"Dan Parkinson - Dragonlance Tales - Cataclysm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Parkinson Dan)

moon. Looking up, they saw nothing but Lunitari and a
cloudless sky.
They saw an omen in this, and now carry talismans on
board, but sailors always were a superstitious lot, fashioning
monsters out of clouds and the wind on the waters.
At night I sit by the window, by lamplight, and watch the
constellations switch and wink and vanish in this uncertain
time, and I set before me a fresh page of vellum, the lines of
each day stored in my memory. For a moment I dwell on the
edges of remembrance, recalling my mother, L'Indasha
Yman, the reluctant knights, and the fortunate fishermen.
But, foremost, I recall my father, come down to me in an
inheritance of verse and conflicting stories. It is for him, and
for Grandfather before him, and for all those who have
vanished and been wronged by the lies of the past, that I dip
the quill into the inkwell, and the pain in my hand subsides
as I begin to write . . .
On SOLAMNIA'S CASTLES
RAVENS ALIGHT.
DARK AND UNNUMBERED
LIKE A YEAR OF DEATHS,
AND DREAMT ON THE BATTLEMENTS,
FIXED AND HOLY,
ARE THE SIGNS OF THE ORDER
KINGFISHER AND ROSE -

THE BARGAIN DRIVER
 MARK ANTHONY

I'll give you the two bronze knives, the string of elven beads, and
the silver drinking horn, but that is my final offer."
"Are you mad, Matya?" the grizzled old trader said in
exasperation. He gestured to the bolt of fine cloth that lay
between them on the counter, in the center of the trading
post's one dingy, cluttered room. "Why, this was woven for
a noble lord in the city of Palanthas itself. It's worth twice
what you're offering me. Nay, thrice!"
Matya watched the trader calculatingly with her bright
brown eyes. She could always tell when she was about to
best Belek in the driving of a bargain, for his nose
invariably would begin to twitch.
"If the doth is so fine, why did the noble lord for whom
it was made not buy it?" Matya asked pointedly.
Belek mumbled some excuse, but Matya waved it away
with a ring-covered hand. "You may take my offer or leave
it, Belek. You'll not get so much as a bent nail more."
The trader sighed, a look of dismay on his haggard face.
"You're determined to drive me out of business, aren't you,
Matya?" His bulbous nose gave a violent twitch.
Matya smiled inwardly, though she did not let the trader