"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 07 - A Wizard In Midgard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

Alea's heart went out to them in spite of what they'd tried to do-or tried to
work themselves into doing. They were still children inside, after all, and
children who had been heart hurt very badly. But they were growing up fast.
She had to help them grow up right. "Very well, I'll come down. Turn your backs
again."
The boys did, and Alea climbed down, staff still dangling from her wrist-she
wasn't about to let it go. She dropped from the lowest limb. "All right, you can
look."
The boys turned around as she slipped the loop off her wrist and leaned on the
staff to look up at them. Heavens, they seemed huge! Almost two feet taller than
she was, and already hulking with muscle. "You'll have to learn to stand very
straight," she said automatically. "You don't want to grow up hunching over."
The boys straightened up on the instant, but Jorak frowned. "Who made you our
mother?"
Something in Alea cringed at the thought, but she answered gamely, "It's just
that I've been down the road ahead of you, my lad. A girl as tall as I am starts
hunching her shoulders forward and stooping a bit, so people don't see how high
she stands. My mother stopped me from that, or I'd be a hunchback by now. Stand
straight! Stand tall! Be proud of your inches!"
"Proud?"Jorak stared, confounded.
"Proud!" Alea declared. "Half the reason they threw you out was jealousy, you
know, and the other half was fear. They wished they could be as tall as you, and
were afraid what you might do to your enemies when you were grown. What you are
is grand, and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise!"
"She speaks truth," rumbled a deep voice behind her. "I've never heard a
Midgarder speak so honestly."
Alea whirled in alarm and stared up-and up, and up. She'd thought the boys were
huge, but she hadn't known what size was. The giant towered four feet above her
head and was so wide he seemed to fill the whole world. He wore the same tunic
and leggins as the men of Midgard, with leather armor sewn with rings and
plates. But there was so much of it! She wondered dizzily how many cows had gone
to make his hauberk, how many sheep had been shorn to make his clothes.
"Nay, don't be frightened, lass," the giant said, his voice oddly gentle. "We'll
not hurt you."
We? Alea glanced around him and saw half a dozen more, one or two even bigger
than he! But the strands of gray in his hair showed him to be the oldest and
most experienced, so it was he who spoke for them all.
Alea stood her ground, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin in defiance
so the giants wouldn't see the fear inside her. If Midgard women went to battle,
she might have seen one of these behemoths before, but since they only went as
nurses, half a mile behind the fighting, she never had.
"I'd best talk to her, Gorkin," a lighter rumble of a voice said, and a shorter
giant stepped up beside the leader. Alea took in the long hair flowing out from
beneath the iron cap, the huge steel cups sewn to the leather of herarmor, and
realized with a shock that this second giant was a woman! She was
scandalized-how dare the giants risk their women in battle? But hard on its
heels came envy-this huge woman could share in the glory of war and had been
trained to face its dangers. Most importantly of all, she could defend herself
against attack! Alea wished sorely for some of that training now, when she had
to face the world alone.