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

that some latecomer would walk in the door.

He was not enthusiastic about either option. Maybe,
he thought, he could just take the rest of the night off; it
depended upon how much he had taken in so far. He
decided to count his money and see how he stood. If he
had cleared enough to pay the innkeeper's fee for not
interfering, the past month's rent for his room, and his
long-overdue bar tab, he could afford to rest.

He drew the heavy gray curtain across the front of his
little alcove for privacy, then poured the contents of his
purse on the blackened planks of the floor.

Ten minutes later he was studying a copper bit, trying
to decide whether it had been clipped or not, when he
heard a disturbance of some sort in the front of the tav-
ern. It was probably nothing to do with him, he told him-
self; but, just in case, he swept his money back into the
purse. The clipped coinЧif it was clippedЧdidn't really
matter; even without it he had done better than he had
realized and had enough to pay his bills with a little left

over.

Only a very little bit left over, unfortunatelyЧnot

quite enough for a decent meal. He would be starting

with a clean slate, though.

The disturbance was continuing; loud voices were au-
dible and not all of them were speaking Ethsharitic. He
decided that the situation deserved investigation and he
peered cautiously around the end of the curtain.

A very odd group was arguing with the innkeeper.
There were four of them, none of whom Sterren recalled
having seen before. Two were huge, hulking men clad in
heavy steel-studded leather tunics and bloodred kilts of
barbarous cut, with unadorned steel helmets on their
black-haired heads and swords hanging from broad
leather beltsЧobviously foreigners, to be dressed so
tackily, and probably soldiers of some kind, but certainly
not in the city guard. The kilts might possibly have been
city issueЧthough if so, some clothier had swindled the
overlord's officersЧbut the helmets and tunics and belts
were all wrong. Both of the men were tanned a dark
brown, which implied that they were from some more