"Kate Novak - Finders Stone 1 - Azure Bonds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Novak Kate)

as were her own. He might be a mage, she decided, or a merchant.
"I hope you are well, lady?" His voice had the cultured tone of someone
tutored
in the local tongue by a scholar.
Alias scowled at his features. "Do I know you, Turmite?"
His expression turned stormy. "No. If you did, you would know our people
prefer
to be called Turmishmen or Turms.''
Alias sat down and motioned him into the seat opposite her. She liked his
control in the face of her insult. "You care for my drink? I've lost the
desire."
Nodding, the Turmishman took a long pull on the mug. If it was fermented
pig-swill, as Alias suspected, then such drinks were common in the south, she
decided, because the stranger seemed to savor his swallow.
"I take it you are the Turmishman who declared I was not a witch?"
The man nodded and wiped a bit of foam from his moustache. "Your friendly
innkeep was too afraid to take you in, and the lout who found you was ready to
have you burned. Or at least relieve you of your purse."
"But you knew I was not a witch? '
"I know that the Witches of Rashemen, if they ever leave their frozen climes,
know better than to decorate their bodies with tattoos proclaiming their
origins."
Alias nodded. ''I'm not of that sisterhood." At least as far as I know, she
thought inwardly, since I can't swear to what I've been doing for the past
week
or so.
She hesitated, then asked, "Did you see who brought me here?"
The Turmishman shook his head. "I was at this very table when the northerner
left and then came right back in, babbling about a dead witch on the front
steps. Everyone here investigated, and I convinced them your glyphs were
harmless, though I have no idea what they are. I must confess, to being most
curious about them. May I see them again?"
Alias frowned but held out her arm, palm upward, revealing the symbols. In the
dim common room they seemed even brighter than before, glowing from within.
The Turmishman looked at them and shook his head, still mystified. "I have
never
seen the likes of these before. Where are you from?"
"I . . . get around." After another pause she added, "I was born in Westgate,
but I ran off and never returned."
"I've seen naught like this in Westgate, and I have traveled the Inner Sea
from
there to Thay. I must confess, though, I am by no means a sage. May I cast a
spell on them?"
Alias involuntarily jerked her arm back. "You a mage?"
The Turmishman grinned, displaying a line of bright white teeth. "Of no small
water. I am Akabar Bel Akash of House Akash, mage and merchant. Do not fear. I
have no wish to entrap you by magics. I only wish to know if the marking's
origin is in magic."
Alias glared across the table at the Turmishman. He was a merchant-mage. One
of