"Watt-Evans,.Lawrence.-.Ethshar.3.-.The.Unwilling.Warlord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dragon Stories)

said, in a more natural tone, "I don't know what you're
doingЧmaybe you're just honestly lucky, or maybe
you're a magicianЧbut however you do it, you've won
enough of my money. I give up. I'm leaving and I hope I
never see you again."

He stood, joints creaking.

An hour earlier the purse on his belt had been bulging
with the proceeds of a good harvest; now it clinked dis-
mally, only a few coins remaining, as he walked stiffly

away.

Sterren watched him go without comment and
dropped the coins of the final wager into the purse on his
own belt, which had acquired much of the bulge now
missing from Abran's.

When the farmer was out of sight he allowed himself
to smile broadly. It had been an exceptionally successful
evening. The poor old fool had stuck it out longer than

any opponent in years.

And of course, where two could be seen having a
game, others would sit in for a round or two. A dozen
besides poor Abran had contributed to Sterren's win-
nings.

For perhaps the thousandth time in his career as a
tavern gambler, Sterren wondered whether he had been
cheating. He honestly did not know. He knew he cer-
tainly was not guilty of anything so common as using
weighted dice or muttering spells under his breath, but
there were magicks that needed no incantations, and he
had been apprenticed to a warlock onceЧeven if it had
only been for three days before the warlock threw him
out, calling him a hopeless incompetent. His master had
tried to give him the ability to tap into the source of
warlockry's power, and it hadn't seemed to workЧbut

Lawrence Watt-Evans 5

maybe it had, just a little bit, without either his master or
himself realizing it.

Warlockry was the art of moving things by magically
enhanced willpower, moving them without touching
them, and it was quite obvious that a warlock would