"Tanya Huff - Crystal 1 - Child of the Grove" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

avoiding the light, preferring to remain unseen in the residential
neighborhoods where the inhabitants had long since sought their beds. He told
himself he avoided the trouble that would arise if anyone recognized the young
man tucked deep in the worn cloak as the prince and heir, riding alone,
unescorted. He told himself he didn't need his pocket picked, an unprovoked
fight, or an escort back to his father.
He had just passed silently through the merchants' quarters and crossed the
invisible but nonetheless real line that separated their homes from the only
slightly larger ones of the nobles, when the dark and quiet were snatched from
around him.
"Bertram, aren't we home yet?"
"Very nearly, sir. "
"I'm sure it wasn't this far before. "
The whiny, self-indulgent voice belonged to a minor official of the court, one
Diven of House Tannic. Rael had endured too many hours of petitions to mistake
it, even distorted as it was by drink.
The torch-bearer rounded the corner first, followed by an overdressed man
leaning heavily on the arm of his body servant. A City Guard, hired as
evening's escort, brought up the rear.
Rael kept his horse walking. With luck they would

CHILD OF THE GROVE 17
be too interested in gaining their beds to pay any attention to him.
Luck was busy elsewhere.
"Awk, Bertram! Brigands!"
Bertram looked to the heavens, exasperation visible even to Rael, and patted
his master comfortingly on the shoulder. "It's only a single rider, sir. "
"Oh. So it is. " Any other would have been content to leave it at that. Diven
stepped forward, past the torch-bearer and directly into Rael's path. Drink
made him determined to erase the embarrassment of his fright. "You there,
state your business in this neighborhood. Speak up, or I'll call the patrol. "
Rael reined in. The torch-bearer grinned, obviously looking forward to telling
his cronies of how the drunken noble had accosted one of his equally noble
neighbors and threatened him with the patrol. Bertram, now up behind his
master, was thinking much the same thing, but not with amusement. The guard
looked bored.
"Well, boy, do you tell me your business or do I call the patrol. I will, you
know, don't think I won't. "
Rael wondered how a voice could whine and be shrill at the same time. He had
no doubt the idiot would do exactly as he said, and wake the neighborhood
doing it. And that would be the end of the dark and quiet, no mere
interruption. He sighed, made his smile as friendly as he was able, and pulled
back his hood.
"Highness!"
For a moment the smile held them-they began to return it-then the torchlight
flared in his eyes.
The guard saluted and all four men began to back away.
Respectfully, and nervously, they backed away.
From the torch-bearer and the guard, it was almost understandable for they met
the prince and heir for the first time. Bertram also; for all he served in a