"Deborah Doyle - Circle of Magic 02 - The Secret of The Tower" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

meals he'd eaten at the Schola. Like most other apprentices, he had complained about the school's plain
and somewhat monotonous fare. But there had always been more than enough to fill even the emptiest
stomach.
"If I'd known then what I know now ..." Randal muttered. The cook shot him a murderous look, and he
fell silent again.
After his meal, he made his way across the yard to his sleeping place in the stable. Although the afternoon
had been hot, the night breeze blowing through the dark inn yard made Randal shiver. His stomach
growled a protest against the scanty meal, but since he couldn't do anything about the emptiness in his
midsection, he ignored it.
He couldn't help remembering what Madoc the Wayfarer had said when Randal was still a squire at his
uncle's castle, and becoming a wizard had seemed like a bright and wonderful dream: "You'll be hungry
more often than fed," the master wizard had told him, and you'll spend more time in danger on the road
than safe under a roof."
Madoc was certainly right about that one, thought Randal. So intent was he on his own thoughts that he
didn't watch the path ahead of him. A moment later, he ran straight into a warm, cloth-covered wall.
"Churl!" said a familiar and slightly drunken voice. It was the young knight he'd encountered in the inn
yard earlier. "Do you realize you've stepped on the toe of a nobleman?"
Wonderful, Randal thought.
Just the way I wanted to end the day.
He tried to sidestep the young knight and continue on toward the stable. But the nobleman was not
pleased.
"Don't you have a tongue, you insolent oaf? I'll teach you to touch a knight."
"I'm ... I'm sorry, my lord," Randal mumbled. "You certainly are," growled the knight. "And you'd be
even sorrier if I had the schooling of you."
Randal started to mutter something properly apologetic, but a second voice cut in from behind him and
drowned out his words.
"What's all this, then?"
"Not much," said the first knight. "Just a peasant with no manners."
"That so?" said the other. "Turn around, peasant."
Randal felt a hard shove between his shoulder blades.
He turned to look at the man who had pushed him.
The move turned out to be a serious mistake.
"Boy!" snarled the one who had spoken first. "Do you dare turn your back on a knight?"
Randal felt another hard shove, one that spun him around again in spite of his effort to keep his feet.
"No manners at all," said the second man behind him. "He was warned, and here he's turned his back on
a knight again. We'll have to teach him." As he spoke, he dealt Randal a slap that made the young
wizard's head reel.
Through the buzz in his head, Randal heard a new voice joining in with the others. "What do we have
here?"
"A dirty little pig that doesn't know how to act before his betters," said the first knight.
"Time he was taught a lesson, then," said the new voice. Randal felt another blow, harder than the others.
This hand wore rings.
Laughter echoed in the night. A foot kicked out and snatched Randal's leg from under him. But Randal
knew how to fall, and he rolled quickly back to his feet. He tried to get away and fade into the shadows,
but one of his assailants caught him and pushed him into the circle again.
"Don't leave before you're dismissed, boy." Randal wavered to a stop in front of the knight who had just
spoken. His head still spun from the blows he had taken, and he almost lost his balance.
"That's not the way to bow, fool," said the knight.
Randal kept his head down, but his fists at his sides were clenched tight. If only he had his magic back
again ...