"Mercedes Lackey - Mage Winds 1 - Winds Of Fate" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

first place-where you're with a fighting force, maybe even in command,
but there aren't any armorers around." She gestured at the pile of
leather in Elspeth's arms. "Your gear gets damaged, and there's nobody
free to fix it. What are you going to do, wear something with a weak
spot and hope nobody notices? Hope you can find somebody to fix it
before the next engagement?"

"Did you ever have to fix your own gear?" Elspeth countered. She had so
been looking forward to a free afternoon.

"I assume you mean after I made Captain?" The Herald laughed out loud,
displaying a fine set of strong, white teeth. "My dear child, the
Skybolts were so badly off that first year that I helped make armor. And
arrows and lances and even some horse-gear. No, dear, you aren't going
to wiggle out of this one. Leather armor isn't that hard to repair;
merely time-consuming. So I suggest you get to it. As for how, you take
apart everything that doesn't look solid and replace it." The former-and
currentCaptain of "Kerowyn's Skybolts" nodded her blonde head
emphatically and turned away toward the heap of practice armor that had
been tossed into the "needs repair" pile.

Resigned to the situation, Elspeth watched Kero toss her blonde braid
over her shoulder, thought of her own dull brown hair, and sighed a
little enviously. If I weren't the Heir, nobody would ever pay any
attention to my looks. Mother is gorgeous, the twins are adorable, my
stepfather is the handsomest man at Court-and I'm the little brown
sparrow. why couldn't I have been born looking like her?

Kerowyn was certainly an amazing person. Lithe, strong, and with a face
even her critics had to call "striking," she would have had dozens of
suitors if it hadn't been for the fact that she and Herald Eldan
discouraged even the most persistent with their devotion to one another.
The Captain had been blessed with a head of hair as bright as newminted
gold and thick as a horse's tail. And despite the fact that she was
literally old enough to be Elspeth's mother, it showed no sign of
graying.

Whatever Kerowyn's past life had been like, it had left no outward marks
on her. And from the stories Kero had told over the past few years,
she'd been through enough to gray the hair of four women.

For that matter, her present was just as hectic, and it hadn't left that
much of a mark on her. She juggled two dedications, Herald and mercenary
Captain, either one of which would have been a full-time career for
anyone else.

And there are plenty of folk who think she should stick to one or the
other ... Elspeth smiled to herself. Those were the same folk who were
mightily annoyed that the Herald Captain wouldn't wear Whites unless it
was ordered by the Queen herself. She compromised-if one could call it