"Katherine Kerr - Deverry 06 - A Time Of Omens" - читать интересную книгу автора (Kerr Katherine)

could see that SalamanderтАЩs commercial instincts had delivered triumph. No matter whether a performer
pulled off a difficult trick or fell in the middle of an easy one, the crowd clapped and cheered. At the end
of each turn coins clinked and slithered on the stage. After all, these colonists were rich by the standards
of the cities theyтАЩd left behind, but lacked luxuries to spend their wealth upon. When the heart of the
show appeared, Keeta and her flaming torches, Marka dancing upon the slack rope, the crowd
screamed and stamped their feet. Silver flashed like rain in the torchlight. When Jill turned to speak to the
wine seller, she found him utterly entranced, smiling as he stared. Salamander himself performed the
greatest trick of all, making the crowd fall silent again to catch his every word. It seemed to Jill that he
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luxuriated in their attention like a man drowsing in a hot and perfumed bath. She felt as if she should slap
him awake before he drowned.

Finally, when the performers were exhausted beyond the power of cheers and coins to revive them, the
show wound down. By then the moon was low on the horizon, and the wheel of stars turning toward
dawn. In a cooler wind from the sea the crowd lingered, watching the troupe strike its stage or drifting
over the various booths and peddlers selling food and drink. When Dekki came strolling up, the crowd
round the wine booth parted like the sea beneath a prow to let him through, and the wine seller handed
him a cup without waiting to be asked. The pirate paid twice its worth for it, though; Jill supposed that his
high standing in the town depended on his generosity just as a Deverry lordтАЩs respect among his folk
depended on his. The wine seller made him a bob of a bow.

тАЬThis lady here would like to speak with you, Dekki.тАЭ He jerked a thumb in JillтАЩs direction. тАЬSheтАЩs a
scholar and a map-maker.тАЭ

тАЬIndeed?тАЭ His voice was a rumble like distant thunder. тАЬMy honor, then. What do you want to know?тАЭ

They moved away from the press of thirsty customers and stood by a pair of torches. Jill pulled her map
out of her shirt and held it unrolled in the flaring light.

тАЬI got this over in Inderat Noa,тАЭ she said. тАЬDo you see those islands far to the south? You wouldnтАЩt
happen to know if they really exist, would you?тАЭ

тАЬWell, I wouldnтАЩt be surprised if you told me they did. LetтАЩs put it this way. ThereтАЩs something out
there.тАЭ He took the map and frowned at the dim markings. тАЬOnce me and my men, we were blown off
course by a storm, and a bad one it was, too. We rode south before it for many a day, and we just
barely pulled through, and we found wrack from a ship that wasnтАЩt so lucky. We spotted what looked
like a figurehead and hauled it on board. We were thinking, see, that it was an Anmurdio ship, and so
weтАЩd take it home for the ownersтАЩ reward. Huh. Never seen anything like it in my life.тАЭ He handed back
the map. тАЬIt was a woman, and she was smiling and had all this long hair, a nice job of carving it was, you
would have sworn you could have run your fingers through it. But she had wings, or, I should say, what
we found had stumps of wings. They must have folded back along the bow, like. But anyway, there were
these letters carved round the belt she was wearing. Never seen anything like them. I call them letters, but
they were magic marks for all I know.тАЭ

тАЬAnd what happened to this thing?тАЭ