"Lisle,.Holly.-.Vincalis.The.Agitator1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lisle Holly)

УNothing came in my package but the bracelet,Ф she said.
УThey get sloppier every year.Ф He looked a bit exasperated. УHere are the rules, little feathered fish. You donТt ask names. You donТt try to find out names. If you want to find your friends you can, but you cannot find out the identity of a stranger unless the stranger gives it to you, or unless a crime is committed. Anonymity is a part of the joy of the festival. Here you can be anyone, do anything within the bounds of law, experience pleasures forbidden elsewhere without the repercussions of public censure, and for one week be free from consequences, free from burdens, free from everything except the thrill of the moment. If you have fantasies, here you can act them out with one partner or a dozen; anything you have ever dreamed you can make real for this small span of days. Anything you want, here you can have.Ф
Jess looked at the stranger, startled. She had fantasies of taking vows with Wraith someday, of becoming a brilliant, acclaimed metachord player for one of the symphonic interpretation packagers, of having a grand house in Oel Artis Travia that she could call her own, of having childrenа.а.а. but somehow those did not sound like the sort of fantasies this man was talking about.
Then they reached the end of the narrow path theyТd been following, and her guide gave her a gentle push to the left, through a pretty gate of shimmering magical vines and ruby flowers, and into a writhing cluster of naked and half-naked bodies that made her gorge rise. Men and women, men and men, women and women, in pairs, in clustersЧher hands knotted into fists and she twisted away from the hand her guide rested on her bare back.
She had envisioned a grand showplace for the arts and sciences, a refined and magnificent display of all the highest and best of human achievement. After all, this wasа.а.а. And instead she was entering into a parade of magic-drunk debauchery. Magic-drunk debauchery that her guideЧwho, from the lines at the corners of his mouth and the coarseness of the skin on the back of his hands, was old enough to have fathered her and a whole raft of older siblingsЧapparently intended to partake in it with her.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to run. But more than anything, she wanted to find Wraith.
УI think IТll be on my way,Ф she said, and her erstwhile companion frowned.
УItТs customary to spend time with the people you talk to.Ф
УI did spend time with you,Ф she said. УBut my friends will be waiting on me.Ф
УI donТt know how they could be, since you had not even the beginning of an idea of how to find them when you came here.Ф
УNo doubt they will be looking for me, tooЧand this isnТt their first year. ButФЧshe bowed with polite and distant formalityЧУas I have already made plans for this festival, I will thank you for your time and let you be getting on to yours.Ф She turned her back on him and walked resolutely away, holding her breath the whole time and praying that he would not follow.
She moved at a fast pace, in and out of the little side lanes, through big pavilions, and across artificial glades that would have been quite lovely if they had not also been filled with squirming, moaning, gasping humans engaged in activities she did not wish to see.
Finally, near a busy food court, she stopped and caught her breath. That pervert had given her a scare. She realized she was not protected by being a child, because here she had disguised herself as an adult, and she carried identification that proclaimed her an adult. Things she did not want could happen to her here, and she would have no one to whom to run for help. Wraith didnТt know she was here. Solander didnТt know she was here. No one would be looking for her, and even if someone did look for her, she couldnТt be found because her identification proclaimed that she was someone other than who she said she was.
But if this was no place for her, it was no place for Wraith, either. He didnТt belong here. She didnТt want him going off with some masked woman to doа.а.а.
Her mind balked at the images it conjured, and in desperation she turned to her bracelet. УHelp me find Wraith,Ф she said.
The bracelet did nothing.
She frowned. УHelp me find Gellas Tomersin,Ф she whispered to it, thinking perhaps it could not understand what she wanted and had to go strictly by what she said. Wraith always went by the name Gellas with anyone who didnТt know who he really was. So perhaps the bracelet had been spelled to recognize just his name.
But it still did nothing.
УHelp me find Solander Artis.Ф
Again, nothing. Maybe, she thought, the bracelet would only work for its rightful owner. Or maybe he had already found a woman, or several, and had requested privacy. Her stomach churned at the thought.
She turned in a single slow circle, looking at the massed humanity all around herЧhumanity still pouring in through the gates all around the center in steady streamsЧand her eyes filled with tears. How could she ever hope to find Wraith in the middle of all of this without any help? She would never approach someone, never make herself beholden for a favor, never voluntarily speak to anyone in this place again. The lesson taught to her by the predatory stranger had not been wasted.
