"04.Prince of the Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

The brothers had commenced the game with glee,
ordering tankard after tankard of ale, letting losses de-
light them as much as wins, but now that the stakes of
the game were rising, they had become somber. They
glanced at each other from time to time, and the soldier
was certain they shared silent communication the way
twins often did.

The soldier shook his head. "Not me." He threw
down his cards, one of them flipping completely over
for an instant before it came to rest upon the table. "I've
got duty in an hour; I'd best be back to the barracks."

What he really knew was that trouble was imminent
and if he were still around when it arrived, he'd never
make muster. And the duty sergeant was a man not
given to receiving excuses kindly.

Now the dandy's eyes turned to the first of the two
brothers. "Play?"

As the soldier reached the door of the inn, he took
note of two men standing quietly in the corner. They
stood in great cloaks, faces obscured slightly by the
shadows of their hoods, despite the night being warm.
Both made a show of quietly watching the game, but
they were taking in every detail of the inn. They also
looked familiar to the soldier, but he couldn't place
them. And there was something about the way they
stood, as if ready to leap to action, that reaffirmed the
soldier's determination to reach the city barracks early.
He opened the door to the inn and stepped through,
closing it behind.

The man closest to the door turned to his companion,

Prince of the Blood

his face only partially illuminated by the light from the
lantern above. "You'd better get outside. It's about to
break loose."

His companion nodded. In the twenty years they'd
been friends, he had learned never to second guess his
companion's ability to sense trouble in the city. He
quickly stepped through the door after the soldier.

At the table, the betting reached the first of the two
brothers. He made a face, as if perplexed by the play of