"Dave Duncan - A Man Of His Word 1 - Magic Casement" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

the right to stop her going out, he certainly could not stop her coming in. She
did not recognize the petrified man-at-arms, but he looked as if he were taking
his job unusually seriously and so would not interfere. She squared her
shoulders, adjusted the silk below her arm, and began to march.
She had every right to go into the town by herself, and if she chose to do so in
shabby old jodhpurs and a leather doublet that might have been thrown out by one
of Inisso's stablehands, well, that was certainly not Thosolin's business
either.
She wondered who the guard on the gate was, he must be somebody new. It was not
until she had almost reached the arch that--
He rolled his eyes in alarm and almost dropped his pike. Then he came even more
stiffly to attention, staring straight ahead, not looking at her. Inosolan
bristled angrily.
His cone-shaped helmet was too small, sitting like an oversize egg in the nest
of his unruly brown hair. His chain mail was rusty and much too large. His very
plain face was turning from brown to pink, showing up his freckles.
"What on earth are you doing?" she demanded. "I thought you were off on the
mainland."
"I'm just back for a couple of days," he muttered. His eyes rolled warningly
toward the guard room door.
"Well, why didn't you tell me?" She put her hands on her hips and inspected him
crossly. "You look absurd! Why are you dressed up like that? And what are you
doing here? Why aren't you at the stables?"
Pudding, the gang had called Rap when they were all small together. He'd had
almost no nose then, and not much more now. His face was all chin and mouth and
big gray eyes.
"Please, Inos," he whispered. "I'm on guard duty. I'm not supposed to talk to


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you."
She tossed her head. "Indeed? I shall speak to Sergeant Thosolin about that. "
Rap never suspected a bluff. "No!" He shot another horrified glance toward the
guard room.
He had grown, even in the short time he had been gone, unless it was those
stupid boots. He was taller than her now by quite a bit, and the armor made him
seem broader and deeper. Perhaps he did not look quite so bad as she had thought
at first, but she would not tell him so.
"Explain!" She glared at him.
"A couple of the mares had to come back." He was trying not to move his lips,
staring straight through Inos. "So I brought them. I'm going back with the
wagons. Old Hononin had nothing for me to do, with the other ponies away. "
"Ha!" she said triumphantly. "Well, you still aren't doing anything very much.
You will take me riding after lunch. I'll speak to the sergeant."
A mixture of fury and stubbornness came over his face, wrinkling his wide nose
until she half expected the freckles to start popping off like brown snowflakes.
"Don't you dare!"
"Don't you speak to me like that!"