"Maggie Furey - Shadowleague 2 - Spirit of the Stone" - читать интересную книгу автора (Furey Maggie)

Seriema, astride the great black horse that was the twin of his own. In his
preoccupation, the trader had almost forgotten the companions of his flight.
Presvel, the LadyтАЩs assistant, shivered in stylish city clothes that were as
unfit as their wearer for such a journey. He rode double with a young lass,
unknown to the trader, whose hair was a mass of silvery-blond curls. Then
there was Scall, the long, skinny youth who had attached himself to Tormon
for good or ill. And, of course, the Lady Seriema herself, until today the
most powerful merchant in Tiarond.
The woman who now approached the trader, her white face blotched with
ugly bruises and spattered with mud and gore, her coarse brown hair flying
loose in a witchтАЩs tangle, was unrecognizable as the well-groomed, richly
clad head of the Mercantile Association and MinersтАЩ Consortium. Her
dishevelment was scarcely surprising, however. Not an hour ago, she had
been attacked in her own home by a madman. She had been beaten and
almost raped. Her city had been conquered by ravening monstrosities from
the skies. Seriema had lost everything: wealth, home, rank, and empire.
Everything but her life and her indomitable pride, Tormon realized, noting
her sword-stiff spine, her steely gaze, and the hard, grim set of her mouth.
She had mastered her emotions as tightly as she held in the powerful horse
she rode, and the trader shuddered at the effort it must be costing her.
SeriemaтАЩs voice betrayed no sign of the strain she must be feeling. Pulling
her horse abreast of his own, she leaned across so that she could be heard
over the thin whine of the rising wind. The trader could almost see the
question on her lips.
Oh, please donтАЩt ask me what weтАЩre going to do now, Seriema. Why should I
be able to answer that any better than you can?
тАЬWhere are we going, Tormon?тАЭ The words came slurred from her bruised
and swollen mouth. тАЬDo you have a plan in mind?тАЭ
Why in MyrialтАЩs name does it have to be me who comes up with a plan?
Up to this point, the trader had been concentrating on what he did not want.


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SPIRIT OF THE STONE - SHADOWLEAGUE 2 - MAGGIE FUREY

He never wished to see Tiarond again. He didnтАЩt want his child to be put at
any further risk, and he had absolutely no desire whatever to lay eyes on any
more of the fell creatures that had attacked the city. All reasonable goals, as
far as they wentтАФbut it had taken Seriema to remind him that he needed
something positive to put in their place.
Away. Go far away. The rest could wait. All Tormon wanted right at that
moment was to put as much distance as possible between himself and
CallisioraтАЩs capital city, with its politics, its arcane ceremonies, its secrets
and intriguesтАФand its Hierarch, who thought nothing of murdering a young
wife and mother in cold blood. He hoped this rain was also falling higher up
the mountain, for even now it would be sluicing away the snow that had
choked the pass the previous night. Maybe, for once, the wet weather might
actually work in his favor.
The trader called the others to him. тАЬIтАЩm taking Annas over the Snaketail.тАЭ
Even as he spoke, the plan took shape in his mind. тАЬWeтАЩll be safe among the