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

saw what had drawn the crowd's attention. At the intersection of two streets two
rival gangs of posterers were fighting each other with fists, clubs, and anything
else they could get their hands on. The crowd cheered both sides impartially, and
hurried to lay bets on the outcome.


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Since most of the electorate was barely literate, the main political parties couldn't
rely on pamphlets or interviews in Haven's newspapers to get their message
across. Instead, they trusted to open-air gatherings, broadsheet singers, and lots of
posters. The posters tended to be simple affairs, bearing slogans or insults in very
large type, councilor HARDCASTLE DOES IT WITH TRADESMEN was a
popular one at the moment, though whether that was a slogan or an insult was
open to interpretation.

Posters could appear anywhere; on walls, shopfronts, or slow-moving passersby.
A gang of posterers moving at full speed could slap posters up all over Haven in
under two hours. Assuming the paste held out. And also assuming no one got in
their way. Unfortunately, most gangs of posterers spent half their time tearing
down or defacing posters put up by rival gangs. So when two gangs met, as was
bound to happen on occasion, political rivalry tended to express itself through
spirited exchanges and open mayhem, to the delight of whatever onlookers
happened to be around at the time. Haven liked its politics simple and direct, and
preferably brutal.

Hawk and Fisher stood at the front of the crowd and watched interestedly as the
fight spilled back and forth across the cobbles. It was fairly amateurish, as fights
went, with more pushing and shoving than actual fisticuffs. Hawk was minded to
just wander off and let them get on with it. They weren't causing anyone else any
trouble, and the crowd was too busy placing bets to get involved themselves.
Besides, a good punch-up helped to take some of the pressure off. But then he
saw knives gleaming in some of the posterers' hands, and he sighed regretfully.
Knives changed everything.

He stepped forward into the fight, grabbed the nearest posterer with a knife, and
slammed him face first against the nearest wall. There was an echoing meaty
thud, and the posterer slid unconscious to the ground. His erstwhile opponent
rounded on Hawk, knife at the ready. Fisher knocked him cold with a single
punch. Several of the fallen posterers' friends started forward, only to stop dead as
they took in Hawk's nasty grin and the gleaming axe in his hand. Some turned to
run, only to find Fisher had already moved to block their way, sword in hand. The
few remaining fights quickly broke up as they realized something was wrong. The
watching crowd began booing and catcalling at the Guards. Hawk glared at them,
and they shut up. Hawk turned his attention back to the posterers.


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