"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 02 - The White Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

that caseтАФAmberdrake, is there anything you want to tell us before Skan gets here?"
"Only that I am acting mainly as Chief Kestra'chern in this, rather than as Chief of Services." With no
one else to coordinate such common concerns as sanitation, recreation, medical needs, and general city
administration, much of the burden of those tasks had fallen on Amberdrake's shoulders. After all, the
kestra'chern, whose unique talents made them as much Healers as pleasure-companions, and as much
administrators as entertainers, tended to be generalists rather than specialists. Amberdrake had already
been the tacit Chief of Urtho's kestra'chern, and he was already Skandranon's closest friend. It seemed
obvious to everyone that he should be in charge of those tasks which were not clearly in the purview of
Judeth, Snowstar, or Lady Cinnabar.
Judeth raised an eyebrow at that. "Is this an actionable problem?" she asked carefully.
"I think so." He hesitated.
"I think you should wait long enough for me to sit down, Drake," Skandranon said from the
doorway. "Either that, or hold this meeting without me. I could always find something pointless to do."
The gryphon grinned as he said that, though, taking any sting out of his words. He strolled across the
expanse of unfinished stone floor to the incongruously formal Council table, the work of a solid year by
one of the most talentedтАФand unfortunately, disabledтАФwoodworkers in White Gryphon. Since an injury
that left him unable to walk or lift, he had been doing what so many other survivors at White Gryphon
had doneтАФused what they had left. He'd built the table in small sections, each one used as an example to
teach others his woodworking skills, and then had his students assemble the pieces in place here. Like so
much else in the settlement, it was complex and ingeniously designed, beneath an outer appearance of
deceptive simplicity.
"So, what is it that was so urgent you had to call a Council meeting about it?" Skan said, arranging
himself on the special couch that the same woodworker's students had created to fit the shape of a
gryphon. "I know you better than to think it's something trivialтАФunless, of course, you're growing senile."
Amberdrake grimaced. "Hardly senile, though with an active two-year-old underfoot, I often
wonder if I'm in danger of going mad."
Skan nodded knowingly, but Amberdrake was not about to be distracted into discussions of
parenthood and the trials thereof. "I'm afraid that as Chief Kestra'chern, I am going to have to bring
charges against someone to the Council. That's why I needed three of you hereтАФI'm going to have to sit
out on the decision since I'm the one bringing the charges. That means I need a quorum of three."
Snowstar folded his hands together on the table; Judeth narrowed her eyes. "What are the charges?"
Snowstar asked quietly.
"First, and most minorтАФimpersonation of a trained kestra'chern." Amberdrake shrugged. "I do not
personally remember this man being in Urtho's service, as a kestra'chern or otherwise. I can't find
anyone who will vouch for his training, either. I do know that his credentials are forged because one of
the names on them is mine."
"That's fairly minor, and hardly a Council matter," Snowstar said cautiously.
"I know that, and if it were all, I wouldn't have called you here. I'd simply have examined the man
and determined his fitness to practice, then put him through formal training if he was anything other than a
crude perchi with ambitions." Amberdrake bit his lip. "No, the reason I bring him up to you three, and in
secret session, is because of what he has done. He has violated his trustтАФand if he had been less clever
he would already be in Judeth's custody on assault charges."
Judeth's expression never varied. "That bad?" she said.
He nodded. "That bad. We kestra'chern are often presented withтАФsome odd requests. He has
used the opportunities he was presented with to inflict pain and damage, both emotional and physical,
purely for his own entertainment."
"Why haven't we heard of this before?" Skan demanded, his eyes dangerously alight.
"Because he is," Amberdrake groped for words, "he is diabolical, Skan, that is all I can say. He's
clever, he's crafty, but above all, he is supremely adept at charming orтАФmanipulating people. He has
succeeded in manipulating the people who came to him as clients so thoroughly that it has been over a