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

"More like ten or twelve. I've never worked out the exact ratio. But I understand you're
mathematically inclined. Why don't you puzzle it out for me?"

He knew how far it was from the castle to Combel. He'd been there with Carlon this spring,
buying strings and song-books at St. Sirrala's Fair. By the time they arrived at the outlying
mansions of the (relatively) wealthy, he reported his calculations.

"One to eight-point-six-five-two?" the Mage repeated. "Only that? Hmm. Well, I'm getting
old, I suppose. Wish I'd been able to find the Ladder rumored to be at Scraller's." Not pausing
to explain this latest incomprehensibility, he strode down a cobbled lane lined with columned
and tiled homes. "She'll be waiting for us, I hope," he muttered. "I do hate having to talk my
way in past the servants. One tends to look so disreputable on these occasions, and now that
Warrior Regimentals are dangerousтАФ"

"I thought we were invisible."

"Do I look like a Mage Captal to you, boy?" Desse responded sharply. "Five spells
simultaneously while juggling three daggers and an onionтАФ" He snorted. "How our Leninor
loved to show off! But every use of power is paid for. And I'm going to be paying for this
night until spring thaw!"

"Who's waiting for us?" Suddenly Collan grabbed the old man's sleeve. "Did you buy me
from Scraller for somebody else?"

"Great Saints, no!" He pulled Col out from under the jittery luminescence of a street lamp.
"You listen to me, boy. You're free now. The only person who can sell you is yourself, because
the only person who can place a value on your worth is you . Now, some sell themselves for
money, or wine, or an advantageous marriage. Others count their coin in power of various
sorts. But people who are truly worth something can't be bought. Do you understand?"

He understood one thing perfectly. "If you didn't buy me, and I'm free, then I'm gone."

"And how far do you think you'd get?"

"Pretty far by morning," Col retorted.

"Which is when they'll miss youтАФand a whole night is quite sufficient for the trip to Combel
on foot." He eyed the boy narrowly. "There are no horses missing at the castle. This is the only
logical destinationтАФnot even an idiot ignorant lute player would head out into The Waste,
especially unmounted. Therefore this is the first place they'll look. You have no identification
disk, no horse, no refuge, and no friends. How does that all add up in the mathematics of
survival?"

Collan was silent.

"All right, then. Come on. It's just down this lane. You'll like Lady Lilen. She's an old friend of
mine. She's not a Mage, but her grandmother was, andтАФwell, I daresay you'll hear the
family history sometime or other."

The Lady herself met them at the back door of her mansion. She was small, comfortably