"Mickey Zucker Reichert - The Books of Barakhai 02 - The Lost Dragons of Barakhai" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichert Mickey Zucker)

Korfius nuzzled Collins, then ran toward the window, planted his forepaws on the sill, and bounced
back. In his excitement, he leaped on Collins' bed, over him, and back to the window again. Collins
watched the gangly legs sail past, the ears flying, the tongue lolling, the short coat an uneven patchwork of
brown and white. Though fourteen years old, the half-grown hound aged in human, not dog, years and
had the exuberance of a six-month-old puppy. Collins had acquired Korfius in Barakhai, a world he had
entered accidentally by chasing a white rat through the hallways of Daubert Laboratories. There, he had
discovered people who spent half or more of their lives as various animals. The few who had come to his
world remained in animal form throughout their visits, and Korfius had chosen to stay because he liked
Collins and preferred being a full-time dog.
Over the last year and a half, Collins had grown as fond of Korfius as the dog had of him, though he
still found their association a bit uneasy. He used leashes and collars only when absolutely necessary and
shared his own food because it seemed vulgar to feed a child Puppy Chow. Dressed only in his sleeping
boxers and glasses, Collins headed toward the window. A cool summer breeze chilled his torso.
Something thumped onto Collins' shoulder. He staggered backward with a savage gasp, smacking the
object with the back of one hand. It felt warm and solid, furry against his skin, and it tumbled to the bed.
A shiver coiled through Collins, and he whirled to look. A white rat braced itself on the disheveled pile of
sheet and blanket, whiskers twitching madly.
Collins stifled a scream, then logic took over. It can't be. Can it?
Korfius bounded onto the bed, sending the rat flying. It scrambled onto Collins' pillow.
"Hey!" Collins said.
The rat cocked its head. "Hey, yourself. What kind of greeting is slapping me across the room?"
It IS Zylas. Glad to see his old friend again, Collins replied in kind, "The normal reaction to being
attacked by a rat. What would you do if something jumped on your shoulder?"
Zylas twisted his head to look over the snowy fur on the back of his neck. "Anything small enough to
alight on my shoulder would have to be an insect, so I guess I'dтАж I'd eat it."
Still grossed out by one of the Barakhains' main sources of protein, Collins made a noise of revulsion.
"You'd eat it, huh?" He pinned the rat with a searching stare. "So you got off easy." He avoided the image
of dining on raw, unskinned rat meat, not wishing to arouse a more painful memory. When he had first
arrived in Barakhai, he had roasted and eaten a rabbit. Only when the villagers attempted to hang him for
murder and cannibalism did he discover the dual nature of its citizenry. Every human an animal, and
every animal a human. Collins did not forget the exception to the rule. Except fish, which they eat
freely and don't consider animal.
"Good point." Zylas paused to give Korfius a warning nip on the jowl that sent the dog into barking
retreat. One hind foot slipped over the edge, and the dog flopped to the floor. "Quiet, Korfius. I'm glad
to see you, too, hut we can say 'hello' without the ear-shattering racket."
The dog cocked his head, tail waving, chin resting on the bed. Usually, the animals of Barakhai could
not communicate much better than the ones in Collins' own world, but a crystal that Zylas always carried
allowed him to speak even with other creatures.
Crystal. Where is the crystal? A million questions came to Collins' mind at once. Before he had left
Barakhai, nearly dead from a beating and a fall, he had captured another crystal, one that enhanced
magic, from Barakhai's king and delivered it to one of Zylas' renegades. With the help of the last dragon,
the only beings who could use magic, the renegades had planned to remove the curse that forced them to
cycle through an animal form each day. Collins wondered about the friends he had made in that strange
Otherworld called Barakhai. Did the crystal ever reach Prinivere, that ancient, feeble dragon who was
also a distant ancestor of Zylas'? Did it enhance the little bit of magic she could still manage? Clearly, she
had not actually lifted the curse, or Zylas would have come to Collins in man form. Unlike Korfius, he
preferred being human.
Before Collins could frame the first question, a trumpeting whinny froze him in place. He forced
himself to turn toward the window, where a familiar fuzzy head peered in at them. A black forelock lay
tousled over a wide, golden nose, and black ears formed excited, pricked-forward triangles. The mare