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

been pale.
"Or a Mygdonian?" Grillo countered.
"Yes, a Mygdonian. There aren't that many Mygdonians in town. Plenty of
youngsters in the free zone who'd fit what I saw."
"So you don't think you could recognize him or her again? If you saw a group of
children, could you pick out the right one?" Critias, with narrowed eyes, asked
clipped questions, no relief evident, but tension spelled out clearly on his
Syrese face.
"No. Not unless I were dying of the same poison. It was a chance event, a
mugging. Nothing more. Can I go? Oh, one more thing."
"Yes?" Grillo leaned forward.
"The head groom. The man gave him a gold piece for extra service. Maybe he saw
something."
Grillo pulled on his nose and unfolded from his squat. Looking down, he said,
"I've got to admit I didn't think there was any point to calling in one of you
people. I was wrong. Thank you, Randal. And my best to your First Hazard. Crit,
I'll have my man interrogate the groom. We don't want Straton's overzealous sort
of assistance on this. Or yours. It's a local item, now, something for the
garrison police squads. Our regards to the Riddler." He stepped over the body
and descended the stairs.
Critias blew out a long breath. "Bless you, Randal, or whatever equivalent
thereof is acceptable to your kind. Ready for that round of krrf I owe you?"
Critias helped the shaky young mage to his feet.
"That's not necessary. It wasn't even really magicЕ merely a mental trick." But
Randal was proud of himself, and he'd developed a taste for krrf, the stimulant
which was the fighters' recreational drug of choice. When he'd been working
closely with the Stepsons he'd used it frequently; it kept his allergies in
check when he was assuming animal forms.
They were walking away from the specials then and Crit gestured toward the alley
which would lead them to Commerce Avenue and Brother Bomba's.
"What about Straton? Aren't you going to wait for him?"
"He'll find me." Crit bent down as if to pick up something from the dusty
street, then straightened. Randal saw him peering behind to see that no one was
in earshot. Then Crit said, "You'll need the krrf. I'm not through with you. And
I have a feeling you've not told me everything."
"Wrong. You're wrong. See here, task force leader, I've paying customers to
attend to: a spell to cast for no less than Madame Bomba herself, or one of her
girls will get pregnantЕ"
"Randal, did the face you saw remind you of anyone? Anyone at all?"
"No. Yes. I don't know." He could see that face now, wide-eyed and towheaded.
But he was telling the truth; it looked like any of a dozen urchins' faces. In
the free zone, where refugees from the war lived in a squalor too bleak to be
contemplated, he'd seen more faces like that than he'd like to count. He said
so.
"Was there anything unusual, thenЧanything at all?" Crit was like a dog worrying
a bone.
"No. But you know something, don't you?" Randal ventured.
"Indeed. A number of things."
They came out onto Commerce, where no curfew was observed and ladies of the
evening escorted gentlemen into establishments which catered to the siege