"03 - Song of the Saurials - Jeff Grubb & Kate Novak [2.0]" - читать интересную книгу автора (Finder's Stone)

delighted with the music. The ranger's head bobbed in time with the music,
setting his long plait of yellow hair swaying like a pendulum. Elminster
half-expected the brawny woodsman to get up and dance a jig. Morala had already
expressed her displeasure that someone of Breck's simplicity had been chosen for

the tribunal, but Elminster was relieved to discover that at least one of the
judges knew how to enjoy life.
Only the bard, Kyre, displayed a completely neutral reaction to the music. The
beautiful half-elven woman tilted her head to listen, but Elminster suspected
that her technical analysis of the tune precluded experiencing it on any
emotional level. The sage wished he could tell what she thought of it. He wished

he could tell what she thought of anything. Kyre was so remote and stiff
whenever he addressed her that Elminster felt as if he were speaking with the
dead, an experience with which he was not unfamiliar. As if to compensate for
her reserved nature, Kyre wore a vivid red orchid in her lustrous black hair. To

bloom in this climate, the sage realized, the orchid had to be enchanted, but
who, he was left to wonder, was she trying attract with it?
"Heth," Morala said, addressing the tower page assigned to the Harpers. "Request

the captain of the guard to do something about that noise," she commanded, "and
close the door on your way out."
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Breck said. "The music's not half bad."
Heth hesitated at the doorway.
Morala's eyes narrowed as she looked to Kyre for support.
Kyre shrugged, indifferent to the priestess's annoyance.
"The sound does not disturb me," the half-elf said flatly.
"Elminster? Aren't you distracted by the noise?" Morala asked, hoping the sage
would at least have the decency to admit the inappropriateness of the music at
the trial. They had already agreed that Nameless should not appear before the
tribunal. Morala feared he might charm the younger Harpers with his wit, while
Elminster feared he might disgust them with his ego. It certainly did not seem
appropriate to the priestess that the man's music should be heard. It was just
such music that Nameless had used to justify his crimes, and the Harpers had not

yet repealed their original judgment that all the prisoner's music be banished
from the Realms.
"I'm sorry, Morala," Elminster replied. "My hearing's not what it once was.
Didst ye ask if I heard boys?"
Morala let her breath out in a huff. She motioned the page to sit. "Please,
continue with your argument, wise Elminster," Morala prompted.
Having gained the upper hand with Morala on so small a matter, Elminster
hesitated before moving on to the more important issue at hand. Do I really dare

speak on Nameless's behalf? he wondered. Nameless's ordeals don't seem to have
humbled him any. Is he any wiser for all his suffering? The sage sighed to
himself and shook his head in an attempt to clear away his doubts. He had said
he would speak on the prisoner's behalf, so he would. He could only hope that
the collective decision of the tribunal would prove at least as wise as his own