The Familiars: Animal Wizardry. Adam Epstein
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Название: The Familiars: Animal Wizardry
Автор: Adam Epstein
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Природа и животные
isbn: 9780007542802
isbn:
The afternoon had been filled with wizarding chores as well: cauldron cleaning, wand polishing and dusting the hourglasses. They spent some time collecting mud lizards for regeneration potions—potions that Aldwyn was told would allow a missing arm or finger to grow back within minutes. It turned out Aldwyn had a particular knack for chasing these dirt-dwelling creatures made of living mud. He’d become quite comfortable digging through muck while living briefly in the sewers beneath Bridgetower, until the notorious crocodile infestation two years ago had made it too dangerous. He even got a compliment from Skylar for nabbing three mud lizards at once.
Before the sun had set, Aldwyn watched the young wizards-in-training create water fairies out of thin air and cast a spell that allowed a barren everwillow tree to grow back its leaves. And right before dinner, Gilbert said this hadn’t even been a busy day.
Aldwyn licked his bowl clean as embers popped and crackled right over his head. Dalton added some more kindling to the fire.
“The evening breeze is strong for early autumn,” he said. “If the strange weather occurrences of late keep up, my father’s barley crop will be a small one again. And I imagine Marianne and Jack’s uncle will fare no better.”
“Well, word has spread that Queen Loranella is ill,” said Kalstaff. “Which would explain why her weather-binding spells have been unable to hold back the hail and mountain winds. And why there have been reports of gundabeasts breaking through her majesty’s enchanted fences and roaming Vastia.”
Marianne glanced up from her stew.
“I thought I saw something creeping outside our bedroom window last night,” she said with a devilish grin.
“Stop teasing,” said Jack, clearly alarmed.
“And it looked hungry.”
“Now, now, Marianne,” said Kalstaff. The old wizard waited until her giggling subsided, before continuing. “Border monsters like the gundabeasts are very serious business. The longer the queen is in a weakened state, the greater these threats to Vastia will become.”
“But you could defeat them, couldn’t you, Kalstaff,” said Jack, more as a statement of fact than a question.
“Nothing to be concerned about, Jack,” said Kalstaff. “Not yet at least.”
Aldwyn had never realised how important the queen’s magic was in keeping Vastia safe.
“May we be excused?” asked Dalton. “I have some component charts to memorise before bed.”
“Not just yet,” said Kalstaff, as he turned to his youngest pupil. “First, it is time for Jack’s Familiar Rite.”
Jack jumped up excitedly, hurrying over to Aldwyn. He picked him up and brought him before Kalstaff, who was seated on a mossy rock.
“Sit him beside you and take his paw in your hand,” instructed Kalstaff.
Jack sat cross-legged on the ground, scooping up Aldwyn’s furry paw in his palm. There it was again: the warm, comforting sensation of belonging. It was the very same thing Aldwyn had felt in the familiar store when Jack first tickled his chin. Kalstaff began to draw circles in the air with his rod. Aldwyn glanced over to Gilbert, utterly confused by what was happening.
“Uh, what’s going on?” asked Aldwyn.
“Shhh,” whispered Skylar. “You’ll disturb Kalstaff’s incantation.”
Kalstaff continued with the ritual, throwing a spray of copper dust into the fire, turning the flames green.
“Vocarum animale,” intoned Kalstaff. “Assendix scientento felininum!”
In a flash, the fire jumped into the sky and then just as quickly got sucked back into the logs, disappearing as if it had never been there in the first place. Jack and Aldwyn looked around, waiting for more to happen.
“That’s it?” asked Jack.
“Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?” asked Aldwyn.
Jack’s head shot round to Aldwyn.
“What did you just say?”
“I said will somebody please—hang on, are you talking to me?” answered Aldwyn.
“Holy dragon eggs!” exclaimed Jack. “I can understand you. Say something else.”
“Um, OK: I… like… fish!”
“Wow! It worked. Now I suppose you can tell me your name.”
“I’m Aldwyn.”
“Nice to meet you, Aldwyn. I’m Jack,” he said, before turning to the others. “His name is Aldwyn! He just told me.”
“That is amazing,” teased Marianne. “What else did he confide in you? That he likes chasing balls of wool?”
“You forget how excited you were when Gilbert first spoke to you,” Kalstaff admonished her. “You nearly fainted.”
“It’s true,” recalled Dalton. “Kalstaff had to carry you over to the runlet and splash water on your face.”
Marianne blushed, and Jack let out a laugh.
“Pretty cool, huh?” said Gilbert to Aldwyn. “Kalstaff waves his wand a couple of times and next thing you know, your loyal gains the ability to understand what you’re saying.”
“It’s a lingual divination spell,” explained Skylar. “It only works between you and your loyal. It allows human spellcasters like Dalton or Jack or Marianne to commune with their familiars, even though they can’t speak animal tongue the way elder wizards, like Kalstaff, are able to.”
“I understand it’s some of Ebekenezer’s best work,” said Aldwyn, taking the small titbit of knowledge he had overheard in the familiar store and claiming it as his own.
Skylar nearly sprained her neck, so severe was her double take.
“Horteus Ebekenezer,” clarified Aldwyn, “The great forest communer.”
“I didn’t realise your studies were so advanced,” said Skylar.
“Well,” replied Aldwyn. “I may not know so much about juniper berries, but СКАЧАТЬ