"John Varley - Blue Champagne" - читать интересную книгу автора (Varley John)

"...and though the healers labored long and hard, they could not save the Princess. She died that
night, far from her Prince."


file:///G|/rah/John%20Varley%20-%20Blue%20Champagne.htm (7 of 255) [2/17/2004 10:34:56 AM]
Blue Champagne

Her mouth was a little round O. Stories were not supposed to end that way.

"Is that all? She died and she never saw the Prince again?"

"Well, not quite all. But the rest of it probably isn't true, and I shouldn't tell it to you." Ian felt
pleasantly tired. His throat was a little raw, making him hoarse. Radiant was a warm weight on his
lap.

"You have to tell me, you know," she said reasonably. He supposed she was right. He took a deep
breath.

"All right. At the funeral, all the greatest people from that part of the galaxy were in attendance.
Among them was the greatest Sorcerer who ever lived. His name... but I really shouldn't tell you his
name. I'm sure he'd be very cross if I did.

"This Sorcerer passed by the Princess's bier... that's a—"

"I know, I know, Ian. Go on!"

"Suddenly he frowned and leaned over her pale form. 'What is this?' he thundered. 'Why was I not
told?' Everyone was very concerned. This Sorcerer was a dangerous man. One time when someone
insulted him he made a spell that turned everyone's heads backwards so they had to walk around
with rearview mirrors. No one knew what he would do if he got really angry.

" 'This Princess is wearing the Star stone,' he said, and drew himself up and frowned all around as if
he were surrounded by idiots. I'm sure he thought he was and maybe he was right. Because he went
on to tell them just what the Star stone was, and what it did, something no one there had ever heard
before. And this is the part I'm not sure of. Because, though everyone new the Sorcerer was a wise
and powerful man, he was also known as a great liar.

"He said that the Star stone was capable of capturing the essence of a person at the moment of her
death. All her wisdom, all her power, all her knowledge and beauty and strength would flow into the
stone and be held there, timelessly."

"In suspended animation," Radiant breathed.

"Precisely. When they heard this, the people were amazed. They buffeted the Sorcerer with
questions, to which he gave few answers, and those only grudgingly. Finally he left in a huff. When
he was gone, everyone talked long into the night about the things he had said. Some felt the Sorcerer
had held out hope that the Princess might yet live on. That if her body was frozen, the Prince, upon
his return, might somehow infuse her essence back within her. Others thought the Sorcerer had said
that was impossible, that the Princess was doomed to a half-life, locked in the stone.