"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 10 - The Black Raven" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

her help him. How to explain this - let me think - well, I can't, really, but
there are rituals that seal things off properly, that stop certain processes
which studying dweomer starts in motion.'
Evandar blinked rapidly several times.
'Oh well,' Dallandra went on. 'It doesn't particularly matter. I suppose you
want me to try to cure Ebany for you.'
'Not so much for me, but for his own self and his father. You see, I promised
Devaberiel that I'd bring his son home. And so I went looking for him in
Bardek, and I found him quite deranged. His wife's frantic about it.'
'He has a wife, then.'
'And children. A lot of children, actually. I didn't get a chance to count
them.'
'Well, you can't just snatch him away from his family.'
'Here's a great marvel. I realized that all on my own.' Evandar smiled and
leaned over to kiss her. 'So I thought I'd bring them all over.'
'Over where?' Dallandra grabbed his shoulders and pushed him to arm's length.
'And when? There's not enough food in the dun for everyone who's already in
it. You'll have to wait until the first harvest - early summer, that will be.'
'Well, then, you see? It's a grand thing that I thought to consult with you
first. Especially since there's also the little matter of his travelling
show.'
'Travelling show?'
'His eldest son juggles. His eldest daughter and her brother walk the slack
wire.' Evandar held up one hand and began counting things off on his fingers.
'Then he's got friends who are jugglers and acrobats. Rather a lot of those,
actually. Some lasses rescued from slavery who dance with scarves. Servants.
Horse handlers, and of course, the horses and wagons. And then -'
'That's quite enough.'
'And then,' Evandar went inexorably on, 'the elephant.'
Dallandra goggled at him.
'An elephant, my love,' Evandar said, grinning, 'is an enormous beast. Not
quite so big as a dragon, but large enough. It has a thick grey hide, a pair
of huge ears, and then a long nose that acts like a hand. It picks things up,'
'I don't care about its nose. You can't bring it here.'
'I did come to that conclusion.' He went on grinning. 'So where, my love,
shall I bring it and all the rest of them?'
'I haven't the slightest idea. Let me think on it.' Dallandra paused for a
sigh that came out more like a growl. I'm beginning to understand why the very
mention of Salamander made Jill furious.'
'Indeed? Here, Salamander claims that Jill cursed him when they parted, but
frankly, I can't believe it of her.'
'No more can I. How very very odd! I'll ask Rhodry what he thinks.'
'Do that, if you'd be so kind.' Evandar frowned down at the filthy snow. 'And
now I'd best be off again. I've a great many concerns these days, and they
seem to have got themselves all tangled in my mind.'
From Cengarn Evandar took to the mothers of all roads. It seemed to him that
he walked on the north wind like a long grey path in the sky. When he
travelled between worlds, he heard now and again scattered words and snatches
of conversations, and at other times he saw visions in brief glimpses, as if
he looked through windows into the future, a vast shadowed room. Today,