"Patricia C. Wrede - Enchanted Forest 4 - Calling on Dragons" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wrede Patricia C)

like a copy for myself."
"Nosy old biddy," said the calico cat.
"On second thought, perhaps it would be better if I left things as they are," Morwen said.
"Being disagreeable, are they?" Archaniz said knowingly. "It's only to be expected. Who ever heard of
a polite cat?"
The black cat hissed. "Grendel!" said Archaniz. "Behave yourself.
It wasn't that bad, and besides, you can use the exercise."
"He certainly can," said the calico cat.
"What's all this racket?" rumbled a low, sleepy cat voice from under the porch. "Dash it, can't a fellow
take a nap in peace?" A moment later, a long cream-and-silver cat oozed around the steps to blink at the
growing assembly above him.
"That's another thing, Morwen," Archaniz said, scowling at the newcomer.
"Cats and witches go together, I admit. And I know they're a big help with your spells, but one really
ought to observe some reasonable limits."
"I do," said Morwen. All nine cats were useful, particularly when it came to working long, involved
spells that required both concentration and power. Nine cats working together could channel a lot of
magic.
To explain all this would sound uncomfortably like bragging, however, so Morwen only added,
"Anyway, I like cats."
"She is simply jealous because we're all smarter than he is," the white cat informed Morwen with a look
at the black cat on Archaniz's shoulder.
"What, all of you?" Morwen said, raising an eyebrow.
"All of us," the white cat said firmly. "Even Fiddlesticks."
"I'm very smart," Fiddlesticks agreed. "I'm lots smarter than Fatso there. Don't you think I'm smart,
Morwen?"
Grendel hissed and bunched together as if he were preparing to launch himself from Archaniz's
shoulder. Hastily, Archaniz put up her free hand to hold him back. "Perhaps I had better leave now," she
said.
"We can finish our discussion some other-" "There's a big garden show coming up in Lower Sandis ,"
Morwen said thoughtfully. "Why doesn't the Deadly Nightshade Garden Club enter an exhibit? If we all
work together, we should be able to put together something quite impressive."
Archaniz considered. "Monkshood and snakeroot and so on? In a large black tent."
"And if everyone sends one or two really exotic things-" "Morwen, you're a genius! People will talk
about it for years, and that Airy McAiling Grinny person won't have a leg to stand on."
"I don't think it will be that simple," Morwen cautioned. "But an exhibit will buy us time to find out why
he's so interested in making witches do things his way. And stop him."
"Of course," the Chairwitch said happily. "Let's see-Kanikak grows Midnight fire-flowers, and I have
half a dozen Giant Weaselweeds. If I can talk Wully into letting us use her smokeblossomsтАж"
"I'll contribute two Black Diamond snake lilies and an invisible dusk-blooming chokevine," Morwen
said. "I won't keep you any longer now; just let me know when you've got things arranged. Chaos, Miss
Eliza, Scorn, wait for me inside, if you please."
The three cats sitting on the railing looked at each other. Then Chaos, the long-haired tabby, jumped
down and sauntered past Fiddlesticks into the house. The white cat, Miss Eliza Tudor, followed, tail high,
and Fiddlesticks fell in behind her, apparently without even thinking about what he was doing. Scorn sat
where she was, staring stubbornly at Morwen.
"I'm not leaving while that idiot of hers is still here," Scorn said with a sidelong glance at Grendel and
Archaniz. "There's no telling what he might get up to."
As this did not seem unreasonable, for a cat, Morwen let it pass. She walked Archaniz out into the
yard, where there was plenty of room for a takeoff, and bade her a polite good-bye. As soon as the
Chairwitch was out of sight above the trees, Morwen turned to go back inside. Jasper Darlington Higgins