"Matthew Woodring Stover - Caine 02 - Blade of Tyshalle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stover Matthew Woodring)

becoming small and dangerous. He hammers the next word. "Administrator?"


"Please, Businessman, you, you must understand, he's been in the magick
program fourteen months; we must either, either, ah, graduate him or wash him out
in only ten more, and his, and his progress—"


Vilo goes back to the window; he's more interested in the cherry on the end of
his cigar than in Chandra's stammer. "Your parents live in, what, Chicago, right? That
nice old frame house on Fullerton, west of Clark."
 Chandra stands very still. Ice water trickles down his spine. "Yes, Businessman
..."


"You gotta understand that I don't make bad investments. You follow? Hari
gets his shot."


"Businessman, I—" Chandra says desperately, then with a massive exercise of
will steadies his voice. "There are other options that can be explored .. "


"I'm listening."


"Please, Businessman, perhaps I was too hasty in suggesting that Michaelson
cannot succeed. He is, after all, in Battle Magick, which is the most difficult school,
but it is the one place where his, erm, aggressive na ture may work to his advantage.
My idea—with your permission—is to provide him with a tutor:'


"He doesn't have tutors? What the hell am I paying for?"


"Tutors, yes, of course, staff tutors. Michaelson doesn't respond well to
directed instruction. He, ah—" Chandra decides not to tell him of the brutal beating
Michaelson had inflicted on Instructor Pullman. I knew about it, so did most of the
students at the Conservatory; it was the best gossip we'd had all year. Chandra
believes that issue is settled; and, really, the man had gotten no worse than he
deserved. In Chandra's mind, to make advances on a boy with Michaelson's
psychosexual dysfunctions had been irresponsible to the point of criminality.
Speaking for the students—well, Pullman's a nasty little groper; a lot of us wished
we'd done what Michaelson did.


"I'm thinking more in terms of another student, someone who'd have no
authority over him, who could, well—he doesn't respond well to authority figures, as
you might know—someone who could, well, be his friend."