"Briggs, Patricia - Sianim 2 - Steal the Dragon.text" - читать интересную книгу автора (Briggs Patricia)


she kept on her wall as a mirror, and she couldn't see the person that she'd worked
so hard to become.

She saw instead a white-faced slave with a slave's tattoo on her left cheek; an
unfamiliar plain gold earring dangled from her left ear, projecting the
illusionЧthough she could feel the scar with her fingertips. A faint whip scar marred
the deep tan on one of her arms: the slave trainer had beaten the servant responsible
for marring so valuable a property. Swallowing, she raised a hand in a grave salute.
"Good luck, slave."

She picked up the small bag that held her dancing costumes, stepped out of the
room and closed the door.

CHAPTER TWO


Like a plague of locusts, the ravenous tide of war had fed upon the small
Darranian village of Tallonwood, leaving destruction in its wake. Several once-fertile
fields lay barren, the salt from the mines that were the region's greatest source of
wealth turning the rich earth into sterile soil that drifted in the winds, a silent
testament to the centuries-old feud between Darran and its neighbor Reth.

As the closest village to Westhold (so named because it lay to the west of the
salt mine), one of the principal holds in east Darran and Lord Karsten's family estate,
Tallonwood had been overrun on numerous occasions. The once-prosperous village
was poor now, even by Darranian standards. After Darran had lost its most recent
war with Reth, even the richest of the villagers had trouble putting food on the table.
Last winter, which was mild by all accounts, two of the elders and three infants had
died from lack of food.

Lord Karsten, who ruled Westhold and several surrounding villages, including
Tallonwood, was one of the few Darranian lords who had not revoked the ancient
laws that made it punishable by death for peasants to hunt in the forests. He worried
that the animal populations might be decimated as they were elsewhere in Darran;
peasants were less valuable to his recreational pursuits. His overseer saw that his
wishes were followed.

One of the few buildings in decent repair in the village belonged to Tris, a healer
of rare talent. His reputation had spread beyond the village, and the nobles from the
hold sought him out for the healing of their gout, indigestion and boils, for which
services he charged them royally.

Without Tris, Tallonwood would have suffered far worse than it had this past
winter. Using the gold and jewels he charged the nobles, he bought grain from the
hold's stores and cattle to slaughter.


When the hold's reserves were too lean to allow the hold castellan to sell any