"Clayton Emery - Lost Empires 03 - Star of Cursrah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

severed taut lines strung from the walls. With a shudder like a flock of birds taking flight, scads of
damp laundry flopped and fluttered onto the Caleph's Navy. Reiver's raucous laugh made them curse
as they were nearly smothered.
Bundling his kaffiyeh in his hands, Reiver disappeared under an arched doorway. Amber and
Hakiim trotted into dimness, then bumped smack into the thief. Rewrapping his headscarf, he warned,
"Stroll. Running attracts attention." Despite the urge to get far away, Amber and Hakiim obeyed and
caught their breath, then began to walk slowly alongside their friend.
Memnon's marketplace sprawled outward and upward into the second and even third stories of
some buildings, mingling with apartments, shops, and cafes. Iron walkways and cool tunnels
connected buildings, and spiral stairways and ramps wended up and down. Shoppers bustled and
argued as the friends walked by. Reiver tossed a notched argendey to a blind beggar, who blessed him,
saying," 'One is never poor who gives to charity.' "
Wending on to keep ahead of the pursuing sailors, or El Amlakkar, the drudache's police force, the
three pretended to shop. Bazaar goods proved that Calimshan truly was the land of sand and silks,
jewels and genies, slaves and slain rivals. The companions strolled past watermelons, parrots on
perches, flowers and herbs dried and fresh, fragrant leather wallets and purses and saddles, burning
samples of incense, billowing fabric, fluttering kites of paper and silk, stacked amphoras of wines,
wicker cages of squawking chickens, fish strung by the gills on poles, and pastries soaked in honey
and twisted into gazelle's horns and serpents and trumpets. With practiced ease, Reiver palmed an
orange from a fruit stall and offered slices to his friends
"I think we're safe." Amber's modest bosom still fluttered as she continued, "Whew! Do you do this
every day, Reive?"
"Oh, no. I'm just celebrating," Reiver answered. "Today is my birthday."
"I thought you didn't know when you were born," Hakiim said, straightening his sash.
Reiver turned and grinned, teeth white in his tanned face. "Then any day could be my birthday,
couldn't it?"
Hakiim chuckled, then asked Amber, "You wear fish scales in your hair?"
"Wh-what?" she stuttered. "Yuck! Ugh! Reiver, I need a fountain."
"This way."
A citizen of the streets, the thief sauntered with the ease of a pasha.
For the most part, the three were dressed identically. Hot weather and dry winds dictated an
informal uniform throughout the Empire of the Shining Sea. Men and women alike wore blousy shirts,
baggy trousers, and fancy vests with pockets. Wrapped around every citizen's head ran a kaffiyeh, and
around his middle a bright sash. The only differences were in quality and ornamentation.
Hakiim, from a well-to-do family, wore a shirt of lime green silk, and his sandals were sturdy
camel hide. His vest was not the usual embroidered felt but a hand-woven mosaic, a walking
advertisement for his family's rug factory.
Amber's clothes were pilfered from her brother's closets and were made for hard and messy workтАФ
work she was currently shirking. A rough-woven shirt of bleached fustian, a plain sheep-leather vest,
trousers patched at both knees, and half-boots of goat hide. Only her sleeves looked incongruous, for
instead of being cuffed they hung halfway over her hands. Yet her family's pride was reflected in her
sash and kaffiyeh. Both were flaming crimson with a bold yellow stripe down the center, pirate colors
and royal colors, granted by the caleph's permission to Amber's ancestors.
Reiver wore tatters of every color and cut, most stolen from laundry lines.
Tripping down stairs, the friends came to a courtyard and public fountain overshadowed by tall
date palms. Amber and Hakiim sloshed off the fishy slime. Reiver, meanwhile, unrolled his blanket
bundle, then rolled his ratty kaffiyeh and thin vest inside. Bare-headed, he suggested a slave, since
citizens always went covered.
"Why are those sailors after you, Reive?" asked Amber.
"Yeah," added Hakiim. "What happened to going to sea? Didn't the drudache's druzir make you a