"Modesitt,.L.E.-.Spellsong.05.-.Shadow.Singer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

"Lancers?" asked Carenya.

"The four companies of lancers in green are hers, not Lord Robero's. She supports them and pays them," Alcaren said quickly. "My lady is sometimes too modest."

"Your lands cannot be that small, then," suggested the trader.

"We do as we must in these troubled times," Secca replied, not really knowing how she could answer the implied questions without being deceptive in some way or another, or revealing more than she had any desire to divulge.

Nedya hurried into the sitting room, bearing a tray on which were five mugs. Steam drifted from all five. She deffly set a mug before Secca, then before Alcaren. "Only because this is special," she told her brother with the hint of a smile.

"I'll do the same for you," he whispered back.

"You'll wait a long time, but I'll hold you to it." Nedya handed mugs to her parents, then sat on the stool at the end of the low table, cradling the mug between both hands.

There was a long silence.

"Besides fight battles," asked Nedya abruptly, "what does a sorceress of Defalk do?"

Secca smiled. "Until the last two seasons, I had never fought a battle. In Defalk, sorcery is used to make life better for people. We build roads and bridges, sometimes buildings. Last fall I repaired an old dam and part of the aqueduct that provided water to the people of Issl. I have used sorcery to discover where a well might be dug."

"That does not sound too taxing," observed Carenya.

Secca tilted her head, wondering how she could explain. Finally, she began. "In one day, a sorceress and her players may be able to use sorcery to build one dek, perhaps two deks, of stone-paved road. That much sorcery will exhaust them. Defalk had no paved roads outside of Falcor when the lady Anna became regent. Today, there are more than a thousand deks of roads in Defalk. There is even one that travels most of the west of Defalk, from Nordfels to Denguic." She paused. "It would take scores of men to build and pave a dek of road in a day. While sorcery can do such faster, it takes much effort and skill."

"The roads improve travel and trade," mused the trader. "We also have had to build bridges and fords," Secca added.

"Defalk had been the poorest of lands since the Spell-Fire Wars," reflected Carenya, "but now . . ."

"Matters are better now," Secca pointed out, "but Defalk is still far from wealthy. It has been more than a score of years since the terrible drought, and the land has still not fully recovered. Even my orchards do not produce what they did in the first years of Lord Brill."

"You could have been a trader, lady," replied Carenya with a slight laugh. "Nothing is as good as it could or should be"

"How will you get to the ceremony?" asked Nedya quickly, as if to preempt another question by her parents. "It's a long walk from the guest quarters to the Matriarch's."

Secca glanced at Alcaren, who met her inquiry with raised eyebrows. Then, he finally shrugged.

"I would guess that we'll ride," Secca replied. "I haven't seen any carriages or coaches in Encora."

"There aren't any," Nedya said. "Unless you count the wagons with benches."

"It's an old custom," explained Todyl. "The Mynyan lords used carriages shielded with sorcery. No one has ever used a coach since."

Secca nodded slowly. Just as she thought she understood Ranuak better, something like the matter of carriages popped up. Then, she should have guessed from the tailoring of the gown sent by the Matriarch.

Wondering how many other surprises she would discover in the course of the afternoon, Secca smiled and asked Carenya, "How did you become a trader?"

"That was easy enough. Once I could stand, my mother put me on the deck beside her . . ."

Secca nodded and continued to listen.