"The Paths of Darkness 3 - Servant of the Shard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Paths of Darkness)

contrast to his dark skin and black eyes.
Sha'lazzi cleared his throat again. "Surprised I am that
you came out for this meeting," he said. "You have made many
enemies in your rise with the Basadoni Guild. Do you not
fear treachery, O powerful one?" he finished sarcastically
and again with a chuckle.
Entreri only continued to stare. Indeed he had feared
treachery, but he needed to speak with Sha'lazzi. Kimmuriel
Oblodra, the drow psionicist working for Jarlaxle, had
scoured Sha'lazzi's thoughts completely and had come to the
conclusion that there was no conspiracy afoot.
Of course, considering the source of the information-a
dark elf who held no love for Entreri-the assassin hadn't
been completely comforted by the report.
"It can be a prison to the powerful, you understand,"
Sha'lazzi rambled on. "A prison to be powerful, you see? So
many pashas dare not leave their homes without an entourage
of a hundred guards."
"I am not a pasha."
"No, indeed, but Basadoni belongs to you and to
Sharlotta," Sha'lazzi returned, referring to Sharlotta
Vespers. The woman had used her wiles to become Pasha
Basadoni's second and had survived the drow takeover to
serve as figurehead of the guild. And the guild had suddenly
become more powerful than anyone could imagine. "Everyone
knows this." Sha'lazzi gave another of his annoying
chuckles. "I always understood that you were good, my
friend, but never this good!"
Entreri smiled back, but in truth his amusement came
from a fantasy of sticking his dagger into Sha'lazzi's
skinny throat, for no better reason than the fact that he
simply couldn't stand this parasite.
Entreri had to admit that he needed Sha'lazzi, though-
and that was exactly how the notorious informant managed to
stay alive. Sha'lazzi had made a living, indeed an art, out
of telling anybody anything he wanted to know-for a price-
and so good was he at his craft, so connected to every pulse
beat of Calimport's ruling families and street thugs alike,
that he had made himself too valuable to the often-warring
guilds to be murdered.
"So tell me of the power behind the throne of Basadoni,"
Sha'lazzi remarked, grinning widely. "For surely there is
more, yes?"
Entreri worked hard to keep himself stone-faced, knowing
that a responding grin would give too much away- and how he
wanted to grin at Sha'lazzi's honest ignorance of the truth
of the new Basadoni's. Sha'lazzi would never know that a
dark elf army had set up shop in Calimport, using the
Basadoni Guild as its front.
"I thought we had agreed to discuss Dallabad Oasis?"