"Andre Norton & Lackey, Mercedes - Elvenbane 1 -The Elvenbane" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

among the humans afterwards, except in a very cursory fashion, to see if his
"bride" was hiding among the slaves.

The slaves were practically invisible, so long as there wasn't one or more
fewer, absences that couldn't be accounted for. Who looked for one more
human slave in the slave quarters? There were always empty beds
somewhere, she thought ruefully, given the rate those lords used up their
servants, and empty stools at the table. If another slave appeared who wasn't
on the roster, it was always assumed someone else ordered him bought or
brought in from elsewhere on the property.

She knew Rathekrel never counted noses, and he never would have put
together the fact of one extra slave and the fact that the Lord's bride-to-be
had evaporated without a trace from a mage-guarded room. But that wasn't
the cream of the jest...

Alara stood quietly, behind the Lord's desk, one ordinary, dusky human boy
among the other white-and-silver-clad servants. There was nothing to link
her with the vanished Yssandra, not even sex.

She actually had been part of the frantic search effort, as Rathekrel sent
every able body out looking for the vanished maiden, or at least some hint as
to her whereabouts or who could have taken her.

But a complete search of the entire manor had yielded no clues, and no sign
of forced abduction. Alara had been very careful about covering her tracks.

This, so the humans were whispering, could only mean that the elven maid
had left of her own accord. Not a very flattering scenario for Rathekrel. And
a considerable blow to more than his pride; with the number of glamories he
had placed on the child as she accepted his ring, she should not have been
able to even voice so much as her own opinion if it contradicted his. That she
had escaped him and his magical influence did not augur well for his
perception nor for his power.

Now the Lord found himself in the humiliating position of having to call the
family, and inform them that their daughter, his affianced bride, had
apparently run away.
Alara had insinuated herself into the handful of servants sent to the library; it
hadn't been difficult, as most of the other young men of the household had
sought other duties, any other duties, as soon as it became obvious that
Yssandra was nowhere on the estate. They knew very well what would
happen to Rathekrel's temper if the maiden was not found.

Those assumptions were entirely correct. The Lord was angry and
humiliated, and when an elven lord was unhappy, his humans generally
suffered.

In fact, ran the fear-filled rumors, there might well be some deaths in the
slave quarters before the day was through. If Rathekrel could not find a