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

He shook off the memory. He and Jess needed papers that said they belonged in the Aboves. They needed a story that would allow them to blend in with SolanderТs enormous extended family. They needed a way out of the Warrens, and the person who got them out would first have to get inЧno easy task.
Solander sat there shaking his head. He said nothingЧhe had no words that could comfort someone who had lived in such a hell. All he could do was keep Wraith and his friend from having to go back. He was fifteen years old, and he had no illusions about his ability to find the person he needed on his own. He lived a sheltered life of privilege, far from the sort of people he was going to need. He spent his time in study and practice of the things his parents felt would give him the world when he became old enough to take itЧhis fatherТs magic, his motherТs philosophy. Even within his own family, he had few friends.
But he did have one person he thought could help him: a distant cousin a few years older than he, whose secret interests had taken her out of the Aboves and introduced her to the sort of people Solander figured he would never meet on his own. She and he got along well enoughЧhe impressed her with his ambition and his talents for magic; they both enjoyed a good debate over the importance of the Ruminations of Chedrai and the Tosophi Feschippi Tagottgoth. Most importantly for his needs at the moment, however, he had recently caught this cousin, named Velyn Artis-Tanquin, with a boy from the Belows doing things that would have cost her any hope of making a permanent alliance among the right families, and that would have, most likely, forced her parents to cut her off and find placement for her among one of the cadet branches of their line overseas. He had not only looked the other way, but had supplied an excellent alibi for her when her parents had heard a rumor that she had broken family law.
She owed him. A lot. Enough, he thought, that he could trust her to help him out and keep the secrets that he needed to have her keep.
He sent word via one of the servants that the friend heТd wanted her to meet had arrived, and not long after, she tapped at his door.
Velyn, tall and lithe and golden-skinned, with a silken curtain of copper hair that hung far below her waist and copper eyes flecked with gold, sauntered into the room and Wraith fell silent in midsyllable, his mouth open and his eyes wide. Solander wanted to laughЧVelyn had that effect on a lot of men, both young and old.
УDear cousin,Ф she said, Уyou interrupted me as I was winning at dice. Another roll and I should have had all of DrumonnТs weekly allotment.Ф
УAnd DrumonnТs mother would have cried foul and made you give it back,Ф Solander said. УThis is my friend WraithЧthe one I told you needed help. Wraith, this is my cousin Velyn. DonТt play cards or dice with her. She cheats terribly.Ф
УUntrue,Ф Velyn said, smiling at Wraith. УI cheat very wellЧthatТs why I win so often. IТm delighted to meet you.Ф
Solander watched WraithТs pale face go vivid red. УIТmа.а.а. yes,Ф he said, and faltered to a stop.
Velyn tipped her head and her smile grew broader. УYou should remember how you did that,Ф she said after a moment. УIt makes a woman feel like sheТs the most beautiful creature in the world.Ф
The red of WraithТs face grew even redder, to SolanderТs amazement and amusement, but he did find his words at last. УThatТs only because you are.Ф He was looking her straight in the eye when he said that, and to Solander he sounded completely sincere.
Velyn blushed. This stunned Solander; Velyn hadnТt even blushed when heТd caught her and her young man wearing little pieces of next to nothing and doing things that Solander doubted were legal even when both participants belonged to the Registry of Names. She stood there staring at Wraith, and Solander saw something pass between them: some spark, some understanding. He wondered what Velyn would do when she discovered that Wraith wasnТt even Second Registry, but was from the WarrensЧso far below her that she should never have even been able to lay eyes on him.
УWraith and I and a friend of his need your help,Ф Solander said when it became apparent that both Wraith and Velyn would be content to stand in his room looking at each other like the long-lost lovers in a bad play. УYou have access passes to the aircars, and you know people. Wraith and his friend Jess need Registry papers. Good ones. Good enough that both of them could move in here. And Jess is going to need transport, tooЧand from someplace even you might have a hard time getting into.Ф
Velyn at last looked away from Wraith. УWhat sort of story do you want to provide with the papers?Ф
УBoth of them sent over here by their parents from Glismirg or the Cath Colony in Ynjarval or someplace in Tartura or Benedicta. TheyТre on hardship grants because of their families, and theyТre to take general training and make contacts to better their family lines, and then move to advanced training in whatever they show aptitude for.Ф
УCadet branches all right with you?Ф
УBetter than first lines, I would think,Ф Solander said. УAfter all, Uncle Non is more likely to check their papers if theyТre first linesЧtry to keep in touch with their parents, make sure theyТre getting all the attention they need. If theyТre cadet branches, heТll just check to make sure their parents actually exist.Ф
УThey wonТt get top-tier rooms.Ф
УWe want them to be as close to invisible as we can make them while still giving them the privileges of the place. If they were top tier, too many people would want to know them.Ф
Velyn nodded. She didnТt ask Solander why heТd chosen her for this enormous favorЧshe already knew that. She did not question his reasons for wanting to do this thing; she seemed completely incurious about his reasons, in fact, whereas had he been asked a similar favor, he would have been dying to know the story behind it. She simply leaned against the doorframe, stared off at nothing, and gnawed on the middle knuckle of her index finger. УI donТt know anyone right off who does false papers,Ф she said, Уbut I know a few people who probably do know the right people. IТll need a day or two, probablyЧand this will be expensive.Ф
УIТll pay. I havenТt spent any of my last few monthsТ allotment.Ф
УGood.Ф She frowned. УAs for transport, where do I have to get his friend from?Ф
Solander hesitated for a moment. If she was going to refuse him, it would be over this. Then he shrugged. He could only ask. УThe Warrens.Ф
She laughed. УRight. Seriously, where? IТll need to get an aircar with the right clearances, so IТll have to know in advance.Ф
УThe Warrens,Ф Solander repeated.
