"Pierce, Tamora - The Circle Opens 01 - Magic Steps" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

way," he gasped. "Captain Qais on dawn watch requests your grace's attendance at
Rokat House, on Harbor Street."
Pasco frowned, thinking, This Qais would be his uncle Isman, who was not the man
to send a boy out at full gallop without very good reason. Isman was so unflap
pable that if he were to see a tidal wave roaring down on him, he would blink
and order his sergeants to find boats.
The duke and his great-niece traded looks. "And the nature of the emergency?"
the duke asked coolly,
Perhaps Uncle Isman isn't the only one who'd take a tidal wave in stride,
thought Pasco, envious. That duke don't startle easy. Me, I'm like this
messengerЧtoo excitable,
"It's Jamar Rokat, the myrrh trader from Bihan, your grace," replied the
messenger. "He's been murdered. It's a terrible sight, begging your grace's
pardon."
Again the duke and his great-niece exchanged looks, the girl's startled, the
duke's level. "Uncle," said Lady Sandrilene, reaching for the duke's reins.
He shook his head at her. "This is something that re quires my attention, my
dear. You have a problem of your own to solve just now."
She frowned up at him. "I suppose so, butЧ," She looked at Pasco, then back at
her great-uncle.
The duke leaned down to cup her cheek in one hand and spoke too quietly for
Pasco to hear. She replied, her voice just as soft; he spoke again. At lastЧvery
reluc tantly, it seemed to PascoЧshe nodded, and stood back. Immediately a man
and a woman detached themselves from the squad of guards, moving their horses to
stand by hers. They looked at Pasco, Osa, and Grandmother Netmender in a tough,
memorizing way that Pasco knew very well. Hey seen it often enough on the faces
of his own family: that habit of weighing people they'd met to decide who might
be trouble, and who might not.
"Join me when you have concluded your business here, Sandry," the duke told her.
To the messenger he said, "Come along." He rode off, the boy and the squad of
guards at his heels. A barrel-chested man who sported a sergeant's twin yellow
arrowheads on his sleeve caught Sandry's eye and nodded to her before he
followed the duke."
Pasco watched them go, thinking of what he'd over heard, Murder at Rokat House
was a serious matter. He crossed his fingers and flicked them at the departing
riders, sending luck for Uncle Isman in their wake. He would need all the luck
he could get, particularly once Summersea's rich folk heard of the death of one
of their own,.
* * *
Sandry looked at Pasco thoughtfully as her uncle rode off. There were no two
ways about itЧsomething would have to be done with this boy. Untrained magic
broke out in uncontrollable ways and could do consider able damage. She'd had
that lesson drummed into her head over the past four years. From the glow of
magic she'd seen as Pasco danced, his power wasn't such that it might flare up
'without warning, but that could change at any moment.
Sandry was no stranger to the ways of charming, clever boys. This one would bolt
the moment he thought he could do so without offending a noble, and he wouldn't
come back unless she did something to make him. Besides, she had the duke to
think of. She did not want him putting his hard-won health in danger again, not
on his first day outside Duke's Citadel.