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

shifting of my weight. The physical effort of it exhausted me long before my
first lesson was over, and Burrich knew it. But that did not mean he excused me
from cleaning and feeding her, and then cleaning my saddle and tack. Every
tangle was out of her mane, and the old leather shone with oil before I was
allowed to go to the kitchens and eat, myself.


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But as I darted away to the kitchen's back door, Burrich's hand fell on my
shoulder.
"No more of that for you," he told me firmly. "That's fine for men-at-arms
and gardeners and such. But there's a hall where the high folk, and their
special servants, eat. And that is where you eat now."
And so saying, he propelled me into a dim room dominated by a long table,
with another, higher table at the head of it. There were all manner of foods set
out upon it, and folk busy at various stages of their meals. For when the King
and Queen and Princes were absent from the high table, as was the case today, no
one stood upon formalities.
Burrich nudged me to a place on the left side of the table, above the
midpoint but not by much. He himself ate on the same side, but lower. I was
hungry, and no one was staring hard enough to unnerve me, so I made short work
of a largish meal. Food pilfered directly from the kitchen had been hotter and
fresher. But such matters do not count for much to a growing boy, and I ate well
after my empty morning.
My stomach full, I was thinking of a certain sandy embankment, warmed by the
afternoon sun and replete with rabbit holes, where the hound pups and I often
spent sleepy afternoons. I started to rise from the table, but immediately there
was a boy behind me, saying, "Master?"
I looked around to see who he was speaking to, but everyone else was busy at
trenchers. He was taller than I was, and older by several summers, so I stared
up at him in amazement when he looked me in the eye and repeated, "Master? Have
you finished eating?"
I bobbed my head in a nod, too surprised to speak.,
"Then you're to come with me. Hod's sent me. You're expected for weapons
practice on the court this afternoon. If Burrich is finished with you, that is."
Burrich suddenly appeared by my side and astonished me by going down on. one
knee beside me. He tugged my jerkin straight and smoothed my hair back as he
spoke.
"As finished as I'm likely to be for a while. Well, don't look so startled,
Fitz. Did you think the King was not a man of his word? Wipe your mouth and be
on your way. Hod is a sterner master than I am; tardiness will not be tolerated
on the weapons court. Hurry along with Brant, now."
I obeyed him with a sinking heart. As I followed the boy from the hall I
tried to imagine a master stricter than Burrich. It was a frightening idea.
Once outside the hall, the boy quickly dropped his fine manners. "What's your
name?" he demanded as he led me down the graveled pathway to the armory and the
practice courts that fronted it.
I shrugged and glanced aside, pretending a sudden interest in the shrubbery