УI canТt get a car that will go into the Warrens. ThatТs absolutely off limits. That would be like trying to fly into the DragonsТ Experimental Station airspace. You simply cannot go there.Ф
УThatТs where we have to go.Ф
УYouТre mad. Even if we could get there, weТd be killed. They have riots, murders, mobs in the streets, people who rip the arms and legs off of anyone who isnТt from there, criminal squads, every imaginable form of vice.а.а.а.Ф
УI watch the nightlies,Ф Solander said. УBut thatТs where we have to go.Ф
He glanced over at Wraith, who looked bewildered. УMobs in the streets? Riots? What are you talking about?Ф
УThe Warrens,Ф Solander said. УAll the killings, the rapes, theа.а.а. Why are you shaking your head like that?Ф
УThe only people who walk on the streets are the guardsЧand children who are going to or from lessons. Killings? Rapes? Riots? The Warrens are so quiet, if you stood at one wall and shouted, you could be heard by someone standing down the same road at the other wall. Sometimes people from outside sneak in, but then they canТt get back out, and they end up eating the Way-fare and watching the daily prayers and lessons, and they turn into Sleepers, too.Ф
Velyn smiled at himЧthe smile of an older person to a younger one who is sadly misinformed about something of common knowledge. УI cannot imagine where you got such silly informationЧФ she started to say, but Solander cut her off.
УHeТs from the Warrens.Ф
УHe canТt be. Warreners would never be allowed up here. HeТd be stopped by the gates.Ф
УThe gates donТt work on him,Ф Solander admitted, and Velyn now stared as if told that the world around here was all merely a figment of her imagination.
УWhat are you talking about?Ф
УHe can walk right through them. They go off, but the wards donТt touch him.Ф
УDoes your father know? Do any of the Dragons know?Ф
УNo,Ф Solander said, Уand I donТt want them to. Wraith is going to let me try to figure out how he does what he does, which is going to get me into the Academy in a top slot. In exchange, he and his friend are going to live here. But you have to help me.Ф Solander leaned forward and stared into her eyes, willing her to realize how desperately he needed her help. УThis is important, Velyn. Maybe the most important thing IТll ever have a chance to do in my life.Ф
She nodded. УYes. Yes.Ф She closed her eyes, rubbed her temples, frowned. УI could get an aircar with a universal pass from one of Keer PeraldТs subalterns, perhaps, or one of your fatherТsЧbut for that IТd have to get into the restricted lot, and IТd oweа.а.а.Ф Her voice faded, and Solander saw her lower her lashes and angle her glance toward Wraith for just an instant. She glanced away so quickly Solander could almost have thought he imagined the look; he did think he imagined the context of it. Could his wild, rebellious cousin be looking at Wraith, at that scrawny Warrener boy, with interest? Attraction? Surely not.
And Velyn straightened, and rubbed her hands together, and said, УYes. I can, I think, get the necessary aircar after all. And we can get the papers, but youТre going to have to have someplace down in the Belows to hide the two of them for a few days while all the papers are made. I know absolutely that theyТre going to have to be present before any of the real work is done. TheyТll have to give some of their blood, and have their images spelled into the disks, and thereТs no way to do that in advance.Ф
Solander glanced at Wraith. УWe can wait a few days to get you up here.Ф
УWe can,Ф Wraith agreed. УBut we canТt wait at all to get Jess out of the Warrens. The guards could inspect the basement where we hide at any timeЧor just do a house-to-house sweep and take people away, and get her when they get the Sleepers.Ф
УA house-to-house sweep?Ф Solander felt a little sick to his stomach. УWhat are you talking about?Ф
УA couple of times a month, the guards bring a truck, go into one of the buildings, and take away most of the people who live there.Ф Wraith shrugged. УThen, a few days later, they bring in people who arenТt Sleepers, and lock them in the house until the Way-fare has had time to work.Ф
Solander could not believe Wraith was describing reality when he spoke of this; in no way could taking people from their homes be something that happened under the watchful eyes of the Dragons, in the benevolent world to which the Hars Ticlarim had given birth. WraithТs friend had seen something that he hadnТt understood, orа.а.а.
Solander shuddered. The little hairs on the back of his neck kept trying to stand up, and his belly tightened of its own accord, as if he were facing an examination from his father for which he had neither read his texts nor studied his practicals. Wraith couldnТt be right. But if for some reason there was some truth in what he was saying, then Solander could lose the one person whose very existence flew in the face of everything heТd learned about the workings and applications of magic; the one person who promised a look into a universe with a different set of rules, or into facets of his own universe which no one before him had ever suspected.
He turned to Velyn and said, УCould you get that aircar today?Ф