Forest Mage. Робин Хобб
Читать онлайн.| Название | Forest Mage |
|---|---|
| Автор произведения | Робин Хобб |
| Жанр | Историческая литература |
| Серия | |
| Издательство | Историческая литература |
| Год выпуска | 0 |
| isbn | 9780007279463 |
Forest Mage
ROBIN HOBB
To Alexsandrea and Jadyn, my companions through a tough year. I promise never to cut and run.
Contents
Chapter Eleven: Franner’s Bend
Chapter Twelve: The King’s Road
Chapter Fourteen: Journey To Gettys
Chapter Seventeen: Routine Duty
Chapter Twenty-Two: Fence Posts
Chapter Twenty-Three: Two Women
Chapter Twenty-Four: An Envelope
Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Ambush
Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Messenger
Chapter Thirty-One: Accusations
Chapter Thirty-Three: Court Martial
Chapter Thirty-Four: Surrender
There is a fragrance in the forest. It does not come from a single flower or leaf. It is not the rich aroma of dark crumbly earth or the sweetness of fruit that has passed from merely ripe to mellow and rich. The scent I recalled was a combination of all these things, and of sunlight touching and awakening their essences and of a very slight wind that blended them perfectly. She smelled like that.
We lay together in a bower. Above us, the distant top of the canopy swayed gently, and the beaming rays of sunlight danced over our bodies in time with them. Vines and creepers that draped from the stretching branches above our heads formed the sheltering walls of our forest pavilion. Deep moss cushioned my bare back, and her soft arm was my pillow. The vines curtained our trysting place with their foliage and large, pale-green flowers. The stamen pushed past the fleshy lips of the blossoms and were heavy with yellow pollen. Large butterflies with wings of deep orange traced with black were investigating the flowers. One insect left a drooping blossom, alighted on my lover’s shoulder and walked over her soft dappled flesh. I watched it unfurl a coiled black tongue to taste the perspiration that dewed the forest woman’s skin, and envied it.
I lay in indescribable comfort, content beyond passion. I lifted a lazy hand to impede the butterfly’s progress. Fearlessly, it stepped onto my fingers. I raised it to be an ornament in