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

"Nothing could," Lily said, stepping forward, her alchemist's robes rustling softly over the stones. "But
now something can; something Ethelberthina invented, and that's why she's independently wealthy." She
patted the girl on one shoulder and added, "It's not turning lead into gold, but close. Fellow alchemist, I
salute you."



"Fellow alchemist, do you have anything that might shatter my stupid betrothal?" Ethelberthina asked.



Lily smiled. She was a beautiful young woman, with her mother's dark coloring and her father's
home-loving nature. When she first entered Duke Janifer's service, many court gossips hissed that he had
not hired her for her brains. The whispers stopped when Lily demonstrated that she had also inherited her
mother's elementary yet effective way of dealing with rumormongers.



"As a matter of fact," she said, "I do. And it will settle all of these silly lawsuits besides."



"Will it?" Duke Janifer gazed at Lily in awe. "Huzzah! Tell us what it is, I beg you!"



"Nothing fancy; just trial by combat. Oh! To the death. It must be to the death. You can't get anything
really settled unless someone dies."



The hall fell silent, including the spectators.



The sound of Zoli's sword rasping from its sheath broke the quiet. "Suits me," she said amiably.
"It would." Bursar Tailings huffed like an overweight dragon. "Me fight a retired swordsister? Might as
well ram a chisel through my throat and save time."



"Do we have to?" Ludlow whined.



"Not if you drop the charges," Lily said. "No charges, no case; no case, no need for any sort of trial."