"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 3 - Squire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

"Did you eat?" someone asked Kel. A young man about four inches taller than she approached her.
He gave Kel a warm turnover. "Just rolled out of bed and came charging on down, I bet. You'll learn.
Eat."
Kel bit and discovered sausage and cheese inside the turnover. "It's good!" she mumbled, her mouth
full.
The stranger grinned cheerfully at her. In his early twenties, he was broad-shouldered, big-handed, and
very handsome. He wore his dark hair cut just below his ears. His mouth was long and made for smiling.
He wore the uniform of the Own: loose dark trousers, chain mail shirt, blue tunic with silver trim, and a
white burnoose. The crimson band around his biceps showed a dark circle with a black dot at its center:
a sergeant's badge.
"I see you've still got your overgrown horse," he remarked with a nod toward Peachblossom. "I was
new to the King's Own that day we saw you tilting. Everybody but me bet you'd come straight off his
back when he reared. I won a meal at The Jugged Hare because I bet you'd stay on." He bowed to Kel
as she wiped her fingers on the handkerchief she kept tucked in her boot top. "Domitan of Masbolle at
your service, Squire Keladry. Your page-sponsor was a certain mad cousin of mine."
She squinted to get a better look at him. His eyes - impossible to tell their color at the moment - were
framed by wide, arched brows and set over a long nose slightly wide at the tip. It was Neal's nose, on
someone else's face. Kel smiled. "You're related to Neal?"
"Sadly, yes. I call him Meathead. Have you ever met anyone so stubborn?" Domitan tucked his big
hands into his breeches pockets with a grin.
"He can be difficult, umтАж Sergeant?"
He shook his head. "Technically you're not in the Own. Besides, he's written me so much about you I
feel like I know you. Call me Dom." He offered his hand.
"Kel," she said, taking it. He gave her a firm squeeze, reassuring, not trying her strength as so many
young men did, and let go. She felt breathless and tingly.
"You sure grew into this bruiser," Dom remarked. When he offered a hand for Peachblossom to sniff,
Kel yanked him back just as the gelding struck. "Oh, I see," Dom remarked, unruffled. "A testy pony."
Kel giggled, then saw that Lord Raoul, Captain Flyndan, and two men, farmers by their clothes, had
emerged from the palace. Stablehands brought horses and remounts forward.
"We're ready to do business," Dom remarked. "Welcome to the Own, Kel." He swung himself onto
his saddled mount, a dappled gray gelding.
Lord Raoul rode over. "All set to give Hoshi a try?" he asked. Kel nodded. "Mount up. Normally our
remounts go in a string at the rear - the servingmen lead them with the supply train. We'll make an
exception for Peachblossom. You ride a neck length back on my left, and keep him with you. Behave,"
he told Peachblossom, speaking directly to the horse. "Or I'll muzzle you like a dog."
Peachblossom shook his head vigorously. Kel hoped that was restlessness, not disagreement. With no
time for another word with him, she gave a silent prayer to any listening gods for his good behavior and
swung into the saddle. Hoshi stood patiently as she settled in.
Kel twisted to look into the carrier behind her saddle. "You have to move," she told the drowsy
sparrows huddled there. "Otherwise Jump will squash you."
The birds hopped out. Once the carrier was empty, Kel nodded to Jump: he sprang neatly into the
leather box. Hoshi flicked two ears back, then swung them forward again. Not even Jump could shake
the mare's calm.
"Well, I'm impressed," drawled Raoul, who had watched. "Come along, Squire Keladry. Time to get
your feet wet."
Following him to the front of the mounted force, Kel took note of the dogs. Thin, fine-boned
greyhounds sat on the ground beside three riders. Four other men rode with terriers in carriers like
Jump's. Six wolfhounds stood beside Captain Flyndan, tails wagging. There was no sign of Third
Company's hunting birds - probably they were in carriers, asleep.
Lord Raoul faced his men. "Doubtless you know as much as I do," he said, his calm, steady voice