"Sheri S Tepper - The End of the Game_txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

УWell, thereТs actually going through a window, isnТt there? Or calling someone through a window. Or summoning.Ф

УSummoning?Ф I thought about that. Summoning. Through windows. Of course. УIf one summoned through a windowЧif one didЧwhat answered the summons would be different, depending on the window, wouldnТt it?Ф I wasnТt sure about this, and yet it made a certain kind of sense. I might have summoned something into the dungeon very different from a thing I could summon into this room now.

УThink of calling to a lover,Ф said Margaret Foxmitten dreamily, her needle flashing in the sun. УCalling from this room. Think of calling something from the dungeon. Think of summoning a presence. Into this room. Into the dungeon.Ф

УAh,Ф I said, getting some misty idea of what they were getting at. УIf I ... if I wanted to summon something frightening or horrid, IТd call something out of the dungeon through that high, watery window. And I would lead it in again through the open portcullis.Ф

УYou could do that,Ф said Bets. УOr you could find the tiny, square window which looks out through an iron grille over the pit where ancient bones were dropped. You might call something in through that window more dreadful still.Ф

УBut,Ф said Murzy, Сsuppose you wanted to summon Where Old Gods Are?Ф Where Old Gods Are was the name of a very powerful spell they had taught me.

УI would summon through this window, here,Ф I said, opening the shutters and looking out on the peaceful pastures and the blowing green of leaves.

УGood,Ф said Murzy, packing up her work. УThink about that.Ф

I thought about it for some time, putting bits and pieces of it in place in my head. Not all of it connected to other things I knew, but some of it did. By that time it was dark, so we returned to Schooltown and the Festival.

So, came Festival morning and they decked me out like the Festival Horse, all ribbons. Murzy had given me a new blue tunic with a cape to match, and Bets Battereye spent most of the previous evening braiding my hair wet so it would wave. УWe want you to be a credit to us,Ф she said, yanking bits of hair into place. I thought it unlikely IТd be much credit to them bald, which is what it felt like, but IТd learned that uncomplaining silence was best in dealing with the dams. Come morning, the hair was brushed out into a wavy cloud, then they dressed me up and told me to stay in the room and stay clean until they came for me. So I pulled a chair over to the sill, and opened the casements wide. I could see people going by, and it put me in a fever of anticipation, but nothing would hurry them so I spent the time practicing summons and distraints.

It was a good window for summoning, broad and low, with a wide sill overhanging a fountain-splashed courtyard. Smell of water on the stonesЧthatТs important for some summons. You know the smell? That first smell of water on dry earth or dry stone? ThatТs the grow smell. Water, earth, and grow smell make one of the major triads of the Primary Extension of the Arcanum. ThatТs not secret. Everyone knows that. Gardeners use it all the time. Beneath the window was a herb garden with the shatter-grass, bergamot, ladyТs bell triad. There were five other triads within sight or smell, too, including two other majors, making seven all together. Not bad for a mere learner, and more than enough to call up something fairly powerful if IТd liked.

Sarah brought me a hot nutpie. УI know youТre starving, but patience a bit longer, chile. WeТve called the Healer for Tess. Poor thing, sheТs no younger than she was yesterday, and it tells upon her. Still, give us a bit and weТll be ready to go festivate with the rest of the town.Ф

At which I fidgeted, sighed, cut a slice of my pie, and laid out the summoning tools once more. Murzy said there was no such thing as practicing too much.

What would I practice this time? Lovers Come Calling, thatТs what. The window was perfect for Lovers Come Calling, so I would have window magic and the summons reinforcing one another. First the Pattern. Two hairs from my head. Mirror. Bell. Coal from the fire. Spidersilk for winding, binding. Spidersilk? MurzyТs sister Kate kept her place entirely too clean.

Finally I found some at the corner of the chimney. Then lay it all out in proper form. Whisper the words . . . Pause. Ring the bell. Pause. The words again. Pause.

There was a brown, round little man in a clean cookТs apron passing below the window, herding half a dozen boys before him. He looked up just then and called, УHappy Festival to you, lassy.Ф And the boys stopped, looking up. Stocky boys. Jeruval and Flot boys. Ordinary boys. Meaning nothing to me at all. They paused and went on incuriously, while one of them remained behind, mouth open, staring up at me. He was small, smaller than I, one of those boys who get their growth late, with his shoulders just beginning to widen. His face was serious and quiet with ruddy hair in one thick wave across his forehead. His eyes dug deep at me, as though he would understand everything they saw by sheer determination. The last of the words of Lovers Come Calling was. still on my lips.

Only then I realized what I had done. I had called. He had come. There was something else necessary, some final thing. I struggled with it. The spell was not complete until something was given between the two. A token. Something given as a token. Without thinking, I leaned out the window to put the warm slice of nutpie in his hand. He took it, bit it, smiled a small, rather puzzled smile, and then was dragged away by the little brown man.

And I sat as one lost forever, betrayed by what I had done.

Margaret Foxmitten came in behind me, stood there. I could feel her eyes examining the Pattern on the sill. УDid I see someone leave?Ф she asked. УJust now?Ф

I nodded, unable to speak.

УWho was it?Ф

УI donТt know,Ф I croaked. УI donТt know, Margaret.Ф

УThe more fool you,Ф she said. УNow youТre trapped and no way out of it. YouТve done LoversТ Call and someoneТs come in answer. Think of that.Ф She went out into the corridor, calling for Sarah to come hear what Jinian had done. I was too sunk in misery to listen. Misery and delight, of course. I was in love. Only thirteen, but in love. I wondered who he was.

I wondered if I would ever see him again. For if I did not, likely this love would haunt me until I died. No one could break the call unless we were both present and consenting.

УNow whatТve you done!Ф demanded Murzy, bustling into the room. УWhatТs this?Ф