"Sorcerer's Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Phyllis Eisenstein)

“Have you no family, Master Feldar?”

“They tossed me out, sir. Because of my eye.”

“What sort of family would do that?” Cray asked.

“Farmers, sir. Plain peasant farmers.”

“They tossed out a good pair of hands. Unless… there is something else amiss with you.”

Sepwin shook his head. “Just the eye, sir. Folks don’t like to look at it. Folks don’t like to think about it.”

“Can it be so ugly?”

Sepwin looked away. “You would think so, I’m sure.”

Cray picked up his shield and hung it at its place on the saddle. “Where are you bound, Master Feldar?”

He shrugged. “Anywhere, sir. It doesn’t matter.”

“Would you care to ride behind me to the village? Gallant can easily carry both of us that far.”

“My lord, that would be more than kind.”

“Not ‘my lord’. Just Cray.” He mounted lightly. “Now up with you. Take my hand and put your foot in the stirrup there.”

Awkwardly, Sepwin clambered upon the saddle, settling himself behind Cray. He was there only a moment when he pushed away and slid over Gallant’s rump, landing

heavily on the dusty road. He scrambled to his feet, one hand pressed to his right hip, which had taken the brunt of the fall. “My lord,” he said hastily, “the back of your neck is covered with spiders!”

Cray felt of his neck with gentle fingers, and the spiders crawled onto his hand and scurried up his sleeve. “They won’t hurt you,” he said.

Sepwin’s single eye was wide. “You knew they were there?”

‘They’ve been there ever since I left my home. They are my friends.“

“Strange friends you have, my lord.” Sepwin backed away, one limping step. “I was born a farmer, and I don’t fear spiders, but I have never seen so many in one place at one time. And what a place!”

“They cling wherever they can,” said Cray. “Usually, most of them are in my sleeve.”

He coaxed one brown-and-white mite onto his open palm and held it out to Sepwin.

“You see?”

“Do they never bite you?” Sepwin asked.

“Never.”

Slowly, Sepwin sank to his knees. “My lord,” he murmured, “are you some sort of wizard?”