"Somtow Sucharitkul - The Fallen Country" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sucharitkul Somtom)

"No," said the dragon, "only the shadow; the Ringmas-
ter has a thousand shadows, and it is only a shadow of his
shadow that has followed you all the way to your distant
world."

Billy nodded, understanding suddenly.

Then he saw a red weal open on the dragon's neck,
blood trickling in slow motion onto the snow, blood that
stained the whiteness like a poppy-dusterтАФ"He's hurt
you!" he said. They were akin then, he and this alien
creature. Both were at the mercy ofтАФ"Can't you cry out?"
he cried into the howling wind, "Can't you feel anything?"

"No." The dragon's voice did not change. "Here one
need feel no pain at all. It's better to feel nothing; isn't it?
Come now. Ride me."

He extended a wing; it fanned out into a diamond-
speckled staircase. When Billy stepped onto it he realized
that he felt no cold at all. He should be freezing to death
through his worn sneakers, but he felt only numbness. It
was less real than a dream.

"Lets go now. We'll have adventures, rescuing prin-
cesses, fighting monsters and such. Isn't that what every
child wants to do? A lot of children find their way into the
fallen country. And they find a use for themselves here
. . . one day we'll have a whole army of them."

"But I want to find the Ringmaster himself! I don't want
him to hurt you and me anymore. I want to kill him."

The dragon only laughed, a wretched ghost of a laugh.
Billy clambered up the wing.

"Every child who comes here dreams of reaching the
Ringmaster. Of shaping his anger into a bridge that will
touch the very heart of the Ringmaster and topple the
circus where he wields his whip. They learn better, Billy."

"I want to kill him!"

Again a spectre of a laugh. Billy settled on the dragon's
back; it was ridged with soft dunes of snow. The dragon
flapped his wings, not resoundingly, but with a thud like a
cellar door slamming shut in a next-door house.

The dragon said, "You'll never need to cry again. Billy.
From now on you will have to save your grief, your anger,