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

This time Amberdrake's smile was as much full of surprise as pleasure. "Thank you, Lanz. I will take
that as a very high compliment. Can I offer you anything?"
The boy blinked shyly. "I don't suppose a cup of bitteralm would delay me much—and could you
tell me a little more about some of the others down here?"
Amberdrake rose, and Lanz rose with him. "Why not come with me to the mess tent and see for
yourself?" he asked.
"I think—I will!" Lanz replied, as if he was surprised by his own response.
By such little victories are wars and hearts won, Amberdrake thought with a wry pleasure, as he
led the way.




Seven
Zhaneel flexed her talons, digging them into the wood of her enormous block-perch. She checked
over her harness again—wire-scissors, bolts, spikes, rope-knife, preknotted ties, all sized for her large,
stubby "hands"—and stared out over the obstacle course she herself had set up. The course covered
several acres by now, built mainly in erosion trenches and brook-cut hollows that were of little value to
anyone in Urtho's camp, dotted with fallen trees and sandstone boulders. To get from here to the end of
it, she would have to fly, dodge, crawl, and even swim. There were water hazards, fire hazards, missiles
lobbed by catapult—
And now, magic.
She had already gotten the help of Amberdrake's hertasi, Gesten, in this endeavor. He'd been there
from the very beginning; somehow he had known, perhaps through Amberdrake, what she was going to
attempt. He had never asked her why. He simply showed up unasked, acted as her hands, then found
three others to aid him in setting up the course and in triggering the hazards. At first, no one had paid any
attention to what she was doing, but gradually her runs attracted a small audience. At first, this had
bothered her, until the day when, after several unsuccessful tries at passing a hazard of simulated
crossbow bolts, she made it through untouched and the tiny group applauded wildly.
That was when she realized that they were not there to make fun of her, but to cheer her on.
She had honestly not known what to make of that; it bewildered her. Why should anyone take an
interest in her?
Then again, she had never been able to effectively figure out why hertasi and humans did most
things....
But today, she had a larger audience than ever before, and she knew precisely why this time. Word
had spread that her obstacle course included magic.
She hadn't planned on including magical traps; those took effort and much energy, and she had
never for a moment believed that there was any mage in the entire camp willing to devote so much as a
candlemark of practice time to helping her. Or so she had thought, until a few days ago.
A young mage, a Journeyman named Vikteren, approached her for help. He needed
spell-components. Still-living spell-components, which were not at all interested in becoming
components of anything.
Zhaneel's speed and agility were what caught his attention; speed and agility were precisely what he
lacked in going after starlings, rabbits, and other small, swift creatures. So they struck a bargain; she
would hunt for him, and he would provide her with magical obstacles.
He had been doing so for several days now, and he had told her yesterday, grinning, that he was
very impressed. Actually, what he had said was, "You're good, gryphon! Very damned good!"
So, much to her shock and amazement, had the gryphons' trainer, Taran Shire. The day after
Vikteren began helping her, Taran showed up on the sidelines. Now, along with the young Journeyman,
the seasoned trainer joined her every day, working with her on his own time.