"Masquerade Cycle - 02 - Nemesis" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

livid lips, her life was extinguished. Her eyes, still soft with
sleep, stared sightlessly at her killer. Without a shudder, he
closed them.

His mission was only half done. He quickly set about
finding something to hide the body in. An emerald snake
hide would give him away in the dark, so he cast about for
a more suitable wrap. He found a brown homespun blanket,
trade goods from some Dal weaver, and flung aside the
animal skin. The girl's linen shift might rustle, so he
stripped it off. In death, her naked body resembled one of
the evincar's statues, her pale skin translucent in the failing
foxfire. The agent swallowed three times, trying to dislodge
a strange lump in his throat.

Noise outsideЧshouts and the clamor of a crowd.
Startled, he flung the blanket over the body. A gentle
knock on the door thundered through the small room.

"Avila? Are you awake?" said a female voice. "Did you
hear the cries? Your father returns! He'll be here shortly!"

The agent hurried to the window. His knife and the
open vial of death elixir were still in the girl's bed. There
was no time to retrieve them; his arms were full.

"Avila? Avila, are you all right?"

When no one answered, the woman's tread could be
heard rapidly retreating. She called, "Firanu! Firanu, come
quickly! Something's amiss with Avila!"

4



Paul B.Thompson

No time for stealth now. He burst through the shutters
onto the porch. He ran toward the high bridge platform.
Pursuers would expect him to descend to a boat, not climb
higher in the trees. As he rounded the curve of the great
tree, he came face to face with the elderly guard, no doubt
Firanu. He was armed with a barbed snake-fang spear.

"Stand where you are, or I'll kill you," the old elf said.
The agent stopped so suddenly that the blanket around his
prize slipped down, revealing his burden's lolling head.

"Avila!"