"Tamora Pierce - Protector Of The Small 4 - Lady Knight" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

Peachblossom lowered his muzzle to sniff the ragged scrap of humanity before him. The boy waited,
perfectly still, as the big gelding whuffled through his guest's hair and under his arms, then gently lipped
the boy's nose. Kel waited, horrified, for the shriek of agony that would come when Peachblossom bit.
The shriek never came. Peachblossom continued to inspect the newcomer inch by inch.
 "Milady, you oughtn't go between a man an' his servants," the innkeeper said, trying to be agreeable.
"I'll never get him to do proper work now." He tried to wrest his hand from Kel's grip. She tightened her
muscles, digging even deeper into his wrist. He couldn't shake her loose, and he was afraid to anger a
noble by striking her.
As he struggled, Kel inspected the skinny urchin who had so bewitched Peachblossom. The shadows
around the lad's deep-set blue eyes were not all from lack of sleep. There was an old black eye, a newer
bruise on one cheekbone, and a scabbed cut across his sloping nose. The boy glared at the innkeeper,
his chin square and determined. There were new welts on his arm and back visible through holes in his
shirt. A slit in half-rotten breeches revealed a long, recent bruise. He was barefoot, his feet red and
chapped. His matted hair might be blond if it were clean.
As she watched, he reached up and gently stroked Peachblossom's muzzle.
Horse magic, Kel thought. It has to be. And this idiot treats a lad that useful like a whipping boy. She
looked at the innkeeper. Fury boiled in her veins, but she kept her face calm, allowing no emotion to
escape. It was a skill she had perfected. "Tell me he is not your son," she said mildly.
The innkeeper made a face. "That stray pup? We took him in of charity, fed and clothed him and gave
him a home. He works here. I've the right to discipline him as I please."
"You would lose that right if he weren't forced to depend on you. He'd be long gone." Her voice was
still mildly pleasant. Her inner self, the sensible part, shrieked that she had no business doing what she
was about to do. She was on her way to a war; boys took much more looking-after than sparrows,
dogs, or horses.
"Let him starve? That would be cruel," the man insisted. Looking at him, Kel realized that he believed
it. "He's got no family. Where can he go?" demanded the innkeeper. "But he can't just leave work. Boys
need discipline. Elsewise he'll go as bad as the feckless Scanran slut that whelped him an' left him on the
midwife's step."
"If he was left with the midwife, how did he come to you?" Kel asked.
"She died. We bid for the boy's indenture. Paid for seven years, we did. Been more trouble than he's
worth, but we're gods-fearin' folk, an' charity be a virtue." The man looked piously towards the ceiling,
then at Kel. "Forgive my sayin' so, milady, but this be no affair of yours."
Kel released him. "I think the district magistrate would find your treatment of this boy to be very much
his affair," she informed the man. "Under the law indentured servants have some rights. What did you pay
when you bid for his services?"
"You can't buy his contract," protested the innkeeper. "It ain't for sale."
Kel wrapped both hands in his tunic and dragged his face down to hers. "Either tell me, or I visit the
magistrate tomorrow, and you'll have no say in the matter," she informed him. "This boy is an indentured
servant, not a slave. Accept my coin now, or have him taken with no payment tomorrow, it's all the same
to me."
When the innkeeper looked away, she released him, knowing she had won.
"Two copper nobles," growled the man.
"One," said the boy grimly. "Only one, an' I been workin' for 'im for three year."
"Lyin' little rat!" snapped the innkeeper, darting to Peachblossom's stall. The gelding lunged without
touching the boy at his feet and snapped, teeth clicking together just in front of the innkeeper's face. The
man tried to run backwards and fell, ashen under his whiskers.
Kel looked in her belt purse. She wouldn't have paid a copper bit for ten boys in that condition, but
she wanted to be rid of the innkeeper. She held up two copper nobles. "I'll take his indenture papers
before you have this. Get them, right now."
The man fled the stable.