"Robin Hobb - Assassin 1 - Assassin' s Apprentice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

talk to me like that, you wild brat! Down here with the beggar boys, doing El
knows what! Stealing from the smoke racks again, I'll wager, and bringing more
shame to me! Dare to run, and you'll have it twice when I catch you."
She must have believed him, for she only cowered as he advanced on her,
putting up her thin arms to shield her head and then seeming to think better of
it, and hiding only her face with her hands. I stood transfixed in horror while
Nosy yelped with my terror and wet himself at my feet. I heard the swish of the
driftwood knob as the club descended. My heart leaped sideways in my chest and I
pushed at the man, the force jerking out oddly from my belly.
He fell, as had the keg man the day before. But this man fell clutching at
his chest, his driftwood weapon spinning harmlessly away. He dropped to the
sand, gave a twitch that spasmed his whole body, and then was still.
An instant later Molly unscrewed her eyes, shrinking from the blow she still
expected. She saw her father collapsed on the rocky beach, and amazement emptied
her face. She leaped toward him, crying, "Papa, Papa, are you all right? Please,
don't die, I'm sorry I'm such a wicked girl! Don't die, I'll be good, I promise
I'll be good." Heedless of her bleeding knees, she knelt beside him, turning his
face so he wouldn't breathe in sand, and then vainly trying to sit him up.
"He was going to kill you," I told her, trying to make sense of the whole
situation.
"No. He hits me, a bit, when I am bad, but he'd never kill me. And when he is
sober and not sick, he cries about it and begs me not be too bad and make him
angry. I should take more care not to anger him. Oh, Newboy, I think he's dead."
I wasn't sure myself, but in a moment he gave an awful groan and opened his
eyes a bit. Whatever fit had felled him seemed to have passed. Dazedly he
accepted Molly's self-accusations and anxious help, and even my reluctant aid.
He leaned on the two of us as we wove our way down the rocky beach over the
uneven footing. Nosy followed us, by turns barking and racing in circles around



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us.
The few folk who saw us pass paid no attention to us. I guessed that the
sight of Molly helping her papa home was not strange to any of them. I helped
them as far as the door of a small chandlery, Molly sniffling apologies every
step of the way. I left them there, and Nosy and I found our way back up the
winding streets and hilly road to the keep, wondering every step at the ways of
folk.
Having found the town and the beggar children once, they drew me like a
magnet every day afterward. Burrich's days were taken up with his duties, and
his evenings with the drink and merriment of the Springfest. He paid little mind
to my comings and goings, as long as each evening found me on my pallet before
his hearth. In truth, I think he had little idea of what to do with me, other
than see that I was fed well enough to grow heartily and that I slept safe
within doors at night. It could not have been a good time for him. He had been
Chivalry's man, and now that Chivalry had cast himself down, what was to become
of him? That must have been much on his mind. And there was the matter of his