"Melanie Rawn - Exiles 1 - The Ruins of Ambrai" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

"Here, boy," Scraller panted, as if ordering one of his hunting hounds.

Col pounded at the face of St. Gelenis First Daughter painted on the wooden door, fought
with the gilded galazhi-horn handle the Saint smirked at: it was St. Chevasto's cock.

"Not that oneтАФmine," Scraller said from just behind him.

His shoulder was seized, he was spun around to face his owner. "I'll kill you first," he snarled.

The door slammed into his back, knocking him into Scraller. They both went down in a
sprawl. Collan rolled off him at once and leaped to his feet.

"Time to go, I think," the old man said, appearing like a WraithтАФor at least what Col had
heard about Wraiths, for he'd never seen one and hoped he never would. The old man was
old even then, his face as wrinkled as the shell of a black walnut and approximately the same
color, his shoulder-length white hair uncovered by a coif and as startling as the intense green
of his eyes. These were very large and fine, shaded by a bristle of black lashes and formidable
snowy eyebrows. Col stared at him, unable to move, not knowing whether to be more
astonished by his sudden appearance, his black face, or his words.

"Well? Come on, then. Or are you deaf?" The old man's voice was deep and rich with
sarcasm. "A deaf musicianтАФ what a prodigy. But I'm convinced you heard me. Come along
now, we'll pack your things. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm taking you out of here for good
and all."

"Huh?" Col managed.

"Nothing to pack, I suppose. Well, that's the way of things, isn't it? You don't even own your
own skin. Filthy institution, slavery. Come along, then, just as you are. I don't have much
time to waste on you."

And with that, he turned and left the room.

Scraller moaned once, stirred, and went limp again on the carpet. Col glanced down at him,
then delivered a hard kick to his scrawny chest before galloping through the door after the
old man.

"Hurry up!" The black-cloaked apparition was striding down the hallway. "Spells of Silence
and Invisibility aren't easy, even for me."

"InvisтАФ" Col caught up with him. "You're a Mage !"

"Warrior Mage Guardian and First Sword Gorynel Desse, at your serviceтАФat least until we're
out of this sewer. I've only an hour's lease on this spell and it has to get us nearly to Combel."
He didn't look at Col during this speech, not even when the boy blurted in surprise at the
notion of riding to Combel in an hour.

"Are you crazy?"

"It's been so speculated," Gorynel Desse admitted. "If you ever get to know me, you can judge