"Doranna Durgin - Wolverine's Daughter" - читать интересную книгу автора (Durgin Doranna)

Kelyn sat on a stool in the corner of the small, dim office, not bothering to hide her impatience. The
windows were high and much too small for a body to fit through, even if the shutters weren't in the way.
The door was thick, solid woodтАФand locked. There was a fireplace, but the tiny chimney offered no
escape. Kelyn drew her cloak closed and scowled around the room.

Finally, the lock made a few grating noises and the wiry little man who had escorted her here came in.
Evidently he wasn't too worried about her, for he didn't bother to lock the door when he closed it. He
dumped a roll of parchment on the rickety little desk up against the wall and fumbled for the inkwell,
finding the proper place in the roll at the same time. "What's yer name again?"

"Kelyn. And I want my staff back."

"Not so fast, not so fast," he muttered, carefully scratching a notation on the roll. "From Ketura, I take
it? I've seen yer like before. Not all that often, no, the savages stay where it suits their ways, but I know
what I see. . . ." Mumble, scratch, mumble. Kelyn, unseen, rolled her eyes.

A huge man barged through the door, talking even before it was all the way open. "Gort, there's one
dead down in the pit, dammit, I told ya that scrawny one wouldn't lastтАФ" On catching sight of Kelyn, he
stopped short, and Kelyn found herself slowly rising to her feet, almost as if accepting a challenge.

"Eh, leave off," the wiry man grumbled, still not looking up. "She ain't given me any trouble."

"Knew she'd end up here sooner or later," the big man grunted. "Fer what?"

"Broke a fellow's hands to bits," the other said shortly. "Whole tavern of witnesses, unprovoked assault."
He finished his notations and set the quill and ink aside, holding the parchment open with one hand so it
could dry. For the first time since returning, he glanced at Kelyn, but she couldn't read him at all.

"He deserved it," she said, shifting warily, unhappy to be caught in the corner with both of them in this
small room. "He's lucky I left him hisтАФ"

"Keep your silence," the big man snarled at her.

Gort waved an imprecise hand in the air. "Neh, neh, none of that."

But Kelyn's temper, once ignited, only grew hotter. "What about that woman he beat? How can you
protect him, and not her?"
 "That were personal," Gort said. "It sure weren't yours to bust into. As it happens, she's got cousins from
south a ways, and word is they're on their way. It'd've been handled, private like. Just can't let
folksтАФthat'syou тАФgo around bustin' other people up 'cause they've took offense."

Kelyn glowered at him and the big man both. "And if she hadn't had family?"

No one said anything, until the big man grunted, "Can't go around bustin' people up in this town, Keturan
trash. It'll be the pit fer you."

"The pit?" Kelyn repeated. She hadn't liked the sound of the place the first time she heard of it, and
nowтАФ