She closed her eyes, took one deep, steadying breath, and chose a direction at random. She might not find him. But she didnТt intend to just give up and go home without a fight.

УHe told my mother he only had one thing to finish and then the two of them would be on their way,Ф Solander said.
He and Wraith had found the libraryЧunoccupied by anyone because the festival was in progressЧto be a perfect spot for keeping watch on Rone ArtisТs workroom door. He was still in thereЧthey couldnТt hear anything, but no one ever could. They had, however, seen him go in, and they had not yet seen him come out, and they had sworn they would not move until he was gone and they had taken their chance to look at what he had in there.
УHow long have we been sitting here?Ф Solander said after a while.
Wraith pulled out his little pocket clock, a gift from Jess some months earlier, and said, УFour hours, twenty-three minutes. Some odd seconds. The time is naught-twenty by Work.Ф
УThat all? It feels later.Ф
УI wish weТd brought food with us.Ф
УYes. Or at least we could have eaten something before we hid in here. Who knew he was going to camp in his workroom today of all days?Ф Solander leaned heavily against the wall and rubbed his eyes. УWeТre missing the festival for this. IТm dying to know what goes on at one.Ф
УYour parents havenТt told you anything?Ф
УOf course they told me something. They told me the same damned thing every adult tells every child who asks. СThe joy of festival is discovering each one on your own. I wouldnТt think of taking that joy away from you.ТФ He sighed. УWe could do this tomorrow, Wraith. Go to the the festival now, leave when weТre sure both my parents are there, and come back here to do this.Ф
Wraith just looked at him.
УNo, eh?Ф
УNo. We were going to go to the festival first, but you suggested that we take care of this instead, so that it wouldnТt be hanging over our heads during the festival. You didnТt want to worry about it. So IТll find out whatever I can, and then weТll go have some fun.Ф
УI was afraid you were going toЧФ Solander froze, shoved a finger to his lips in warning, and flattened himself back from the fractionally opened door. Wraith, watching him, froze, too. He could hear a voice murmuring something, and then a door opening, and then the door closing. A long pause. More murmuring. And then footsteps striking the floor briskly, sharply, moving away toward the living quarters of the house.
Solander held his frozen pose even after neither of them could hear the footsteps anymore.
Wraith, in fact, was the first to move. He took a step toward the door, and Solander winced.
Wraith shrugged in question.
УI donТt want to go through with this,Ф Solander whispered.
УAll you have to do is stand in front of the door and tap on it if you hear anyone coming.Ф
УI knowЧbut we could get in such trouble.а.а.а.Ф
УI have to know.Ф
Solander looked almost defeated. УFine,Ф he said at last. УYouТre determined to do this. I think there may be other waysа.а.а. but itТs your skin if you get caught.Ф
УI know that.Ф
They crossed the hall. Wraith would never admit to Solander how scared he was. He knewЧor at least was almost certainЧthat whatever magic Rone Artis had left in place would have no effect on him. But he couldnТt be sure that it would fail entirely. What if a spell were set not just to destroy anyone who tried to enter uninvited, but also to let Rone know who the unauthorized intruder had been? He might go in, find whatever he needed, and come out to discover WraithТs father and a whole crew of guards standing over him in the middle of the night, ready to ship him off to work in the mines for the rest of his natural existence. He dreaded getting caughtЧbut he had to understand where he came from. He had to understand the meaning of the Warrens, for he was sure they had a meaning, and he was equally sure it was not trivial.
His hand hovered over the doorТs handle, and Solander whispered, УStill not too late to change your mind.Ф
Wraith grasped the handle firmly and opened the door. He could see, in the dimly lit interior, one long table covered with an unimaginable tangle of books and papers and magical paraphernalia, a couple of chairs scattered around, a desk, and shelves that lined the room from floor to ceiling and from wall to wall, all so full of books and manuscripts that they sagged in the middle like swaybacked horses. In spite of the size of the roomЧand it was quite largeЧit managed to give the impression of being cluttered and overcrowded and tended by frenzied rats.
From all the way across the hall, Solander said, УThat is the messiest place I have ever seen in my life.Ф Wraith could tell that was as close as Solander was going to go, too, by the way he stoodЧas if at any second he might simply turn and flee.
УFinding anything in there is going to be a real trick.Ф Wraith didnТt wait for Solander to suggest yet again that they just go on to the festival and skip this spying attempt; instead he clenched his hands into fists, straightened his back, and stepped into the workroom.