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

expecting this.

And because Kerowyn was a Herald and her Companion Sayvil would never
permit her to betray another, and further, because Elspeth's own
Companion Gwena was not beating down the doors of the salle to get in
and help her stand off this attacker, it followed that the "assassin"
was nothing of the sort.

Her heart slowed a little, and she dared a mental touch. Nothing: her
assailant was shielded. Which meant he knew how to guard his thoughts,
which only another Mindspeaker could do.

And a closer look at the bright brown eyes, and the additional clue of a
curl of black hair showing outside the assailant's hood gave her all the
information she needed to identify him.

" Skif," she said flatly, relaxing a little.

"Good girl," came the voice in her mind. "I told Sayvil you'd figure
this out before it got anywhere, but she didn't believe me." She shifted
her gaze over to Kerowyn, though without taking Skif out of her line of
sight. "This was a setup, wasn't it?" she asked the older woman. "You
never really intended for me to fix that armor." Kero shrugged, not at
all discomfited. "Hell, yes, I did. And tomorrow, you will. But I also
intended for you to figure out that you could," she temporized as Skif
relaxed minutely. "That's a good thing for you to know if you're ever in
the situation I described. If you don't know you can do something, it
doesn't occur to you as an option. But don't relax," her voice sharpened
as Skif started to come out of his crouch and Elspeth followed suit.
"Just because you've identified him, that doesn't mean that the rest of
the exercise is canceled. Take it up where you left off."

"With this?" Elspeth looked doubtfully at the tiny knife in her hand.

"With that-and anything else you can get your hands on. There're
hundreds of things you can use in here, including that bench." Kerowyn
frowned slightly. "Anything can be a weapon, child. It's time you
learned to improvise." Kerowyn did not have to outline the reasons for
that statement; even if the current interkingdom situation had been full
of light and harmony, there would always be the risk of someone with a
grudge or grievance-or even a simple lunatic-who would be willing to
risk his life to assassinate the next in line to the throne of Valdemar.

And with at least two enemies on the borders, Hardorn and Karse, the
political situation was far from harmonious.
Still-Anything can be a weapon? what on earth is she talking about?

But she didn't have time to question the statement in detail. Elspeth
went back on guard just in time to dodge Skif's rush for her.