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

me, and following him to the kitchens, where I ate beside him. After that, I was
Burrich's shadow. He seldom allowed me out of his sight. I'd dog his heels,
watching him at his tasks, and eventually assisting him in many small ways.
Evening brought a meal where I sat at his side on a bench and ate, my manners
supervised by his sharp eyes. Then it was up to his quarters, where I might
spend the rest of the evening watching the fire in silence while he drank, or
watching the fire in silence awaiting his return. He worked while he drank,
mending or making harness, compounding a salve, or rendering down a physic for a
horse. He worked, and I learned, watching him, though few words passed between
us that I recall. Odd to think-of two years, and most of another one, passed in
such a way.
I learned to do as Molly did, stealing bits of time for myself on the days
when Burrich was called away to assist in a hunt or help a mare birth. Once in a
great while I dared to slip out when he had drunk more than he could manage, but
those were dangerous outings. When I was free, I would hastily seek out my young
companions in the city and run with them for as long as I dared. I missed Nosy
with a keenness as great as if Burrich had severed a limb from my body. But
neither of us ever spoke of that.
Looking back, I suppose he was as lonely as I. Chivalry had not allowed
Burrich to follow him into his exile. Instead, he had been left to care for a
nameless bastard and found that the bastard had a penchant for what he regarded
as a perversion. And even after his leg healed, he discovered he would never
ride nor hunt nor even walk as well as he once had; all that had to be hard,
hard for a man such as Burrich. He never whined about it to anyone, that I
heard. But again, in looking back, I cannot imagine to whom he could have made


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complaint. Locked into loneliness were we two, and looking at one another every
evening, we each saw the one we blamed for it.
Yet all things must pass, but especially time, and with the months and then
the years, I came slowly to have a place in the scheme of things. I fetched for
Burrich, bringing before he had thought to ask for it, and tidied up after his
ministrations to the beasts, and saw to clean water for the hawks and picked
ticks off dogs come home from the hunt. Folk got used to seeing me and no longer
stared. Some seemed not to see me at all. Gradually Burrich relaxed his watch on
me. I came and went more freely, but still took care that he should not know of
my sojourns into town.
There were other children within the keep, many about my own age. Some were
even related to me, second cousins or third. Yet I never formed any real bonds
with any of them. The younger ones were kept by their mothers or caretakers, the
older ones had their own tasks and chores to occupy them. Most were not cruel to
me; I was simply outside their circles. So, although I might not see Dirk or
Kerry or Molly for months, they remained my closest friends. In my explorations
of the keep, and on winter evenings when all gathered in the Great Hall for
minstrels, or puppet shows or indoor games, I swiftly learned where I was
welcome and where I was not.
I kept myself out of the Queen's view, for whenever she saw me, she would