"Christopher Rowley - Bazil 01 - Bazil Broketail" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowley Christopher)

romantic dreams shattered. Werri didnтАЩt want her in the quarter. Now
that heтАЩd had his way with her, he didnтАЩt even want to know her.

Grimly the Lady Flavia had prescribed the punishment: long and hard
labor on Fundament Day.

Of course, Werri was a handsome young devil, in the way that elvish
folk often were, with a long lean jaw, slender straight nose, and
green-brown eyes that danced when he spoke. And long, green-blond hair
that hung down to his shoulders and which he shook back from his eyes or
tied back with a silver elf-band.

But those triangular flecks on his skin were the mark of the wild elf glen
and of entry into the world through the womb of a tree. No woman could
give birth to such as Werri, for the only product of such liaisons was the
engenderment of imps, debased and evil.

And thus to be caught abed with such a one as Werri was a serious
matter for a young witch in the Novitiate.

And for Lagdalen of the Tarcho they had high hopes; the Lady Flavia
had said as much in prescribing the punishment.

тАЬNormally for this sort of thing, IтАЩd take the cane to your backside and
set you a full Declension of the Dekademon, plus a month of service in the
Temple to show you just how silly it is for a witch in the Novitiate to be
infatuated with an elfboy, and to remind you of your place within our
mission. But you are not just any novice, Lagdalen. Of you we have hopes
of much achievement in this world. You are to go to Cunfshon, to the
teachers there. If you continue your growth you will go on to a great career
in either the Temple or the Administrative Service.тАЭ

Flavia had frowned most thoughtfully then, while gazing into a white
paper file upon her desk.

тАЬSo instead you will clean the Stables of the Guard on Fundament Day,
and produce a full Declension of the Dekademon by the end of the week.
Am I understood?тАЭ

LagdalenтАЩs heart had grown heavy at the thought, for she loved
Fundament Day beyond all other festivals and would willingly have
endured the cane, though FlaviaтАЩs was a notoriously heavy hand with it,
instead of spending that day working in the stables.

Flavia had then said, тАЬYou must understand this, Lagdalen. The
passions of the body are sent to torment us and to turn us aside from our
historic mission. We must eschew all thoughts of love and family during
these learning years. And, of course, it goes without saying that we must
not have congress with the elvish. From such unions can come only imps
and disaster. The elvish cannot understand the distress they cause in this