"Esther M. Friesner - Troll By Jury" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

"And did you thereby recklessly endanger the life of this troll?"



"I wouldn't say that. I recked plenty. I knew Ethelberthina wouldn't let him come to harm. She knows
what sunlight does to trolls, so she swept her cloak over him the instant he hit the water. None of us had
cloaks who claimed we did." She gave the wizard a nasty look.



"Yes, but when she threw her cloak over him, that betrothed them, according to the laws governing
Maiden Morns."



"What do you want, law or justice? If I hadn't tossed the troll, then by the same laws, she'd be hogtied
to that piece of work instead." She nodded at Ludlow. "The troll's a better deal."



"But it's not legal for trolls and humans to marry!" the duke exclaimed.



"Well, they're not married; they're only betrothed." Zoli shrugged. "You're the duke; unbetroth them."



"I don't have that authority."
"But you do have the authority to bother me with all of these silly lawsuits, don't you?" Zoli challenged.
"Is this what we pay our taxes for? Especially Ethelberthina."



The duke's moustache began to twitch in an unsettling manner. "You . . . pay . . . taxes, child?" he asked
the girl.



"Ever since the Swordsisters' Union bought up most of my stock of Mama Ethina's Elixir of Equality," she
replied. "It turns dragon-scale armor so brittle that it shatters on contact with a feather."



"Nothing can do that to dragon-scale armor!" the duke objected. "That's why the king's men all wear it."