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

"What she does best." Dean Porfirio sounded glum. "What she did to force Ethelberthina to undergo a
Maiden Morn. And it's working again. Just look at Zoli now."



It was true: Under Goodwife Eyebright's verbal barrage, Zoli's sword drooped by degrees, leaving a hole
in her defensive posture fit to drive an oxcart through. Her shoulders trembled and, as Goodwife
Eyebright expanded upon the tragic fate awaiting her soon-to-be-motherless babies, she sniffled. Just as
the orange cloth touched the ground, she burst into tears, dropped her blade completely and pounced on
the kerchief in order to wipe her streaming nose and eyes.



Goodwife Eyebright had been a homemaker long enough to recognize something ripe for the plucking.
While Zoli howled her heart out, the mayor's wife swung her own sword back, ready to strike. It was not
an elegant attack, but with Zoli thus disabled, elegance was unnecessary. The blade swept straight for the
former swordsister's head.



A second blade shot out and blocked Goodwife Eyebright's swing with a clang. Panting hard, holding the
hilt of Zoli's discarded weapon with both hands, Ethelberthina glowered at her mother.



"Drop the charges," she ordered. "And the sword."



"Young lady, you go to your room," her mother said. "This is no place for a child."



"Says you." Ethelberthina lifted her chin impudently. "I've had my Maiden Morn rite: I'm not a child any
more."



"Then this is no place for you," Goodwife Eyebright countered. "This case concerns only me and that Zoli
person." She nodded at the crumpled swordswoman who was still blubbering on the sand, occasionally
wailing something about the poor, comfortless little orphans.



"And my case concerns you and me. Or have you forgotten? I've simply decided to move it ahead on the
duke's docket."
Goodwife Eyebright laughed in a condescending manner. "You can't be serious, darling. You fight me to