"Lisa Goldstein - Fools Road" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldstein Lisa)

One of the woman knocked boldly at the door. "Come in, come in," a man said,
opening the door to them. "We've been expecting you."

"Expecting us?" the woman who had knocked asked. "What does that mean ?"

"Go on, go on," the red-haired man said, pushing her forward. "It means nothing.
Go in."

They stepped into the entryway. The floor was patterned in black and silver
tiles. The man who came to meet them wore livery of checkered black and silver
squares; he seemed a moving, living part of the floor. "Welcome, welcome," he
said. "The festivities are this way."

"Festivities," someone said, nodding. They followed him into the next room.

The room was huge, with a vaulted ceiling several stories high. A consort played
in one comer; in another four or five jugglers tossed knives and burning brands.
A group of people sat around a table by an open fireplace, eating a roasted pig.
The band scattered, some to dance to the music, others to grab handfuls of food.
An orange cat scuttled across the floor, its ears flat against its head, a
cooked pigeon clutched in its mouth.

A small fat woman came over to Amanda. She was dressed in brown, with a high
pointed brown hat nearly as tall as she was. "A riddle," she said. "You lie in
her, she lies in me. Who am I?"

"What?" Amanda asked.

"Maleficent malachite moons!" someone shouted from across the room. He hurried
over to them, still holding a haunch of pig in one hand. "What are you doing?
Don't talk to her!"

"Who can I talk to, then?" Amanda said, annoyed. "You're always hurrying me
away."

"Oh dear, oh dear," the man said fretfully. "This is worse than I thought. Come
on, let's go."

"No," Amanda said.

"What? Trust me -- You don't want to stay here."

The man was right; she didn't want to stay. A cold dread had come over her,
enveloping her. She wanted to run, to dance, to spin along the roads like
leaves. And yet the woman's words were important: she knew that somehow.

"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the fat woman asked.

"No," Amanda said. The man tugged at her hand anxiously. "What's the answer?"