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

and Nosy we were, and they probably thought it but a clever trick that Nosy
would know before I threw where to be to catch our shared bounty. Thus there
were actually four of us, racing down the cluttered street, passing the sausages
from grubby hand to damp jaws and back to hand again while behind us the owner
bellowed and chased us in vain.
Then Burrich stepped out of a shop.
I was running toward him. We recognized one another in a moment of mutual
dismay. The blackness of the look that appeared on his face left me no doubts
about my conduct. Flee, I decided in a breath, and dodged away from his reaching
hands, only to discover in sudden befuddlement that I had somehow run right into



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him.
I do not like to dwell on what happened next. I was soundly cuffed, not only
by Burrich but by the enraged owner of the sausages. All my fellow culprits save
Nosy evaporated into the nooks and crannies of the street. Nosy came bellying up
to Burrich, to be cuffed and scolded. I watched in agony as Burrich took coins
from his pouch to pay the sausage man. He kept a grip on the back of my shirt
that nearly lifted me off my feet. When the sausage man had departed and the
little crowd who had gathered to watch my discomfiture was dispersing, he
finally released me. I wondered at the look of disgust he gave me. With one more
backhanded cuff on the back of my head, he commanded, "Get home. Now."
We did, more speedily than ever we had before. We found our pallet before the
hearth and waited in trepidation. And waited, and waited, through the long
afternoon and into early evening. Both of us got hungry, but knew better than to
leave. There had been something in Burrich's face more frightening than even the
anger of Molly's papa.
When Burrich did come, the full night was in place. We heard his step on the
stair, and I did not need Nosy's keener senses to know that Burrich had been
drinking. We shrank in on ourselves as he let himself into the dimmed room. His
breathing was heavy, and it took him longer than usual to kindle several tapers
from the single one I had set out. That done, he dropped onto a bench and
regarded the two of us. Nosy whined and then fell over on his side in puppy
supplication. I longed to do the same, but contented myself with looking up at
him fearfully. After a moment he spoke.
"Fitz. What's to come of you? What's to come of us both? Running with beggar
thieves in the streets, with the blood of kings in your veins. Packing up like
animals."
I didn't speak.
"And me as much to blame as you, I suppose. Come here, then. Come here, boy."
I ventured a step or two closer. I didn't like coming too close.
Burrich frowned at my caution. "Are you hurt, boy?"
I shook my head.
"Then come here."
I hesitated, and Nosy whined in an agony of indecision.
Burrich glanced down at him in puzzlement. I could see his mind working