"Robert Weinberg - Logical Magician 02 - A Calculated Magician" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinberg Robert)

any distinguishing aspects. Each bird was the exact duplicate of the other.
“Finally made it back,” said the raven, not speaking with Merlin. Jack assumed it had to be
Hugo. “What took you so long?”
“We encountered some more problems on the highway,” replied Jack. “Besides,” he added,
unable to resist, “it’s not as far traveling straight as the crow flies.”
“Crow?” squawked the bird, sounding indignant. “No insults, please. Mongo and I are ravens.
We’re the most famous ravens in all of mythology.”
“I’ll bet,” said Jack. “Though I’m not sure how the pair of you hooked up with my mom.”
“Simple,” replied the bird. “Once the priests of the White Christ arrived in the northlands, the
Boss realized his days were numbered. Before vanishing, he worked hard providing all of his loyal
servants with good homes. Mongo and me always got along real well with your mother so we decided to
stay with her. The wolves, Geri and Freki, moved in with your aunt Hannah.
“We stop in to see them once or twice a year. To keep things simple, they pretend now to be
dogs,” The bird laughed, a bizarre sound. “Big, big, dogs, with immense teeth.”
“I’m lost,” said Megan, “completely, hopelessly lost.”
“Merely uninformed, daughter,” said Merlin, rising to his feet. “You’re lacking the proper
information. This fascinating creature has just told Jack that his mother is one of the fabled ’Choosers of
the Slain.’ Or, as they are called in books today, the Valkyries.”
Megan looked at Jack, her eyes wide. “Valkyries as in ’Ride of’?”
“You got it, sister,” said Hugo. Beside it, Mongo flapped its wings and cawed out a few barely
recognizable bars of the Wagner piece. The screeching hurt Jack’s ears. “Freda was a high flier once.
She and her sisters tore up the skies on Wings of Horses.”
“Then who are you two?” asked Megan.
“Hugi and Mugin at your service, ma’am,” said Hugo. The two birds dipped their heads, as if
bowing politely. “Trained circus performers, notorious spies and gossips, and onetime companions to the
mightly All-Father, leader of the Norse Gods, Odin.”
“It’s all coming back to me now,” said Jack. “Edmond Hamilton and Lester del Rey both wrote
novels about ordinary mortals who find themselves in Götterdämmerung, the Twilight of the Gods. So did
L. Sprague de Camp.”
An avid fantasy fan with a phenomenal memory, Jack’s knowledge of legendary and
mythological characters came primarily from the stories he had read over the past decade. In most cases,
the information he remembered served him better than consulting Bulfinch’s Mythology.
“Personally, I liked de Camp’s Incomplete Enchanter the best,” declared Hugo. “He portrayed
Odin true to character---rude, mysterious, and always brooding.”
“Nah,” said Mongo. “Hamilton’s A Yank at Valhalla was tons more fun. He justified everything
through super science and the story had a slam-bang finish. They don’t write stuff like that anymore.”
“You two read science fiction?” asked Jack, bewildered. “I didn’t know birds could read.”
“We’re not ordinary birds, Jack,” said Hugo. The raven’s piercing black eyes froze Jack with a
wicked stare. “Don’t you forget it. In the old days, we flew all over gathering information for the
All-Father. Each night we landed on his shoulders and described to him what was happening throughout
the world.”
“World meaning the immediate surroundings,” interrupted Mongo, sounding slightly sarcastic.
“Amazing how the scale of things changes once you escape the limits of the nearby surroundings.”
 “Whatever,” said Hugo, flapping his wings in annoyance. “Give me a chance to explain without
interruption, please.”
“I’m sure Jack has already deduced the rest,” said Mongo. “He’s a bright boy. You heard
Merlin’s narrative how Johnnie saved the world from the forces of darkness.”
“Yeah,” said Hugo. “But think what he could have done with our help.”
The big raven shrugged, not an easy task considering it had no shoulders. “I guess Mongo’s right.
It ain’t hard to figure out the full report. Since we had to spy and then report to the All-Father, we were