"Sheri S. Tepper - The True Game 2 - Necromancer Nine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

"Well, that comes with consorting with Wizards. I told Mertyn you should get out, travel a bit, try
your Talent. But it seems you're doing that." He nodded and sipped. "Strange are the Talents of Wizards.
That's an old saying, you know. I have never known one well, myself. Is Himaggery easy to work with?"
"Yes, sir. I think he is. Very open. Very honest."
"Ah." He laid a finger along his nose and winked. "Open and honest covers a world of strategy, no
doubt. Well. Who would have thought a year ago you would manifest such a Talent as Necromancy.
Rare. Very rare. We have not had a student here in the last twenty years who manifested Necromancy."
"There are Talents I would have preferred," I said. Chance was looking modestly at his feet, saying
nothing. This fact more than anything else made me cautious. I had been going to say that Necromancy
was not my own or only Talent, but decided to leave the subject alone.
"I don't think I even have a Gamespiece of a Necromancer," he said, brow furrowed. "Let me see
whether I do. He was up, through the door into the classroom. I followed him as seemed courteous. He
was rooting about in the cold chest which housed the Gamespieces, itself covered with frost and
humming as its internal mechanism labored to retain the cold. "Armigers," he said. "Plenty of Armigers.
Seers, Shifters, Rancelmen, Pursuivants, quite an array here. Minor pieces; Totem, Talisman, Fetish.
Here's an Afrit, forgotten I had that. Here's a whole set of air serpents, Dragon, Firedrake, Colddrake,
all in one box. Well. No Necromancer. I didn't think I had one."
I picked up a handful of the little Gamespieces, dropped them quickly as their chill bit my fingers.
They were the same size as the ones I carried so secretly, perhaps less detailed. Under the frost, I
couldn't be sure. "Gamesmaster Gervaise," I asked, "where do you get them? I never thought to ask
when I was a student, but where do they come from?"
"The Gamespieces? Oh, there's a Demesne of magicians, I think, off to the west somewhere, where
they are fashioned. Traders bring them. Most of them are give-aways, lagniappe when we buy supplies. I
got that set of air serpents when I bought some tools for the stables. Give-aways, as I said."
"But how can they give them away? To just anyone? How could they be kept cold?"
Gervaise shook his head at me. "No, no, my boy. They don't give Gamespieces to anyone but
Gamesmasters. Who else would want them? They do it to solicit custom. They give other things to other
people. Some merchants I know receive nice gifts of spices, things from the northern jungles. All to solicit
custom." He patted the cold chest and led the way back to Chance. The level of wine in the bottle was
considerably lower, and I smiled. He gave me that blank, "Who, me?" stare, but I smiled nonetheless.
"I hear Mertyn's tread on the stairs," I said. "I take leave of you, Gamesmaster Gervaise. We will
talk again before I leave." And we bowed ourselves out, onto the stair. I said to Chance, "You were very
silent."
"Gervaise is very talkative among his colleagues, among the tradesmen in the town, among farmers.
. . ." Chance said. "You may be sure anything you said to him will be repeated thrice tomorrow."
"Ah," I said. "Well, we gave him little enough to talk of."
"That's so," he agreed owlishly. "As is often best. You go up to Mertyn, lad. I'm for the kitchens to
see what can be scratched up for our lunch."
So it was I knocked on Mertyn's door and was admitted to his rooms by Mertyn himself. I did not
know quite what to say. It was the first time I had seen him in this place since I had learned we were
thalan. I have heard that in distant places there are some people who care greatly about their fathers. It is
true here among some of the pawns. My friend Yarrel, for example. Well, among Gamesmen, that
emotion is between thalan, between male children and mother's full brother; between female children and
mother's full sister. Here is it such a bond that women who have no siblings may choose from among their
intimate friends those who will stand in such stead. But our relationship, Mertyn's and mine, had never
been acknowledged within this house.
He solved it all for me. "Thalan," he said, embracing me and taking the cloak from my shoulders.
"Here, give me your hood, your mask. Pfah! What an ugly get-up. Still, very wise to wear it. Chance's
choice, no doubt? He was always a wary one. I did better than I knew when I set him to watch over
you."