"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 1 - First Test" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

commands. She accepted the horn with a quiet thank-you and slung it over one shoulder. Checking that
Lord Wyldon's letter was tucked securely in the front of her shirt, she left the road that led from the castle
gate and headed through their orchards. Once past the cultivated trees she entered the woods, following
a trail down to the water.
By the time she could see a glint of silver through the trees she had worked up a mild sweat. The day
was warm and the walk was longer than she had thought it would be. When a rock worked its way into
her shoe, she sat on a log to get it out.
"It's not right," she muttered to herself, undoing the laces that held the leather around her ankle. "You're
a page for four years. That's how it's been done for centuries. Now they're going to change it?" When
she up-ended the shoe and shook it, nothing fell out. She stuffed a hand inside, feeling around for the
stone. "And just because I'm a girl? They ought to treat me the same. All I want is the same chance as the
boys. No more, no less. That's right, isn't it?" She winced as a sharp edge nipped one of her fingers.
Working more carefully, she wiggled the bit of rock out of a fold in the leather. "Probation is not fair, and
knighthood training has to be fair."
The stone was out; her mind was made up. If they couldn't treat her the same as they would the boys,
then she wasn't going to settle for a half portion. She would have to become a warrior some other way.
Kel sighed and put her shoe back on. The problem was that now she would have to wait. The Queen's
Riders took volunteers when they were fifteen or older. The queen's ladies, those who were expected to
ride, handle a bow, and deal with trouble at Queen Thayet's side, went to her in their fifteenth year as
well. And who was to say Kel wouldn't be living in the Yamani Islands by then?
One thing she knew: convent school, the normal destination for noble girls her age, was not a choice.
Kel had no interest whatever in ladylike arts, and even less interest in the skills needed to attract a
husband or manage a castle. Even if she did, who would have her? Once she'd overheard her
sisters-in-law comment that no man would be interested in a girl who was built along the lines of a cow.
She'd made the mistake of repeating that comment to her mother, when Kel's plan to be a page had
first come up. Her mother had gone white with fury and had put her daughters-in-law to mending several
years' worth of old linens. It had taken a great deal of persuasion for Kel to convince her mother that her
quest for knighthood did not mean she wanted to settle for second best, knowing she would never marry.
Getting Ilane of Mindelan to agree to her being a page had been a negotiation every bit as complicated as
what her father had done to get the Yamanis to sign the treaty.
And see the good that did me, Kel thought with disgust. Lord Wyldon offers me second best anyway,
and I won't take it. I could have saved my breath talking Mama around.
She was ready to get to her feet when the sound of bodies crashing through the brush made her look
up. Gruff voices reached her ear.
"Hurry up!" a boy growled from near the river. "Do you want us t'get caught?"
"The Cow's at home," replied a second boy's voice. "She stays there all morning."
Kel stood, listening. If they were on the lookout for her, then they were up to something bad. In just
three months she had taught the local boys she was someone to respect. Kel grabbed a sturdy fallen
branch and ran toward the voices. Racing into open ground between the trees and river, she saw three
village boys. They were about to throw a wriggling cloth sack into the Domin.
Her mouth settled into a tight, angry line; her hazel eyes glittered. "Put that down!" she cried.
The boys whirled, startled, dropping their burden on a half-submerged tree limb. One of them punched
the smallest in the shoulder. "Home all morning, eh?"
Kel shouted, "I know all of you! And you know the law in Mindelan-no killing of animals without the
baron's leave!"
The biggest, taller than she by half a head, advanced. The other two were right behind him. "Who's to
make us stop, Cow?"
The Yamanis had taught her well. She waded into the boys, using her club as an equalizer. She
whacked them in the belly so they couldn't breathe, and on the collarbones and biceps so they couldn't
raise their arms. One youth punched her face; he caught her on the outside of one eye. She changed her