"John Morressy - The Questing Of Kedrigern" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morressy John)

showing. We can't have legendary wizards and beautiful princesses sleeping six
to a bed in some fleabag."
"No, of course not."
"Besides, it's already paid for and the inn won't refund the money."
"All right, then, TrisтАФwe'll go," Kedrigern said, rising and extending his
hand while Princess looked on happily.

Two
welcome to wizcon
KEDRIGERN SAT ON the big lumpy bed, sulking. Princess seemed oblivious to his
mood as she bustled about the room, humming a merry tune. She had deloused and
defleaed the entire wing of the inn with a short-term spell, and was now
engaged in more customary domestic undertakings. Here she arranged wildflowers
in a chipped vase; there she shifted a threadbare doily. She plumped the
cushions on the big benches by the fireplace, checked the water level in the
fire buckets, tested the rushes on the floor for springiness. Her housekeeping
done, she stood before the window, hands on her hips, and surveyed the room
with a satisfied look.
"I don't want to give a party," said Kedrigern for perhaps the twentieth
time since their arrival.
"Of course you do, Keddie," Princess said absently, looking into the other
room.
"I don't."
"The guild has provided us with this nice big suite. We'd be terribly
selfish not to give other people a chance to enjoy it."
"I won't enjoy it very much if it's jammed full of strangers."
"Just leave it to me. I'll invite a few peopleтАФthe really interesting ones
that 1 know you'll want to talk withтАФand we'll have a civilized evening."
With a scornful laugh, Kedrigern rose from the bed. "Do



you really think you can have a nice cozy partyтАФa civilized eveningтАФat a
convention? You've never been to one of these, my dear. You don't know what
the parties are like. Loud singing, everyone shouting back and forth . . .
crowds . . . pushing . . . spells. Remember the spells."
"What's wrong with spells? We both use them all the time. And this is a
wizards' convention," said Princess complacently, smoothing the rumpled
coverlet.
"There's nothing wrong with spells. But when people get into a party mood
and then start showing off, there's bound to be trouble. At the conference in
Gryphon Rock, for example, the stable boys at the inn were surly, and someone
turned all the help into pigs. Believe me, there was a lot of explaining to be
done when that got out. And a few years earlier, at Chateau Ravet, someoneтАФ"
"Just because there's been some rowdy behavior in the past, we needn't
tolerate it here."
"I'm talking about the present, my dear. Right now. There's a whole new
element getting into the profession these days. Some of them wouldn't even
make good alchemists."
"Listen to yourself, Keddie. You're not even 170, and you're talking like an