"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 01 - The Black Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

she could save it and add it to others to obtain other luxuries. Skan simply kept a running account with
Gesten, whose services he shared with Amberdrake. Before he had left on this last mission, he had been
quite a few months ahead, and Gesten would be a very wealthy hertasi when the war was over.
"But child, I am curious," Urtho continued, his eyes fixed on her, as Loren beamed his approval and
the young gryphon stammered her thanks. "Who are your parents? Who trained you besides them?"
"My parentsss arrre no morrre," she replied. "They died when I wasss jussst fledged and I have no
ssssiblingsss."
Urtho's disappointment was clear even to Skan; there would be no more like Zhaneel unless she
mated. But before he could persist in finding out how she had been trained, since her parents had
obviously been unable to give her that training, one of his aides burst into the tent without so much as an
"excuse me."
"Lord Urtho! The counterattack at Stelvi Pass—"
That was all the boy needed to say; Urtho was off, following him at an undignified run that belied his
silver hair, out into the lamplight, and from there into the darkness.
This was not the first time Urtho had left Skan holding the line, and it probably would not be the last.
Skandranon knew what to do; summoning as much dignity and aplomb as his injuries permitted, he
proceeded to deal with the situation.
"Lord Commander, thank you for bringing Zhaneel here," he said, raising his head and then bowing it
slightly to Loren. "Once again, you have gone beyond mere duty, and if Urtho had not been forced to
leave, he would have told you so himself."
He hoped that Loren would take that as a hint, and so he did. "Thank you, Black Gryphon," he
replied, then continued, with an honesty that was not necessarily common among the commanders, "it has
taken me a while to learn the best way to employ fighters other than human, but I hope that Zhaneel's
success is a harbinger of more such victories to come. Now, if you will excuse me, news from Stelvi Pass
is going to affect all of us, and I must go at once."
He turned to Zhaneel. "Scout Zhaneel, you are officially on reward-leave for the next two days. I
will inform your wingleader, and I hope you can enjoy your well-earned rest."
Loren turned and pushed aside the tent flap, following Urtho into the night, though at a more
dignified fast walk.
Skan had hoped that the departure of the humans would relax the youngster, but she was clearly still
terrified. It was a bit disconcerting. No one had ever been terrified of him before, not among those on
Urtho's side, least of all one of his own kind, and an attractive lady at that. He would have expected
flirtatiousness, not fear.
He fluffed his feathers and let his eyelids droop a little, hoping his posture of relaxation would make
her relax in turn. A good theory, but unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Since Urtho has been called away, I must ask the rest of the questions he wanted to ask you," Skan
told her, in a very low, coaxing voice. "Believe me, it is not that we wish to make you uncomfortable, but
we need to know these things to improve the training of the next batch of fledglings."
She bobbed her head stiffly but gave no indication of relaxing. "It wasss no grrreat deed," she
insisted. "I did not clossse and fight prrroperly. No one can learrrn prrroperrr fighting frrrom thisss."
Skan had heard any number of "modest" protestations in his time and had made a few of them
himself, but this didn't seem to be the kind of modesty that covered the very opposite. On the contrary,
Zhaneel apparently believed what she was saying; that she had done nothing of note.
"Not all gryphons are large and powerful enough to close with makaar," he reminded her gently.
"And for even those, it is not always wise to try, particularly when there are more than one of them. Who
trained you to strike like a falcon?"
"N-n-no one," she stammered. "I did thisss becaussse I cannot fight like a prrroperrr grrryphon,
becaussse I am too sssmall and weak to be a prrroperrr grrryphon."
Small, perhaps, but she was certainly not weak, and Skan would far rather have brains on his side
than brawn. He'd seen too many muscle-bound specimens close with makaar believing themselves