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

Entreri needed protection, but he had to go about things
with his customary patience and intelligence, twisting the
trail beyond anyone's ability to follow, fighting the way he
had perfected so many years before on Calimport's tough
streets, using many subtle layers of information and
misinformation and blending the two together so completely
that neither his friends nor his foes could ever truly
unravel them. When only he knew the truth, then he, and only
he, would be in control.
In that sobering light, he took the less than perfect
meeting with perceptive Sha'lazzi as a distinct warning, a
reminder that he could survive his time with the dark elves
only if he kept an absolute level of personal control.
Indeed, Sha'lazzi had come close to figuring out his current
plight, had gotten half of it, at least, correct. The pie-
faced man would obviously offer that information to any
who'd pay well enough for it. On Calimport's streets these
days many were scrambling to figure out the enigma of the
sudden and vicious rise of the Basadoni Guild.
Sha'lazzi had figured out half of it, and so all the
usual suspects would be considered: a powerful arch-mage or
various wizards' guilds.
Despite his dour mood, Entreri chuckled when he pictured
Sha'lazzi's expression should the man ever learn the other
half of that secret behind Basadoni's throne, that the dark
elves had come to Calimport in force!
Of course, his threat to the man had not been an idle
one. Should Sha'lazzi ever make such a connection, Entreri,
or any one of a thousand of Jarlaxle's agents, would surely
kill him.

* * * * *

Sha'lazzi Ozoule sat at the little round table for a
long, long time, replaying Entreri's every word and every
gesture. He knew that his assumption concerning a wizard
holding the true power behind the Basadoni rise was correct,
but that was not really news. Given the expediency of the
rise, and the level of devastation that had been enacted
upon rival houses, common sense dictated that a wizard, or
more likely many wizards, were involved.
What caught Sha'lazzi as a revelation, though, was
Entreri's visceral reaction.
Artemis Entreri, the master of control, the shadow of
death itself, had never before shown him such an inner
turmoil-even fear, perhaps?-as that. When before had Artemis
Entreri ever touched someone in threat? No, he had always
looked at him with that awful gaze, let him know in no
uncertain terms that he was walking the path to ultimate
doom. If the offender persisted, there was no further