Читать книгу Element. Flame of Elisar онлайн

first time would have their jaws drop and whispered, “Not even each supreme sorcerer is up to this!”

And this fast walking helped me deliver things fast, moving around all the parts of the Highlands, which earned our family a stable living.

We lived away from the big world, out in the cut, you could say. But it was right here, in the mountains of Elisar, where nature brought together all the rarest of riches. Funny animals that you would never see anywhere else, galloped on the stones, and the hillsides were covered with herbs to be found nowhere. A perfect place for a wise witch, as Nargara noted once. And she was really wise and experienced, just take my word for it – she knew how and when to collect herbs, she could feel when the time was just ripe and the herbs were in their full strength, and she remembered hundreds of secret details: what to mix with what, how to cook it, what was to be air-dried and what – sun-dried, and finally how to prepare elixirs with exactly the properties she needed. I didn’t really fancy all that boring stuff and always had trouble staying patient while making another complex thing. Alchemy was definitely not my cup of tea. Taking pains sitting over books and measuring all the tiniest components for a potion – that was killing! However, I always admired that persistence coupled with precision in Nargara.

My sister, even though more patient than myself, was neither particularly eager to learn that important yet tiresome skill. Mammy would fight with us while trying to drive at least something into our stupid heads, always saying just one thing – we were the only two troubles that had made her head so gray. By the way, Mammy does not seem like turning gray any time soon, unless Elcha and I help her, so to say.

My nature, as my family said, matches my hair – fire-red, riotous, with large curls falling down to… well, just below the waist. And even although in the morning my caring sister helped me have it all braided, yet some unmanageable strands got out spreading proudly over my shoulders.