"Elgin,.Suzette.Haden.-.Ozark.-.01.-.Twelve.Fair.Kingdoms" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elgin Suzette Haden)

"First," I said quickly, "there's finding out where this attack
is coming from. That's the easy part."

My mother crossed her long white hands over her breasts to
indicate her shock and informed us that/iw we had to get that
baby down out of that tree.

"Mother, dear Mothei," I said, "you know that's not so—
mat baby is all right. Unlike the rest of us, that baby is
protected from every known danger this planet can muster up.
Not so much as a bacterium can get through that bubble to
harm Terrence Merryweather McDaniels, and he will be tended
more carefully there than a king's son."

It was only a figure of speech; there were no kings in our
kingdoms and never had been, and therefore no king's sons.
When First Granny had stood on Ozark for the first time, her
feet to solid ground after all those weary years on The Ship,
she had looked around hei; drawn a long breath, and said,
"Well, the Kingdom's come at last, praise be!" and we'd had
"kingdoms" ever since for that reason alone. But it had the
necessary effect. Thom of Guthrie made a pretense of thinking
it over, but she knew I was right, and she nodded her lovely
head and agreed with me that the baby probably represented
the least of our problems. Except insofar as it stood for an
insult to our Family and our faith, of course (and it was at that
point that I realized the Solemn Service had been left
unfinished).

Twelve Fair Kingdoms 13

"I say call in the Magicians of Rank, then," said Jubal
Brooks, "and have them to find out which one of our eleven
loving groups of kindred has set itself to bring the Confedera-
tion down about our heads. Literally about our heads."

"No," I told him, hoping he was right that it was only one.
"No, Jubal Brooks, that's all wrong. It would maybe be
fastest, depending on the strength and number of the Magicians
ranged against ours, but it's all wrong as to form."

"I don't see it," he said.

"Asymbol," said Ruth of Motley, spelling it all out for him,
"is best answered by a symbol. Not by a . . . meat cleavec "

"And what symbol do we propose to offer up for this motley
collection—no ofiense meant. Mother—of shenanigans? Cross
our hearts and spit in the ocean under a full moon?"