"Patricia C. Wrede - Enchanted Forest 3 - Searchin for Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wrede Patricia C)

The King of the Enchanted Forest was twenty years old and lived in a rambling, scrambling, mixed-up
castle somewhere near the center of his domain. He some-imes wished he could say that it wasexactly
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at the center, but this was impossible because the edges and borders and even the geography of the
Enchanted For- st tended to change frequently and without warning. When you are the ruler of a magical
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kingdom, however, you must expect some small inconveniences, and the King tried not to worry too
much about the location of his castle.

The castle itself was an enormous building with a wide, square moat, six mismatched towers, four bal-
conies, and far too many staircases. One of the previous Kings of the Enchanted Forest had been very
fond of sweeping up and down staircases in a long velvet robe and his best crown, so he had added
stairs wherever he thought there was room. Some of the steps wound up one side of a tower and down
the other without actually going anywhere, which caused no end of con-usion among visitors.
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The inside of the castle was worse than the outside. There were corridors that looped and curled and
twisted, rooms that led into other rooms, and even rooms that had been built inside of other rooms.
There were secret passageways and sliding panels and trap- oors. There were several cellars, a
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basement, and two dungeons, one of which could only be reached from the sixth floor of the
North-Northwest Tower.

тАЬThere is something backwards about climbing up six flights of stairs in order to get to a dungeon,тАЭ the
King of the Enchanted Forest said, not for the first time, to his steward.

The steward, a small, elderly elf named Willin, looked up from a handwritten list nearly as long as he was
tall and scowled. тАЬThat is not the point, Your Majesty.тАЭ
The two were in the castle study, going over the dayтАЩs tasks. Willin stood in the center of the room,
ignoring several chairs of assorted sizes, while the King sat behind a huge, much-battered oak desk, his
long legs stretched out comfortably beneath it. He was not wearing a crown or even a circlet, his clothes
were as plain as a gardenerтАЩs, and his black hair was rumpled and needed trimming, but somehow he
still managed to look like a king. Perhaps it was the thoughtful expression in his gray eyes.

Willin cleared his throat and went on, тАЬAs the center of Your MajestyтАЩs kingdom, this castleтАФтАЭ

тАЬItтАЩs not at the center of the kingdom,тАЭ the King said, irritated. тАЬItтАЩs only close. And please just call me
Mendanbar and save all that тАШYour MajestyтАЩ nonsense for a formal occasion.тАЭ

тАЬWe donтАЩthave formal occasions anymore,тАЭ Willin complained. тАЬYour Majesty has canceled all of them
тАФthe Annual Arboreal Party, the Banquet for Lost Princes, the Birthday Ball, the Celebration of Colors,
the Christening Commemoration, theтАФтАЭ

тАЬI know,тАЭ Mendanbar interrupted. тАЬAnd IтАЩm sure you have them all written down neatly somewhere, so
you donтАЩt have to recite them all. But we really didnтАЩt need so many dinners and audiences and things.тАЭ

тАЬAnd now we donтАЩt have any,тАЭ Willin said, unmollified. тАЬAnd all because you said formal occasions
were stuffy.тАЭ