"Ed Greenwood - Spellfire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Greenwood Ed)

half-bar and snarled, "Get in!" The expected pinching and slap came as she
staggered across the uneven floor with the water. "Don't spill any of that,
mind! There are dishes waiting, sluggard! Move that shapely little behind of
yours!" Korvan rumbled, ending with his horrible, barking laugh. Shandril set
her teeth grimly under the yoke. Someday she'd be free of this!
тАв 14*
SPELLFIBE
The evening grew cool, as it often did in the dale after a hot day, mist
gathering in the trees. The Rising Moon's taproom filled up quickly. The
townsfolk of Highmoon had done business with the Company of the Bright Spear,
and the veterans had come to take their measure and perhaps swap some tales.
Shandril managed one quick peek at the taproom and saw the company holding
court, all boisterous Jests and laughter, at the central tables. A scattering
of local veterans sat nearer the bar, and at the small tables along the wall
were other visitors. Shandril noticed two lady adventurers close to the bar.
Noticed, and stared.
They were beautiful. Tall, slimтАФand free to do as they pleased. Shandril gazed
at them in wonder from the shadows. Both of the women wore leather and plate
half-armor without color or blazon. Long, plain scabbards at their hips held
swords and daggers that looked to have seen heavy use. Their cloaks were also
plain, but of the finest cloth and make. Shandril was surprised at the soft
beauty of the two and the quiet grace of their movementsтАФno red-faced oxen,
these. But what struck her most was their calm self-assurance. They were what
she longed to be. Shandril stared at them from the darkness of the
passageтАФuntil Korvan came out of the kitchen with a roar. He plucked Shandril
up by grabbing a fistful of tunic and hauling roughly and carried her down the
passage and into the kitchen.
"Do /stand and gawk? If I did, what would the guests eat then?' was all Korvan
said, in a fierce whisper with his stub-bled face an inch from hers, and
Shandril feared for her life. If there was one thing Korvan cared about, it
was his cooking. For a wild moment, as he thrust a bowl of potatoes at her,
Shandril considered attacking her tormentor with a kitchen knife, but that
wasn't the sort of 'adventure' she wanted.
But as she washed and cleaned out three hares under Kor-van's hot glare,
Shandril knew that she'd had more than enough of this treatment. She was going
to do somethingto get out of here. Tonight.
"A good place, I've heard," said the mage Marimmar in the
ED GREENWOOD
last blue light of dusk, as their ponies carried them down through the trees
toward the lanterns of Deepingdale. " Mind you say nothing of our business or
destination, boy. If asked, you know nothing. You are not even all that
interested in Myth Drannor?'
Narm Tamaraith nodded In weary silence, and his master turned on him sharply
in the gloom. "Do you hear, boy?
Answerf
"Aye, Lord, tтАФnodded, not thinking you would not see. 1 beg full pardon. I
will say nothing of Myth Drannorf' Nairn's master, Marimmar "the Magnificent"
(Narm had heard him called other things occasionally, but never to his face),
snorted.
" 'Not thinking*! That's the problem, boy, too much of the time. Well, think!