The Chaoswar Saga: A Kingdom Besieged, A Crown Imperilled, Magician’s End. Raymond E. Feist

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СКАЧАТЬ long legs. She had a flat stomach despite her ravenous appetite, and had developed a round, if small, bosom. Her neck was long but what was most striking were her features; she had kept her small fangs, but otherwise her face was almost human in her features, as if she was inclined to become a succubus of the First Realm. Belog wondered if perhaps in her previous existence she had been such, for she had shown only passing interest in them, yet had seemed almost single-minded in her curiosity about the demon realm.

      She paused as she drank in the essence of the flyer and realised she had to exert her will. She felt a strong desire to transform herself into a flyer. She didn’t hesitate. Flying would have given her speed and the ability to hunt, but she would lose strength, and as she sensed her power growing, she decided it was better to guard her strength rather than waste it by transforming herself into a creature of lesser might.

      She knew that should she choose, she could direct her future growth to choosing wings. But to be a flyer of her size would require mastery of magic, a topic she returned to frequently, so it was a possibility, just not now.

      She motioned to Belog to come out from behind the rocks where he hid, waiting to see the outcome of the attack, knowing that had the flyer been victorious, Belog would have attempted to steal away while the flyer feasted upon her.

      They were in the middle of a vast plateau riven with gullies, valleys with dead ends; deep crevasses which forced them to double back and pick their way across the baked red landscape. It was torturous travel, but they kept moving.

      The air hung heavy with dust and the smell of sulphur, metallic hints of copper and iron, and the stench of decay. Plumes of hot gases erupted around them, foul, yellowish geysers and fumaroles. Hellish was the only word to describe it, a fact she found oddly amusing, but she wasn’t entirely sure why.

      She beckoned for him to consume what she had left. As he ate, she asked, ‘Why are the flyers so slight?’

      ‘Creatures that fly have hollow bones, though the bone wall is sturdy. They must be light so their wings can lift them. The muscles that drive the wings are powerful, though.’ He stopped to bite deep into the dead flyer’s haunch. There was still enough energy left within the flesh to sustain him for a few more days. She was being generous in how much she provided. Or calculating; it was the nature of demons that the first sacrifice to hunger was intelligence, yet her desire for knowledge was equal to her hunger for flesh. She was not only keeping him alive, she was keeping him useful.

      He swallowed, then said, ‘Some flyers can lift their own weight, but they tend to be smaller than this. It is a limited choice.’

      ‘I came to that conclusion just now. Why give up power?’

      ‘Speed and vision, each is a different sort of power. You can see threats coming from farther away; you can outrun pursuit. You can soar high above the struggle.’ He shrugged as if to indicate he was offering reasons, not making a judgment. ‘But you have to sacrifice strength.’

      ‘I have seen …’ She stopped. ‘No, I have another’s memories of massive flyers, carrying weapons and wearing armour.’

      ‘Such creatures fly by more than the strength of their wings. They use magic to keep aloft. They are very powerful, lords, princes, and kings.’

      ‘Why?’

      Belog had come to understand that this was Child’s usual method of enquiry, following a thread of discussion till she found out what she wanted to know.

      ‘In the Time Before Time, when we were all like Savages—’ he began. He had discovered after several beatings at her hands that she had a preference for old lore; so perhaps the first Archivist she had devoured had a preference for ancient history. ‘—a great chieftain arose among the first of the People. His name was Aelor. He ruled the inner kingdoms and brought order out of chaos. He decreed that we live on a great disc, at the centre of which he established the first settlements. Five original kingdoms, each ruled by their own king, followed by others, and all were known as The First Kingdoms. Around those kingdoms arose the Second Kingdoms, then the Savage Lands and beyond that, Madness.’

      He could see that she was growing impatient, having heard this before. ‘In service to those kings, some were granted protection as vassals to their lords. Some among those were given great power as their reward, including magic’.

      At the mention of magic, he could see her attention grow rapt and he knew he had made the right choice. ‘Tell me more about magic,’ she said.

      Belog had come to recognize her moods and when she exhibited a keen interest for a subject, he could not gloss over anything, no matter how tedious he might find the discussion. In his experience, she was unique, and how she came to be this way was a mystery. She came from a class of demon that for lack of a better conceptual term would be labelled ‘labourer’ or ‘servant’, and not worth much consideration by any being of power. Her mother was a menial, and her father a worker in support of the King’s army who had gone off to wage war against the minions of Maarg, when things as Belog knew them had begun to unravel.

      He continued, ‘Magic is the name for a system of controlling power that spans the divide between the tangible and the intangible. By the force of will, the keen intellect of the mind, and the ability to discipline oneself, a person can practise, “magic”, as it is called.’

      ‘Can you do magic?’ she asked, ardently curious.

      ‘No, that wasn’t permitted. Our lord Dahun saw clearly in his mind that there needed to be a distinct demarcation between classes, lest one being grow too powerful and overturn the balance of things.’

      She laughed, the first time she had felt the impulse and the first time he had heard one of his race do so out of mere amusement. ‘Lest one being grow too powerful and challenge his might!’ She fixed Belog with a sharp eye. ‘I know more by the day, my teacher. Perhaps some day I will know as much as you.’

      ‘A day to be welcomed, as a teacher, for you know your student has learned all you have to offer, but one to be feared as well.’

      ‘Because without my need for you, you become another meal?’ she asked with what could only have been a mocking tone.

      ‘Because one fears the loss of such inspiring company,’ he replied.

      She cocked her head to one side, then chuckled. ‘I believe that is called flattery.’

      His eyes widened. ‘You do indeed possess great knowledge, Child. I have never spoken to you of such a thing. It is not a concept widely known to our race. Only the class of succubae, the seducers and drainers of life, are adept at it. They use it to gull lesser beings.’ She gazed at him with fascination. ‘It is something weaker beings employ, a convention of false praise in exchange for favourable regard from a more powerful being. It is a tool of seduction, so …’

      ‘Magic,’ she interrupted. ‘I would learn it.’

      He took a deep breath. ‘Then we must seek another, and this may prove difficult, Child. We must find a magic-user powerful enough to be useful to us, but not so powerful as to destroy us all. Our lord Dahun was jealous in his allocation of magic and controlled carefully who was allowed to use it.’

      ‘I believe magic-users exist among the Savages.’

      He was quiet again. He was often surprised at the knowledge she already possessed. Finally, he conceded her point. ‘Yes, but there is an additional risk. The Savages are more like animals than СКАЧАТЬ