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

Morwen turned to the rabbit. "Now, about this clover patchтАж"
Killer dropped to all fours, which brought his head nearly level with Morwen's. He sniffed the air twice
and cocked an ear to the right.
"That way." He started off, and Morwen and the three chosen cats followed.
After ten minutes, Morwen was wishing she had brought her broomstick.
Killer set an extremely uneven pace, taking two or three long hops that would nearly carry him out of
sight and then pausing to sniff the air and twitch his whiskers nervously. It would have been much easier
to follow him by air, Morwen thought, but she did not say anything because it would only encourage the
cats to complain. Trouble, in particular, was extremely put out at having to let a rabbit lead. To make up
for it, he pretended to stalk Killer, slinking around trees like a gray shadow and muttering under his
breath. Aunt Ophelia and Miss Eliza contented themselves with making malicious remarks. Fortunately,
Killer was usually too far ahead to hear any of them.
When they finally reached the clover patch, Morwen was nearly as cross as her cats. Killer did not
seem to notice. He sat back on his haunches, waved proudly, and said, "Here we are!"
"This is it?" Trouble said, staring at an irregular mat of small green plants. It was no more than four feet
across, and a third of the plants had been nipped neatly off, leaving only short, bare stems.
"That's all?"
"It's much larger when I'm my normal size," Killer said in an apologetic tone. "And it's got much better
flavor than the one by the little pond or the one by the currant bush. At least, it used to."
Morwen suppressed a sigh of irritation. As long as she'd come this far, she'd better have a look at the
thing, even if it didn't seem particularly promising. Pushing her glasses firmly into their proper
position-they had slid down her nose a little on the walk-she knelt beside the clover patch.
At first glance, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Trouble came up beside her and sniffed at the
plants. "Don't nibble on any of them," Morwen said.
"I'm not stupid," said Trouble.
"No, but you've done things like that before," Aunt Ophelia put in.
"Don't interrupt Morwen while she's working."
 Trouble licked his front paw twice, displaying his unconcern to the world at large, then pounced on an
imaginary mouse in the middle of the clover patch.
"Morwen, there's something rather odd over here," Miss Eliza said.
She was crouched at the opposite edge of the clover patch, and her tail was lashing back and forth in a
way that belied her casual tone. "When you have a moment, you may wish to look at it closely."
"I'll take a moment now," Morwen said, rising. "What is it?"
"These." Miss Eliza sat back and waved a paw at the moss in front of her. A six-inch strip next to the
clover patch was peppered with small brown spots, as if someone had pushed the end of a pencil into it
several times.
"You're quite right," Morwen said. "This is odd. Killer, do you remember which part of this patch you
were nibbling on when you started to grow?"
"Not really. Does it matter?"
"It might. Trouble, would you please look around and see whether you can find any more of these
spots?"
"Oh, all right," said Trouble, but his yellow eyes gleamed with pleasure as he circled the clover patch.
"What are they?" Aunt Ophelia asked, joining Miss Eliza at Morwen's side. "Besides odd."
"I don't know. They look like a small version of-" "Morwen!" Trouble yelled from the foot of a nearby
tree. "Here's a big one!"
With a sinking feeling, Morwen crossed to Trouble's side, followed by the other cats. In the moss at
the foot of the tree, just where someone might have set the end of a staff to lean against the trunk, was a
dead brown circle about two inches across.
"A wizard!" Morwen said. "I was afraid of this."