"Ann Maxwell - Fire Dancer 1 - Fire Dancer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Maxwell Ann)

No one noticed a tall furry carrying a smoothie away from the fire. Rheba watched the flames
with interest, her chin resting on Kirtn’s hard shoulder. The ziggurat housing Chaos was a
spectacular staircase of flaming colors that reflected the progress of the fire. There was a great
deal of fire. Too much. Once ignited, the casino’s accouterments burned with an almost sentient
fury.

She concentrated, trying to draw energy out of the fire before it could spread farther than the
Black Whole. But the fire had grown beyond her, rooted in its own searing destiny. When she
tried to gather up energy, she got too much, too soon. Fire leaped toward her, blistering her
fingers in the instant before she gave up and released the monster she had birthed. She sucked on
her burned fingers and tried again to quell the flames.

“Stop it!” growled Kirtn, shaking her. “You’re too young to handle that much raw energy.”

Rheba struggled against Kirtn’s strength but could not free herself. “Just how else will I learn?”
she asked in a strained voice. “There aren’t any more fire dancers to teach me—remember?”
Then, immediately, “I’m sorry, Kirtn,” she whispered. “You lost as much as I did when Deva
burned.”

Kirtn’s cheek touched the silky, crackling radiance of Rheba’s hair, silently forgiving her,
“You’ve learned too much already. More than a young fire dancer should have to know. You
should be doing no more than lighting candles and cooking food for akhenet children, not—”

“Cooking alien casinos?” finished Rheba wryly. “I seem to remember a certain Bre’n telling me
to burn it to ash.”

Kirtn looked startled. “Did I?”

“You did.”

He frowned, “I must have lost my temper.”

“You looked very fierce,” said Rheba, only half teasing. “I’ve never seen you look like that, not
even the day Deva burned.”

He said nothing. Both of them knew that Bre’ns were subject to berserker rage, a state called rez.
In rez, Bre’ns destroyed everything around them, most especially themselves and their Senyasi.
Rez, while not exactly a tabu subject, was not a comfortable one.
Rheba shivered suddenly. She had lost her robe somewhere in the melee and would not be warm
until she got to the ship. “We’ll make better time to the spaceport if you put me down.”

Kirtn measured the people surrounding them. No one seemed to be watching. He sat Rheba on
her feet, saw her shiver, and gave her his cape. She accepted it with a murmur of thanks and no
guilt; Kirtn’s fine “fur” was as efficient as it was short.

Rheba walked as quickly as she could without attracting attention. Her left ankle complained of
maltreatment. She ignored it Time was all that stood between them and intense questioning by
local police—or worse, the Yhelle Equality Rangers. She had not taken, out an arson license, an
omission that would cost her freedom if the Rangers caught up.