"Elizabeth Moon - Those who Walk in Darkness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

boy was gasping with pain, then released him with a hard push that
sent him sprawling.
For a long moment Selis crouched there in the shadow, shaking
with both fear and anger. Raki hated himтАФhad always hated him.
RakiтАЩs father was dead, killed on Guild business; Raki had been
reared by the Guild, a fosterchild. SelisтАЩs father held rank enough:
the richest fence in V├йrella, with contacts from Valdaire to Rostvok.
But Raki was bigger, older, and early skilled in those torments that
give older boys dominance in any gang. Selis knew Raki was doing
well as an apprentice thief; they all knew, when the lists were
posted. And Selis, small even for his younger ageтАФhis stomach
knotted when he thought of the years ahead.
That made him think of food; he looked back toward SimтАЩs stall, but
the baker was already closed. He could not go home. The priests
had forbidden it as part of his fatherтАЩs punishmentтАФthe punishment
that fell on him, because they knew that was worse for his father.
They had also forbidden an inn. He dared not spend the coins his
father had palmed him, with their spies everywhere. He had to
scavenge, they had said. With a sigh, he pushed himself up and
started toward the great market. Perhaps someone had left scraps
there.
Selis had rarely been alone on the street after dark. Before Raki
made apprentice, he had gone out with that group once or twice, and

file:///J|/sci-fi/Nieuwe%20map/Moon,%20Elizabeth%20...ivity%20SS%2010-%20Those%20Who%20Walk%20in%20D.html (8 of 38)16-2-2006 15:54:26
Moon, Elizabeth - Lunar Activity SS 10- Those Who Walk in Darkness


his father had taken him along to a tavern from time to time, but this
was different. The noise of booted feet seemed loud, and the men
and women larger. He heard the crash of arms down one street, and
darted across it to another. Here it was darker, with fewer people.
Selis slid along the wall, half-feeling his way. It grew colder. He
shivered, wishing for the cloak the priests had taken from him. They
had told him where he could sleep warm, whispering in his ear as he
hung on the frame, but he would never go there. For one night he
could survive on the street; he had been out before with the others.
He wondered about the paladin. He had heard the talkтАФ she was
being given to another, to be killed outside the walls laterтАФbut how
much later? If he was cold, in wool pants and tunic, she must be
colder, stripped and shaved like that. The wind ruffled his thick mat
of hair, and he shivered again.
The great market, when he came to it, was a cold windy space lit
spottily by windblown torches. No stalls showed, and the local brats
had scavenged any dropped food long before. Selis sighed as he
hunted along the edges, turning over bits of trash with his foot. His
stomach growled, and his mouth felt dry. At the public fountain, a
thin skim of ice slicked the stone margin. The icy water made his
teeth ache. He looked up; nothing but thick darkness that smelled
wet. The wind dropped again; he could hear footsteps in the