"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)тАЬNot until IтАЩve put my scheme to the test, O Monarch of Might Mysterious. And tonight, here in the very
marketsquareofMyleton Noa, will the test come!тАЭ Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html The market square in question was a big sprawl of mud in the center of town. All round the edge stood such civic buildings as the town could muster: a customs house, an archonтАЩs residence, a barracks for the town guard, and a money changer, who supported a small guard of his own, according to the wine seller. тАЬHeтАЩs a shrewd one, old Din-var-tano,тАЭ he remarked to Jill. тАЬAnd as honest as the sea is deep, too. But a miser? Ye gods! He lives like a slave, and he wonтАЩt have a wife because of the expense of keeping one, you see. IтАЩll wager we wonтАЩt see him tonight at this here show. HeтАЩd feel obliged to part with one of his precious coppers! But it looks like everyone else in town is here, thatтАЩs for certain.тАЭ Jill and the wine seller were standing on the wooden steps of the archonтАЩs palace, a little above the crowd swarming round the muddy square. The old man had set up his little booth on the top step, and as they talked, he was busily chaining wine cups to the rail. In the velvet twilight, the troupe was raising crossed pairs of standing torches round the stage while Salamander himself stood underneath the slack rope and pulled on it to make sure it was secure. тАЬWeтАЩve never had a show through here before,тАЭ the wine seller went on. тАЬI wager IтАЩll do good business after itтАЩs over.тАЭ тАЬAs lonely as the sea is deep, thatтАЩs for certain. Sometimes IтАЩm sorry I came, I tell you, but then, a man can live his life as he likes out here without a lot of city clerks laying down the law and grabbing his coin for taxes.тАЭ тАЬAh. I see. Tell me something. Do you ever hear of ships sailing south?тАЭ тАЬSouth? What for? Nothing out there but sea and wind.тАЭ тАЬYouтАЩre sure?тАЭ She paused to kill a particularly big mosquito that had landed on her wrist. тАЬYouтАЩve never heard of any islands lying far to the south?тАЭ He sucked his stumps of teeth while he considered. тАЬNever,тАЭ he said at last. тАЬBut I can tell you who you want to ask about that. See over there, that great big fellow standing in the torchlight? The one with the red tunicтАФthatтАЩs right, him. DekkiтАЩs his name, and heтАЩs quite a sailing man, goes to all sorts of places, and not all of them are on maps, if you take my meaning.тАЭ Jill sighed, because she did see. A pirate, most likely, and not her favorite sort of person in the world. Before she could ask the wine seller more, on the stage drums boomed out and flutes sang. In a pleasurable shudder of applause, the crowd surged closer. The show had begun. From the very first moment, when the youngest and clumsiest acrobat cartwheeled across the stage, Jill |
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