"Modesitt, L E - Recluse 10 - The Magic Of Recluse" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

I looked around the room. Tamra was still studying the other portrait. Wrynn and Krystal were talking in little more than whispers. Sammel and Myrten looked at the stone flooring, and Dorthae sat on the bench with her eyes closed.
My eyes returned to the portrait. It was the only thing in ' the whole foyer, besides the other portrait, that had any detail. That had to mean something-but what? I shook my head. More riddles. The masters had more riddles than a world full of jesters, and no one wanted to ask them anything.
For a moment I thought the man in the picture had come alive and was looking at me, but when I concentrated on the picture, it was as lifeless as ever. Accurate, perhaps, but lifeless.
I glanced at Tamra. She was looking at me.
She wanted to look at the picture of the man. I could tell. I nodded and moved aside.
Not a word from her as she walked over and stood where I had been standing. So I walked back to where she had been and tried to concentrate on the picture of the woman in black. The portrait woman was not blond, but brown-haired, and the artist had caught a glint in her eyes though they were black. The only live black in that picture was that of her eyes.
I was no artist, but it seemed to me that the same person had painted both portraits. That would have been hard to do, painting a series of masters, if you knew that these were the people who controlled Recluce.
Enough was enough, and I looked away from the painting. Wrynn and Krystal had lapsed into silence. Tamra glanced away from me with a funny look on her face.
"Thoughts?" I asked, without thinking.
She grinned and shook her head. Her expression was so knowing that I immediately wanted to bash her with my staff-except it was sitting in the corner. And besides, I had no reason. I just knew I would have.
"Careful, Lerris," boomed a deep voice.
I jumped. So did everyone else in the room, even Tamra.
How he had entered unseen bothered me, but the man's voice was bigger than he was. He had silver hair and broad shoulders, but he did not even reach to my shoulder. For Recluce, I was only a half-head above average, if a shade broader in the chest and shoulders.
He wore a tunic and trousers of some sort of silvery-gray. Even his boots were silver-gray.
"No black?"
Tamra shook her head at my comment. No one else did anything but stare.
"As you will learn, Lerris, one way or another, black is a state of mind." He bowed to me, then to Tamra, and finally to the others in a sweeping gesture. "I am Talryn, and I will be your guide to Nylan and for the first few days of your stay here." He gestured toward the doorway between the two benches, then stepped forward and touched the wood. The doorway swung open, and I could see the light flooding from the room. "If you will gather your possessions and follow me, we will begin with a meal."
Talryn stepped through the doorway.
I picked up my staff and pack, then nodded to Tamra. She inclined her head to me. I inclined mine back, but she still waited.
Finally, I walked after Talryn, and Tamra's light steps clicked after mine. The others shuffled along after us.
The doorway led not into another room, but into a long corridor lit solely from a clear glass skylight. I studied the skylight as well as I could without losing my balance while trying to keep up with Talryn.
A series of curved glass panels had been fitted into bent dark-oak framing for the entire length of the building. Through the glass, I could see that the skylight was nothing more than a continuous window into a small garden above us that filled the center of the building.
On each side of the corridor where we walked were massive stone supports, clearly bearing the weight of the garden.
Somehow, again, it was disappointing. The design and engineering had been well-thought-out and the effect was quite pleasing. But that was all it showed: good solid design and good engineering.
Talryn tapped another door, dark oak, at the far end of the garden corridor walk, and stepped inside. We all followed into a small room.
He waited until everyone had gathered.
"Through the door on my right, there are facilities suitable for you gentlemen. On the left are facilities for you gentle ladies. Please leave your packs and traveling gear in the open lockers. They will be quite safe there, and you can reclaim everything after we eat."
"Why different facilities?" asked Tamra.
"Because, even in Recluce, there are some who hold to the Legend, who feel men and women are different, Tamra."
"That's just an excuse."
"Perhaps. You may use the facilities or not." Talryn's deep voice was noticeably cooler. He turned from her. "Once you are washed and ready, step through the center doorway here and we will eat. During the meal, I will attempt to provide a general introduction to the dangergeld and what it may entail."
The way he stood before that door, almost like a guard, made it clear that a certain amount of cleanliness was mandatory. I didn't bother to wait, but headed toward the facilities. I was ready for both the relief and the cleanup, in that order.
Myrten dragged in after Sammel and me, as if he didn't like soap and water. That confirmed my opinion of him.
The masters not only had good engineering and sanitary facilities, they had an ample supply of warm and cold running water, and heavy gray towels. It took a fair amount of soap and water to get the road dust off my face, hands and arms. I really could have taken a shower, except the building facilities weren't that elaborate, for all the gray tile on the walls and floor. But I felt better, a lot better, by the time I finished.


VII

THE TABLE WAS filled with platters, mostly of fruit and vegetables, with a variety of cheeses and some thin slices of meat. Two smaller platters bore a selection of breads. I concentrated on the fruits, noting apples, sourpears, and chrysnets, not to mention the heap of redberries. The plates were heavy gray stoneware, serviceable and banded with a thin green border, like something that might have been produced by one of my mother's better apprentices after a year.
Beside the plates were matching heavy mugs, small towels in place of napkins, and spoons and forks. No knives. The black-oak surface was polished but bare, without even rush mats under the plates.
Talryn stood by the head of the table set for eight, three on a side and one at each end. The space on his right was vacant. On his left stood Dorthae. On her left was Myrten. The foot of the table was vacant.
So was the other space on the left, as were all the spaces on the right.
"If you would take the other end, Lerris . . ."
Since he was a master of some sort, and since it wasn't exactly a request, I moved over and stood at the end, waiting for the others to arrive.
Sammel came next, his balding forehead shiny and his remaining thin brown hair damp. The loss of road dust and grime made him look younger. He gave Talryn an almost shy smile.
"If you would take the middle, Sammel . . ."
Sammel did just what I had done. He nodded and eased up to his indicated position.
As he stepped around the table, Wrynn and Krystal appeared together, still whispering like girls after school. They stopped as they saw Talryn looking at them.
"If you would take the place between Myrten and Lerris, Wrynn . . . and you, Krystal, the space across from her . . ."
That left Tamra, who seemed already to be the last one anywhere. She still hadn't appeared and would have to sit next to Talryn. I didn't think that was coincidence, somehow.