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

Lawrence Watt-Evans 7

southerly climeЧsomewhere in the Small Kingdoms, no
doubt.

A third man was short and stocky, brown haired and
lightly tanned, clad in the simple bleached cotton tunic
and blue woolen kilt of a sailor, with nothing to mark him
as' either foreign or local; it was he who was doing most
of the shouting. One of his hands was clamped onto the
front of the innkeeper's tunic. The other was raised in a
gesture that was apparently magical, since a thin trail of
pink sparks dripped from his raised forefinger.

The group's final member was a woman, tall and aris-
tocratic, clad in a gown of fine green velvet embroidered
in gold. Her black hair was trimmed and curled in a style
that had gone out of favor years ago, and that, added to
the shoddy workmanship of the embroidery and her
dusky complexion, marked her as just as much of a for-
eign barbarian as the two soldiers.

"Where is he?" The sailor's final bellow reached Ster-
ren's ears quite plainly. The innkeeper's reply did not,
but the finger pointing toward the curtained alcoveЧto-
ward SterrenЧ-was unmistakable.

That was a shock. It was obvious that the foursome
meant no good for whomever they sought, and it ap-
peared they sought him. He did not recognize any of
them, but it was possible that he had won money from
one or all of them in the pastЧor perhaps they were
relatives of some poor fool he had fleeced, come~~to
avenge the family honor.

He tried to remember if he had won anything from
any barbarians lately; usually he avoided them, since
they were reputed to have violent tempers, and the
World was full of gullible farmers. He did not recall play-
ing against any barbarians since Festival, and surely no-
body would begrudge anything short of violence that had
happened during Festival!

Perhaps they were hired, then. In any case, Sterren
did not care to meet them.

He ducked back behind the curtain and looked about,
considering possibilities.

There weren't very many.