"Barbara Hambly - Sun Wolf 1 - The Ladies Of Mandrigyn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hambly Barbara)

made him seem taller than his six feet when he was standing up; seated and at rest, he reminded
her of a big, dusty lion. "Would you go against Altiokis?" he asked her.

She hesitated, not speaking her true answer to that. She had heard stories of the Wizard King
since she was a tiny girlтАФ bizarre, distorted tales of his conquests, his sins, and his greed.
Horrible tales were told of what happened to those who had opposed him, over the timeless years of
his uncanny existence.

Her true answer, the one she did not say aloud, was: Yes. if you wanted me to.

What she said was, "Would you?"

He shook his head. "I'm a soldier," he said briefly. "I'm

THE LADIES OF MANDRIGYH 5

no wizard. I couldn't go against a wizard, and I wouldn't take my people against one. There are
two things that my father always told me, if I wanted to live to grow oldтАФdon't fall in love and
don't mess with magic."

"Three things," Starhawk corrected, with one of her rare, fleeting grins. "Don't argue with
fanatics."

"That comes under magic. Or arguing with drunks, I'm not sure which. I don't understand how there
could be one God or three Gods or five or more, but I do know that I had ancestors, drunken,
lecherous clowns that they were... Hello, sweetpea."

The curtain that divided the tent parted, and Fawn came in, brushing the last dampness from the
heavy curls of her mink-brown hair. The pale green gauze of her gown made her eyes seem greener,
almost emerald. She.was Sun Wolf's latest concubine, eighteen, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
"Your bath's ready," she said, coming behind the camp chair where he sat to kiss the thin spot in
his hair at the top of his head.

He took her hand where it lay on his shoulder and, with a curiously tender gesture for so large
and rough-looking a man, he pressed his lips to the white skin of her wrist. "Thanks," he said.
"Hawk, will you wait for a few minutes? If this skirt wants to see me alone, would you take Fawn
over to your tent for a while?"

Starhawk nodded. She had seen a series of his girls come and go, all of them beautiful, soft-
spoken, pliant, and a little helpless. The camp tonight, after the sacking of the town, was no
place for a girl not raised to killing, even if she was the mistress of a man like Sun Wolf.

"So you're receiving ladies alone in your tent now, are you?" Fawn chided teasingly.

With a movement too swift to be either fought or fled, he was out of his chair, catching her up,
squeaking, in his arms as he rose. She wailed, "Stop it! No! I'm sorry!" as he bore her off
through the curtain into the other room, her squeals scaling up into a desperate crescendo that
ended in a monumental and steamy splash.

Without a flicker of an eyelid, Starhawk shouldered her war gear, called out, "I'll be back for