"Thieves World - Beyond The Veil" - читать интересную книгу автора (Morris Janet E)

mentality that prevailed in Tyse: anything, these days, could be had on Commerce
for a price.
"Something specific, something you want me to confirm."
"That poison isn't local; it's Mygdonian."
"Oh. Oh, my." The Stepsons had a hostage from the war, a highborn youth who was
pale and blond and very valuable: the son of General Adrastus Ajami, the
Mygdonian warlord's brother.
But before Randal could object that the boy, Shamshi, was surely well guarded
and not running about the streets in rags, Critias posed a question. "That man
was too good a skulker to have been surprised by a free-zone delinquent. Magic
had to have been involved, or one of these mind tricks you spoke of. Did it seem
like that to you?"
"No. Yes, Maybe. Please, Critias, I've got to go back. I don't think it's wise
for us to be seen together in public."
"You're not going back for a while. You're going to Bandara."
"Pardon?"
"You heard me. You are to seek out your partner and inform him he's returned to
active duty."
"You jest! Do you know how long that will take? You don't send an adept of the
mageguild to Bandara. They won't let me in the gates. And, on top of that, what
if he won't come?"
"If he'd been here, I wouldn't have needed you. Niko could have tracked down the
assailant before sunrise."
"Well, he won't be able to do it by the time we get back here. He tracks by
aura, so he says, and that will be long dissipated; heat trails disperse."
"Randal." Critias stopped still, fists on his sword belt. "Read my lips: You're
a Stepson, dispatched to fetch your left-side leader. You've received a direct
order. You don't ask questions, unless they're pertinent. Ask me how long you've
got to get back here, or what I expect you to do with this money." Critias
pulled a pouch from his belt. "Here."
Randal was speechless, hefting the pouch. He thought of all the reasons he
couldn't do this. Then he realized he was wondering whether Nikodemos would come
back at all.
"Now, let's go snort some krrf, Stepson." Randal found that he was pacing
Critias and heard himself say, "As you wish, Critias. But I do have to know what
the money's for and how long I've got to bring him back. He probably won't want
to come by cloud-conveyance."
"You're getting better, Randal, much better. The money is for a boat. Buy one in
Caronne and sail over to the Bandara Islands. Tell the secular adepts there that
it's our gift to them if someone sails back to Caronne with the two of you.
While you've got Niko there, have him stop by his uncle's. He's to finalize some
business he's doing for Madame Bomba with his family. And you've got," Crit
looked up at the sky, where the full moon was clearing the rooftops, "a maximum
of ten days."
"Ten days? I was jesting, when I said cloud-conveyance," Randal sputtered.
"Ten days. You're a Hazard, aren't you? You've got Datan the archmage's mighty
globe of power, don't you?"
"Well, yes, I do, butЕ"
"Ah, I forgot." Critias grinned. "You don't have the stand for it, do you? The
golden stand with all that funny writing on it, the one it spins on. Well, I