"Michael A. Stackpole - Dragon Crown Saga 2 - Fortress Draconis" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stackpole Michael A)

As poetry went, he knew it wasnтАЩt much, but felt the little verse was the seed of something larger. It
would be a piece of the great saga minstrels would sing about his life. And sing they will, of Will the
Nimble, King of the Dimandowns. IтАЩll make them forget Marcus, Scabby Jack, and Garrow; IтАЩll
even make them forget the Azure Spider.
He crawled out along the roofтАЩs beam to where a piece overhung the alley. He looped the rope over
the end of it, then snugged it tight. Tugging on it twice to assure himself it would hold, he started down it,
letting the rope slide between his toes until he could rest his weight on a knot. Little by slowly he
descended, reaching out to touch the building and kill any swing on the rope. Finally he hung there, right
in front of the attic window.
The dagger he drew from the sheath at the small of his back slid neatly into the gap between shutters.
Will worked it up, and between two rusty nail heads, his blade met the latch. Lifting easily, he slipped it
and the shutters sagged outward, opening with a lazy sigh.
The thief shook his head as he resheathed his dagger. Stupid Vorks deserve to lose their prize. As
anxious as he was to get his hands on it, he didnтАЩt reach for the shutters immediately, but waited a bit
more, listening. No time for mistakes now.
HeтАЩd been pleased with how well the plan had come together, and he was fair certain Marcus and
Fabia would be, too. HeтАЩd woven it together from things he knew theyтАЩd forgotten, like Fabia talking
glowingly about the Vorquelf Predator, leader of the Grey Mist, as if he were King Augustus warring
against the north. Predator would tell all that he hated men, and heтАЩd only ever showed Will the cold side
of a sneer and the fast-hard of a fist; but to hear Fabia tell it, he loved the warmth of a woman. HeтАЩd
favored her with his attentions forever ago, when she wasnтАЩt so fat that only Marcus would have her.
She told tales of his having a treasure that sheтАЩd never seen, but she knew it was there. Once sheтАЩd
awakened deep in the night, still drunk, and had seen his face backlit in the glow of something he cupped
in his hands. Fabia said he smiled wider than he ever had in her arms. When she asked him what it was,
he said she was dreaming, and in telling the tale to the younglings sheтАЩd allowed as how she likely was
dreaming, since Predator would have long ago drunk up anything so precious.
Will always had believed her telling of the story as a dream until there came a time he thought on it for
a while. Then he sought out the woman Predator was currently using. Lumina laughed when Will clowned
for her, and cooed over the little things heтАЩd steal and give her, be they bits of pastries or a bright button.
SheтАЩd reward him with a kiss, clearly assuming that he had a crush on her. The fact that he did didnтАЩt
keep him from his mission, and eventually she was coaxed into revealing a tale close enough to FabiaтАЩs
that Will knew the Vorquelf was hiding something valuable.
It hadnтАЩt been hard for Will to convince himself that whatever the treasure was, it was meant to be his.
For as long as he could rememberтАФwhich went a bit further back before Marcus and Fabia had taken
him in, but not muchтАФheтАЩd hated the Vorquelves. The exiled elves had long ago claimed the Downs as
their own domain in Yslin. As hard times hit, the area around the Downs began to decay. Beggars and
thieves, whores and the haltтАФmost all menтАФcame to live in the shadows of the city heart. Their
neighborhoods became called the Dim, and Hightown folks dismissed the whole area as the
Dimandowns. The Vorquelves constantly fought against the growing human population, and the only time
human officials came into the area was to press-gang the unwary into crewing on galleys sailing the
Crescent Sea.
WillтАЩs hatred for the Vorquelves found an ally in Marcus. Will could remember how the man had
brought him into their home, a big building in the Dim, and had housed him with other children. Marcus
taught them about thieving and worse, then sent them out into the city. In return for bringing back spoils,
the children were fed and clothed and not beaten too often. Those who were especially good were taken
to the Harvest Festival in the autumn, though the recent affairs in no way matched what Fabia talked
about in her stories of festivals past.
Marcus and Fabia had always done for Will, but he did remember that theyтАЩd not always done so for
everyone. The girls, when they reached a certain age, were trained for other things. Lumina hadnтАЩt been
one of them, but plenty of WillтАЩs sisters plied the liftskirt trade. The boys, when they reached what