"Modesitt, L E - Recluce12 - Wellspring Of Chaos 1.5" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

Kharl forced a smile. УI wonТt, dearest. I need to wash up.Ф The pitcher on the wash table was full, and the basin empty and clean, with a worn but clean gray towel and a narrow bar of fat soap laid out on the left side. He closed the washroom door and began to wash, enjoying the faint rose scent that came from the petals in the soap. It took time to get the sawdust off his face and hands and arms, and out of his dark beard, short-cropped as it was.
When Kharl stepped into the main room, it was still warm from the day, but the harbor breeze blowing through the open windows offered a welcoming coolness, even if it did bear the scents of salt and fish and caused the two wall lamps to flicker.
The cooper walked toward the round table where Arthal and Warrl waited, their eyes following him, but not exactly looking at him.
УDid you finish your lessons?Ф KharlТs eyes fixed on Warrl, his younger son, by three years.
УYes, ser. I did.Ф After a moment, the younger boy asked, УHow much longer will I have to go to Master Fonwyl?Ф
УUntil he says you can read and write well enough to pass the craft-masterТs tests.Ф Kharl seated himself.
УI donТt see why,Ф interrupted Arthal. УItТs not as though weТll ever have the golds to post the bond for mastercrafter.Ф
УMaybe so, and maybe not,Ф replied Kharl. УBut if you get the chance, I donТt want you looking back and complaining that I didnТt prepare you. Reading and writing arenТt something you can pick up easy-like when youТre older.У
УBut what use is it if youТre not a mastercrafter or a merchant or a lord? You scarce have a chance to read a broadsheetЧФ
УBut I can, and once or twice itТs saved me good coins. Enough.Ф Kharl managed not to snap. УLetТs enjoy supper.Ф
As if she had been waiting for them to stop, Charee lifted the heavy cast-iron stewpot off the stove and carried it to the table. There, she set it on the well-browned trivet in the center of the oval oak table that had been one of the first pieces of actual furniture that Kharl had made after he had taken over the cooperage.
His consort set the large basket of afternoon-baked bread on the table and seated herself at the opposite end of the oval table from Kharl. Kharl began to ladle the stew into the chipped brown crockery bowls that had come from ChareeТs mother.
УSmells good,Ф offered Kharl.
УIt does,Ф added Warrl.
УMore summer squash and potatoes than meat,Ф murmured Arthal.
УItТs tasty, and itТs hot, and you didnТt have to spend the day cooking it,Ф Kharl pointed out. УIf youТd rather not eat, you can leave the table right now.У
УNo, DaЕ IТm sorry, Ma.Ф ArthalТs voice was barely apologetic.
Kharl didnТt feel like calling his older son on his borderline rudeness, not after a long day finishing the last of the barrels for Korlan, especially when he knew that Arthal would just make some other comment.
УWhat was going on outside, Da?Ф asked Warrl.
УJust some young fellows whoТd had too much at the Tankard. Had more ale than sense, and didnТt know it.У
УWill the Watch catch them?Ф
УThey settled down,У Kharl said, after taking a mouthful of the stew, still Warm and peppery, despite ChareeТs comments about it getting cold. ФGood stew.У He broke oft a chunk of the crusty bread, then dipped it into the stew before chewing off the dipped end. ФGood bread.У
УTheyТd better settle down,Ф offered Arthal. УLord West likes Brysta peaceful.Ф
УThe justicers worry more about thieves and killers,Ф Kharl said, taking a swallow of the warm ale, really only about half a mug for each of them, but that had been #H that was left in the quarter barrel in the cellar, and he couldnТt afford any moreЧnot until Korlan paid him for the wine barrels.
УCossal said they hung three brigands in the JusticersТ Hall on two-day,Ф added Warrl. УHe was there.Ф
УThey hung three men. ThatТs true. They might even have been guilty.Ф Kharl had his doubts that everyone hanged was as guilty as charged.
УDoes it matter, if one brigand is strung up for something he didnТt do?Ф asked Charee. УAnyone they catch has done more than enough anyway. WerenТt for Lord West, weТd have thieves overrunning Brysta, like in his sireТs time.Ф
УThat was a different time,Ф Kharl said. УFairven had fallen. The more powerful steam engines had exploded. Many trading ventures had failed. People were starving, and white wizards were everywhere.Ф
УBetter the whites than those blackstaffers from Recluce,Ф Charee sniffed. УThem and their fine clothes, and their noses in the air. Think they know everything. Father Jorum says that weТre all equal in the eyes of the Sovereign-Ф
Kharl wasnТt about to get into debating the opinions of the priest of the one-god believers. УI canТt see as they harm anyone, but itТs better that they stay in Recluce.Ф He took another chunk of bread and wiped out his empty bowl with it. ФGood dinner, dearest.Ф
УHow would we know? The lords won't touch Тem, not unless theyТre caught doing something right awful. Merayni, she listened to one of Сem, last winter's end it was, and he was telling terrible tales. Terrible tales.Ф
УWhat kind of tales?Ф asked Kharl, in spite of himself. He had his doubts about ChareeТs older sister Merayni, although Merayni was certainly good-hearted, and she and her consort were more than successful with the pearapple and peach orchard that Dowsyl had inherited from his father. He paused. УDidnТt know blackstaffers got so far south as Peachill or Eolya.У
УThey get everywhere, Merayni was saying, and the tales he told! Terrible, she said. About how a body canТt even walk across some hills in Candar without turninС black and shriveling up and dyinТ right there on the spot.Ф
УThat may be,Ф Kharl replied. УThatТs Candar, and not Nordla. Lord West is lucky to have one or two wizards that he can count on. Rather have him with wizards than some of the other Lords of the Quadrant.Ф
УThis young blackstaffer, he said that the lordТs wizards werenТt proper mages. СA course, Father Jorum says all wizardry is evil.Ф
УI wouldnТt know if theyТre proper wizards.Ф Kharl tilted his mug to get the last drop of ale. УIТm a cooper, not a wizard or a lord. ThatТs their business. MineТs barrels. Solid barrels.Ф
УTerrible stuff, magery.Ф Charee sniffed again. УAs bad as thieves and brigands, if you ask me.Ф
УIТm sure there are good mages and bad ones. There are good lords and bad ones, good coopers and bad ones.Ф
УNo such thing as a good mage, if you ask me. Lord West can have them all. Be better if he hung Сem.Ф
УThatТs what lords are for. Deal with raiders, and invaders, and brigands, and mages. Rather be a cooper.Ф
Warrl yawned. So did Arthal.
УYou two can take the bowls to the wash table,Ф Charee said.
УWish we had a sister, like Aubret does,Ф mumbled Warrl. УDo all the dishes.Ф
УYou donТt have a sister,Ф Charee said. УTwo of you are enough.Ф
УЕ always say thatЕФ murmured Arthal.
УDid you say something?Ф asked Kharl.
УNo, ser.Ф
УI didnТt think so.Ф Kharl pushed back his chair and walked to the window, letting the cool evening air flow around him. He hoped that Korlan would pick up the barrels in the morning.