"Chalker, Jack L - Changewinds 3 - War of the Maelstrom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

were clearly play-acting. The fact that she was neither smart
enough nor sophisticated enough to understand much of what
he discussed was actually a plus. Ignorance was often the
safest confidant.

"You know what is causing this?" she prompted him,
trying to divert him from his anger.

"Yes, yes! It's obvious now! And Boolean probably had
nothing at all to do with it. I have kept you too sheltered, my
dear. Had I considered this threat I could have dealt with it,
but no more. That girl out there -- Boolean's Storm Bitch --
she's gone and gotten herself pregnant!"

The Storm Princess looked surprised. "That is all it takes
to cause this? that she be pregnant? Why did I not hear of
this before? Out there, on her own, it was almost inevitable
sooner or later."

He sighed. "1 -- I thought not. When I sucked them down
to Akahlar I had them in the Maelstrom you created for me. I
was about to shove them into the storm when Boolean ap-
peared. He took me completely by surprise -- I had no idea
until that moment that even he suspected what was going on,
nor certainly that he would have the skill, let alone the guts,
to tempt the Changewind. I had to draw my attention away
from the girls in order to block him. He actually challenged
me in there, knowing that if either of us so much as touched
the walls of the Maelstrom we would be consumed by the
Changewind. It took more skill and concentration to just

WAR OF THE MAELSTROM t)

remain there than even I thought possible. I refused, but
realized that so long as he was there and the danger so real I
had no chance to make a stab at the girls, who were being
drawn down and past me. I could have removed mem, but to
take my concentration off Boolean would have given him the
opening to destroy me. Still, with Boolean in the act, I knew
that there was at least a slim chance that our quarry might
elude us in Akahlar, where they could not be so easily
located. The flow of air from the storm is always an upward
spiral, as you know. I risked a small spell, down, below all of
us, figuring that Boolean would not notice such a minor thing
directed elsewhere than at him or the girls -- and he did not.
The spell caught in the spiral and came up, lost in the
overwhelming blast of power coming from the storm's walls."

"Just -- what did you do?" she asked him, not quite fol-
lowing all this.