"Christopher Stasheff - Warlock 07 - The Warlock is Missing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

"Now I cry HOLD!" Puck roared.

They froze, with Magnus's hand on the latch. "But Puck тАФan our parents be
strayed, 'tis our duty to seek them!"

"'Tis thy duty to do as they have bade thee!" The elf seemed to flicker like a
candle flame, and was suddenly standing with his back against the door, fists on his
hips, glaring at them. "They have charged thee to stay, and obey my commandsтАФso
stay thou shalt, and stay I shall, until their return!"

Storm clouds began to gather in the boys' faces.

Cordelia tried reason. "They did not know they would vanish, Puck.
Assuredly, then, they would have wished us to seek them. "

"Assuredly, if their enemies have become strong enough to capture them,
they would wish thee safe at home! And safe thou shalt be, guarded by legions of
elves!"

"Legions?" Gregory stared, wide-eyed.

Then he dashed to the window, to peer out. Geoffrey was right behind himтАФ
"legions" meant an army. Cordelia and Magnus wavered, then ran for the window
too.

They stared out at an empty garden and a meadow beyond it, with the forest
rising up at its far edge.
 "There's naught there!" Geoffrey cried in disappointment.

"Nay, there is, " Puck assured them. "Thou mayest not see them, but there's
not a foot of that meadow or garden that hath not its elf with his sling, or a fairy with
her dart.Thou couldst wander all day, and see never a one of themтАФbut let a
stranger approach, and he'll stumble and fall, never to rise again. "

Magnus turned slowly, his face set and expressionless. "Are they to keep us
penned within, also?"

Puck answered with a sour smile. "Credit me with some sense, warlock-ling!
I know thy sister can fly away on her broomstick, and that any of thou lads can fly
without oneтАФor disappear, and reappear miles away. Nay, I'd not seek to pen thee
here by force. "

"Yet thou wilt seek to hold us, " Cordelia said quietly.

Puck nodded. "I will hold thee by thy love of thy parents тАФfor look you,
what was their last command to thee?"

The children were silent, scowling at the floor and scuffing their toes.

"What did they say?" Puck demanded.