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.It tendsto flow around mountains.If the trees are close together it comes out of woodscut to ribbons and sliced with shadows.An observer on some suitable high point, let s say for the sake of argument awisp of cirro-stratus on the edge of space, would remark on how lovingly the lightspreads across the land, how it leaps forward on the plains and slows down whenit encounters high ground, how beautifully it.Actually, there are some kinds of observers who, faced with all this beauty,will whine that you can t have heavy light and certainly wouldn t be able to see it,even if you could.To which one can only reply, so how come you re standing ona cloud?89 So much for cynicism.But down on the Disc itself the broomstick barrelledforward on the cusp of dawn, dropping ever backward in the shadow of night. Granny! Day burst upon them.Ahead of the broomstick the rocks seemed to flashinto flame as the light washed over them.Granny felt the stick lurch and staredwith horrified fascination at the little scudding shadow below them.It was gettingcloser. What will happen when we hit the ground? That depends if I can find some soft rocks, said Granny in a preoccupiedvoice. The broomstick s going to crash! Can t we do anything? Well, I suppose we could get off. Granny, said Esk, in the exasperated and remarkably adult voice childrenuse to berate their wayward elders. I don t think you quite understand.I don twant to hit the ground.It s never done anything to me. Granny was trying to think of a suitable spell and regretting that headologydidn t work on rocks, and had she detected the diamond edge to Esk s tone perhapsshe wouldn t have said: Tell the broomstick that, then. And they would indeed have crashed.But she remembered in time to grab herhat and brace herself.The broomstick gave a shudder, tilted- and the landscape blurred.It was really quite a short trip but one that Granny knew she would alwaysremember, generally around three o clock in the morning after eating rich food.She would remember the rainbow colours that hummed in the rushing air, thehorrible heavy feeling, the impression that something very big and heavy wassitting on the universe.She would remember Esk s laughter.She would remember, despite her bestefforts, the way the ground sped below them, whole mountain ranges flashing pastwith nasty zipping noises.Most of all, she would remember catching up with the night.It appeared ahead of her, a ragged line of darkness running ahead of the re-morseless morning.She stared in horrified fascination as the line became a blot,a stain, a whole continent of blackness that raced towards them.For an instant they were poised on the crest of the dawn as it broke in silentthunder on the land.No surfer ever rode such a wave, but the broomstick brokethrough the broil of light and shot smoothly through into the coolness beyond.Granny let herself breathe out.90 Darkness took some of the terror out of the flight.It also meant that if Esk lostinterest the broomstick ought to be able to fly under its own rather rusty magic. . Granny said, and cleared her bone-dry throat for a second try. Esk? This is fun, isn t it? I wonder how I make it happen? Yes, fun, said Granny weakly. But can I fly the stick, please? I don t wantus to go over the Edge.Please? Is it true that there s a giant waterfall all around the edge of the world, andyou can look down and see stars? said Esk. Yes.Can we slow down now? I d like to see it. No! I mean, no, not now. The broomstick slowed.The rainbow bubble around it vanished with an au-dible pop.Without a jolt, without so much as a shudder, Granny found herselfflying at a respectable speed again.Granny had built a solid reputation on always knowing the answer to every-thing.Getting her to admit ignorance, even to herself, was an astonishing achieve-ment.But the worm of curiosity was chewing at the apple of her mind. How, she said at last, did you do that? There was a thoughtful silence behind her.Then Esk said: I don t know.Ijust needed it, and it was in my head.Like when you remember something you veforgotten. Yes, but how? I I don t know.I just had a picture of how I wanted things to be, and, and I,sort of went into the picture. Granny stared into the night.She had never heard of magic like that, but itsounded awfully powerful and probably lethal [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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