"Shirley Meier & S. M. Stirling - Fifth Millenium 03 - The Cage" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meier Shirley)

reckoning, year of the Ash Gryphon.

"I had been watching him like a cat at a mousehole because I
suspected everyone then. I thought he'd been the start of a
couple of abortive attempts against me but I had no proof. Oh,
he was so careful. He never pushed me. Never mocked me. Never
threatened myтАФmy stability, you might say. He was a good
sailor, knew the river like he knew the inside of his eyelids. So
good. So patient with my quirks." She smiled bitterly. "And it
was all lies, of course."

"I can tell you word for word what happened. 'Captain,' he
says in that soft voice of his. 'IтАж we thought it appropriate to
bring you this.' I should have known. I should have realized, but I
never thought he'd do something so obvious as to offer me a gift.
He told me it was a combination name day and birthday gift
from the crew." He grinned at me, eyes twinkling. "He had
some story about how little I paid them so they could only afford
one gift."

Megan's hand tightened on the wooden rail of the footboard.
"I was stupid enough to believe him. It flustered me. I even
thanked him. " I stammered and blushed like an idiot. He even
got a smile out of me. Even Shyll didn't make me sputter like
that. "He even pretended to drink a glass with me." Megan let
the coils of her braids down and scrubbed at her temples; the
silverwhite streak in her hair caught at the light of the flame.

"I still remember locking the door behind him; thinking that
his smile was a bit strange. Then I remember the dizziness. I had
enough time to stagger over to my chair, wondering why the
ship was rocking like that, and I heard the leather hinges as he
opened my door. 'I'm sorry that you trusted me,' is what he
said. 'I'm sorry you trusted me!' The fishgutted bastard had
dosed me with God'sTears. The last I recall before I woke up
aboard the slave ship is him wrapping me in a cloak and lifting
me. I still haven't figured out why he didn't just drop me
overboard. I suppose he had a grudge and thought I'd hurt more
if he sold me safely for away. Stupid of him."

"Ia," Shkai'ra said, in her own tongue. For a moment teeth
showed between thinned lips, and the skull beneath her fair skin
glanced out through her face. "Very foolishтАж"

Megan stretched, shook the memory out of her head as she
combed out her hair with her fingers, scratched Ten-Knife-Foot
under his chin; he was getting grey there like a jowly old man. A
purr rewarded her as she watched Shkai'ra get up to make a
minor adjustment to the incense sticks in front of the idol.
"Don't you think that the little godlet of fuck-ups might ignore