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

“I would think you are well protected in Ringforge.”

“How?” He clutched a length of his dark cape in both fists, “I wear woven cloth; she could turn my very clothes against me.”

“Inside your own castle?”

“Am I never to set foot outside again, then? Must I wear plate armor every time I walk abroad? Or felted garments hung together with bolts and glue? She rules too much, her hand is everywhere. What can I do, Gildrum?”

She smiled. “A fire demon could keep you warm enough if your vanity would permit you to walk the world naked, my lord.”

“A sorcerer naked as a beggar? Hardly!”

“A beggar would not wear rings of power on all his fingers. People would know your rank.”

“Don’t try my patience so, Gildrum.”

“Then I must think a moment, lord.” Pursing her lips, crossing her arms over her bosom, she looked up at the ceiling. Just visible beneath the hem of her blue gown, her feet swung slow arcs between the legs of the stool, pendulums measuring the time of her thought. “My lord,” she said at last, “if you are truly concerned about some danger from the lady, then I would advise you to construct a cloth-of-gold shirt, a fine mesh garment, supple enough to wear next to your skin. It must be made of virgin ring-metal, and you must draw and weave the strands yourself, without demonic help. Such a combination of your province and hers would be impervious to her spells and to any of your own that she might try to turn against you.”

Rezhyk poked the coals in the brazier. “A fine notion, Gildrum, but what is to keep her from discovering that the shirt is being made long before I finish it? I am no weaver, after all; it would be a slow process.”

“How will she discover it? You will do it here in Ringforge.”

“How does she discover anything? Every spider is her spy.”

“Even here in your own castle?”

“Even my own castle is not proof against vermin. They come and go as they please.” He glanced about nervously. “There are none here now, but they might get in at any time.”

“Well, then, you must do something about them. Post a watch of fire demons to burn every spider that approaches the outer wall.”

“She will take that as an affront!”

Gildrum sighed. “Worse and worse. Perhaps if you just sent her a vase of flowers and begged her forgiveness…?”

Rezhyk paced a slow circle about the brazier. If only we could arrange for her to take a long sea voyage, or to go into seclusion in some distant cave for a while. How much time do you think the making of the shirt would require?“

“As you said, you are no weaver. Perhaps a month. Perhaps two. No more than that, I think, if I show you exactly what to do.” She held up a hand to stop his pacing. “There is a way to weaken her powers for a month or two, my lord.”

“Yes?”

“If she conceived a child, the child’s aura would interfere with her own. She would be limited, severely limited.”

“Enough…?”

“Enough that she could hardly speak to a creature beyond her own castle walls.”

Rezhyk shook his head. “She would abort the child. She would abort it as soon as she realized it existed. She could not allow that kind of vulnerability.”

“A month or two, I said, my lord. Until she noticed the pregnancy. Until she noticed the curtailing of her powers.”