"Dave Luckett - The Girl The Dragon And The Wild Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Luckett Dave)

Going home was every bit as bad as Rhianna had feared it would be.

She slipped in the back door, hoping to tiptoe through to her room and not come out before dinnertime.
Her mother's back was turned to her as she peeled potatoes at the bench. Rhianna moved very quietly,
but she wasn't quiet enough. Meg Wildwood looked around.

"Ah, there you are, Rhianna," she said. "Late back from school, I see."

Oh dear, thought Rhianna. She smiled. "Yes, Mother. I thought I'd go straight through and get started on
my homework."

"Good, good," said her mother, nodding. "That's good, Rhianna. In fact, I think you need to do a lot
more of that. You know about the note your teacher sent home, then?" She fixed Rhianna with a
considering eye. "Of course you do." She pulled a piece of brownish paper from her pocket. "It says that
you failed another test today. Mrs. Greenapple thinks you will have to repeat this year's work."

Rhianna stared at the floor.

Her mother looked at the note and frowned. "At least, I think that's what she wrote. I must say, the
school really should use better spellpaper.This is falling to pieces already. But,"--she put it back in her
pocket--"I suppose your father will still be able to read it when he comes home."

Worse and worse.

"Mother... I tried. I studied, I really did. But it all gets mixed-up, somehow. It all comes out wrong. I get
confused. There are no rules... nothing ever makes sense."

Meg shook her head. "Rules? Of course there are no rules. Human beings make rules, not magic. Magic
is wild. At its heart, it's not to be tamed. We can only use it because there are ways of handling it that the
great wizards work out by trial and error. You have to remember those ways. Or you'll never be able to
use magic at all."

"Maybe I don't want to use it," mumbled Rhianna. "Father doesn't, much."

Meg's eyebrows went up. "Your father is a smith. There's nothing wrong with being a smith, Rhianna, but
it's hard work, and magic isn't much help with all that cold iron. We wanted something better for you.
That's one of the reasons we moved out here from Avalon. Home Island was getting crowded. There's
more magic in the country, with fewer folk to use it up. But there's no use in that if you won't learn the
spells."

Rhianna shrugged. "Not won't. Can't."

Meg was silent for a moment. Then: "All right, Rhianna. I know you try hard, and it's true that magic isn't
easy, not for everyone. Go and do your homework now, and try to remember what you read. I want to
hear the chants as you go over them. We'll talk it over at dinner with your father. I'm sure it's not as bad
as all that."

Rhianna went to her room, miserably. She sat at her table, opened her spellbook, and tried to learn the
spell for that day. It said: To freshen cut flowers--a pinch of rich earth and the words Floribunda in