"Simon R. Green - Hawk and Fisher 2 - Winner Takes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

"It's too early for dinner."

"All right; we'll have a lobster lunch, then."

"You're eating too many snacks these days," said Fisher sternly. "It's a wonder
you can still do up your sword belt."

"Everyone's entitled to a hobby," said Hawk.

They walked on in silence for a while, just looking around them, seeing what
there was to be seen. People in the crowds waved and smiled, or ostentatiously

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ignored them. Hawk and Fisher gave them all the same polite nod, and walked on.
They couldn't trust the smiles, and the rest didn't matter. Hawk's attention began
to drift away. He'd been in Haven for five years now, and some days it seemed
like fifty. He missed his homeland. He felt it most of all at autumn. Back in the
Forest Kingdom, the leaves would be turning bronze and gold, and the whole
sight and sound and smell of the Forest would be changing as the great trees
prepared for winter. Hawk sighed quietly and turned his attention once again to
the grimy stone houses and filthy cobbled streets of Haven. For better or worse,
he was a city boy now.

Explosions shook the air ahead, and Hawk's hand went to his axe before he
realized it was just more fireworks. The Haven electors were great ones for
fireworks; the louder and more extravagant the better. Bright splashes of
magically augmented colors burst across the sky, staining the clouds contrasting
shades until they looked like a rather messy artist's pallet. There were several
attempts at sign-writing in the sky, but they all got entangled with each other,
producing only broken lines of gibberish. The various factions quickly grew
bored, and began using the fireworks as ammunition against each other. There
were shouts and yells and the occasional scream, but luckily the fireworks weren't
powerful enough to do any real damage. Hawk and Fisher just looked the other
way and let them get on with it. It kept the crowds amused.

Sudden movement up ahead caught Hawk's eye, and he increased his pace
slightly. The crowd at the end of the street had turned away from the fireworks to
watch something more interesting. Already there were cheers and catcalls.

"Sounds like trouble," said Hawk resignedly, drawing his axe.

"It does, doesn't it?" said Fisher, drawing her sword. "Let's go and make a
nuisance of ourselves."

They pressed forward, and the crowd parted unwillingly before them, giving
ground only because of the naked steel in the Guards' hands. Hawk frowned as he