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

"Aye, speak with her, Morag," Gorkin agreed, and the giant woman actually smiled
with sympathy as she looked down at Alea.
"What do you hear in the wasteland, lass?" Then she lifted her gaze to Rokfr and
Jorak. "And what do they?"
Alea glanced back and saw the boys huddling together. Tall they might be, but
nowhere nearly as tall or massive as these grown giants. She could see that all
the nursery tales they'd. been told of horrible titans crunching on children's
bones, and the horror stories they'd' heard from returning soldiers about the
savagery and cruelty of the Jotuns, were storming their minds.
"Come, lads, it's not wartime, and we won't hurt you," the giant woman said
kindly. "You're more our kind than theirs now, anyway."
The boys stared wide-eyed, horrified at the idea.
"They've told you lies about us, haven't they?"
"A rain of lies," Alea said, her voice hard.
All the giants glanced at her with approval. Then Morag turned back to Jorak and
Rokir. "Were you cast out, then?"
"We ... we were,"Jorak stammered.
"The cruelty of it, casting out their own children!" Morag let her anger show,
but the boys cringed back, and she smoothed her face.
Gorkin and the others didn't, though.
"We're one of many patrols who scour this no-man's-land watching for Midgarder
raiders and for outcasts like yourselves." Morag glanced at Alea as she said it,
including her in the term. "If you're big enough, we take you home to grow up
among your own kind."
"But we're not. . ." Rokir caught himself and gulped, his eyes filling.
"Nay, you are," Morag said, all sympathy. "How old are you? Thirteen? Fourteen?
You've a great deal of growing before you, my lads, and you're giants for
sure-but I warrant you'll find us kinder than your own folk." She spread her
arms. "Come to us, then, and you'll find you've a home once more!"
The boys stared, wavering.
Alea realized they needed a bit of encouragement. She let the envy show in her
voice. "You lucky, lucky lads! A real home and a kind one, and you young enough
to grow into it! Oh, if I had your chance, I'd sip every drop of it!"
That was all they needed, approval from a Midgarder. They both stumbled forward
into Morag's arms and let themselves lean against her. She folded her arms about
them, saying, "Now, then, the nightmare's over, you've waked into a hug, and
you'll always have folk who care about you for the rest of your lives!" She went
on with other soothing murmurs, and little by little, the boys let themselves go
limp. Alea heard a choking gasp from one, and knew they were letting the tears
brim over as the fright and the horror sank down.
She looked up at Gorkin, her face hard, guarded. "Did I guess right? Is there no
such chance for me?"
Gorkin's gaze was all pity as he shook his head. "No, lass, I'm afraid you
guessed right. How old are you? Twenty-five? Thirty?"
"Twenty-eight," Alea said through stiff lips.
"Aye, that's what I feared," Gorkin said sadly. "You've grown all you're likely
to, and you'll never be big enough to call a Jotun. You're only a Midgarder to
us, lass, like all the others."
"But the Midgarders made me a slave because I was too big to be one of them!"
Alea cried. "They beat me for every mistake and ... and did worse things to me!