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

For a moment neither spoke. Then she said, "You're different from what I had thought."

"I can't apologize for that." He'd put on a shirt and breeches and a brown velvet doublet. The hair on the backs of his arms caught the light as he folded his strong, heavy hands.

THE LADIES OF MANDRIGYN U

She stirred in her chair, wary, watching him. He found himself wondering what it would be like to bed her and if the experiment would be worth the trouble it could cost. "I have a proposition for you," she said at last, meeting his eyes with a kind of anger, defying him to look at her face instead of her body.

"Most ladies who come to my tent do."

Her skin deepened to clay-red along the cheekbones and her nostrils flared a little, like a horse scenting battle. But she only said, "What would you say to ten thousand pieces of gold, to bring your troop and do a job for me in Mandrigyn?"

He shrugged. "I'd say no."

She sat up, truly shocked. "For ten thousand gold pieces?" The sum was enormousЧfive thousand would have bought the entire troop for a summer's campaign and been thought generous. He wondered where she'd come up with it, if in fact she intended to pay him. The size of the sum inclined him to doubt it.

"I wouldn't go against Altiokis for fifty thousand," he said calmly. "And I wouldn't tie up on a word-of-mouth proposition with a skirt from a conquered city for a hundred, wizard or no wizard."

As he'd intended, it prodded her out of her calm. The flush in her face deepened, for she was a woman to whom few men had ever said no. An edge of ugly rage slid into her voice. "Are you afraid?"

"Madam," Sun Wolf said, "if it's a question of having my bowels pulled out through my eye sockets, I'm afraid. There's no amount of money in the world that would make me pick a quarrel with Altiokis."

"Or is it just that you'd prefer to deal with a man?"

She'd spat the words at him in spite, but he gave them due consideration; after a moment, he replied, "As a matter of fact, yes," His hand forestalled her intaken breath. "I know where women stand in Mandrigyn. I know they'd never put one in public office and they'd never send one on a mission like this. And if you're from Madrigyn, you know that."

She subsided, her breath coming fast and thick with anger, but she didn't deny his words.

"So that means it's private," he went on. "Ten thousand gold pieces is one hell of a lot of tin from a private party, especially from a city that's just been taken and likely tapped

i2 Barbara Humbly

for indemnity for whatever wasn't carried off in the sack. And since 1 know women are vengeful and sneaky..."

"Rot your eyes, youЧ" she exploded, and he held up his hand for silence again.

"They have reasons for fighting underhand the way they do, and 1 understand them, but the fact remains that I don't trust a desperate woman. A woman will do anything."

"You're right," she said quietly, her eyes burning with an eerie intensity into his, her voice deadly calm. "We will do anything. But 1 don't think you understand what it is to love your city, to be proud of it, ready to lay down your life to defend it, if need beЧand not be allowed to participate in its government, not even be allowed by the canons of good manners to talk politics. Holy Gods, we're not even permitted to walk about the streets unveiled! To see the town torn apart by factionalism and conquered, with all the men who did fight for it led away in chains while the wicked, the venal, and the greedy sit in the seats of power...

"Do you know why no man came to you tonight?

"For decadesЧcenturiesЧAltiokis has coveted Mandri-gyn. He has taken over the lands of the old mountain Thanes and of the clans to the southeast of us; he sits like a toad across the overland trade roads to the East. But he's landlocked, and Mandrigyn is the key to the Megantic. We made trade concessions to him, turned a blind eye to encroachments along the border, signed treaties. You know that's never enough.

"His agents stirred up trouble and factions in the city, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the rightful Prince, Tarrin of the House of Her, split the parliamentЧand when we were exhausted with fighting one another, he and his armies marched down Iron Pass. Tarrin led the whole force of the men of Mandrigyn to meet them in battle, in the deeps of the Tchard Mountains. The next day, Altiokis and his armies came into the city."

Her eyes focused suddenly, an amber gleam deep in their brown depths. "I know Tarrin is still alive."

"How do you know?"