wits dulled by cold, if Krej were eve reveal his plans to me. He loved to boast, but would not take unreasonable chances with equal to him in strength and intelligence. In a fight I had the advantage of longer reach and greater agility, as well as youth. left-handed dominance often proved awkward to right-handed men. Krej had brute streng his broad shoulders and sturdy legs. He flung a cloak made from the pelt of a spotted saber cat around his shoulders. A cloak I had not seen before. A cloak that would earn admiration and gasps of awe from court. A man as vain as Krej could not resist wearing the garment before the audienc craved. The fog-hazed colors glistened in the weak sunlight, nearly rippling with life and mena Every portion of my being froze. Krej did not need to hunt a cat that preyed upon villages. He had already killed the beast. Surreptitiously, I fished a talisman from my pack and stuffed it into my pock remembered clearly my friends warning me that the magic in the amulet would not acti until I kissed it and placed it in a pouch around my neck. I had kept the thing only to please friends. At the time I had scoffed. I did not need magical protection. I was a prince a trained warrior. Now I was not so certain. Krej's cloak covered most of his magician-red hair. Another rumor I needed to verify. Krej reputedly used magic to ensure the cooperatio the twelve lords on the Council of Provinces, and to coerce wealthy merchants to guarante debts. Debts he rarely, if ever, repaid. In his youth Krej had studied at the University of Magicians. He'd inherited his talent his outland mother. Neither of his two older brothers showed signs of magic. Five strong men had stood between Krej and the throneтАФmy father, myself, Krej's fath and his two older brothers. He'd been allowed his magic. But then, quite unexpectedly, all within the space of a few months, Krej's father and older brothers had died of disease or accident. Only two lives, mine and my father's, now stood between Krej and the throne. Krej had renounced his magic and assumed his new responsibilities as lord of Fa cousin to the king, and leader of the Council of Provinces. My magician friends questioned the accidents and suggested poison instead of diseas the death of Krej's relatives. I had not the courage to question until I saw what Krej did to deer, and heard what he'd done to one of his peasants. Had he really forsaken the practice of magic? I knew he could not get rid of talentтАФeven if bedding his new bride before he achieved master magician status was supp to rob him of his powers. I left my own cloak of wolf fur and oiled wool open across my left shoulder, keeping sword arm free. We stepped off the caravan road onto a steep trail leading up the mountain. The l charm bounced reassuringly in my pocket. Not once did Krej pause to inspect the tracks I discerned occasionally along the trail did not bend to sniff the spoor. I knew he no longer hunted. I worried that he no longer pretended to hunt. But I had to know what he was up to. For my father's safety and that of our kingdom. Two days before we began the hunt, word had reached me that one of Krej's villagers |
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