"Sheri S Tepper - The End of the Game_txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tepper Sherri)

УYouТre crazy,Ф I said, forgetting to be respectful. Cat glared at me, and Murzy moved in with a quieting gesture.

УNow, now. CatТs right. If tha think to ask for some thing, always ask for the best. Tha may not get it, but tha never will if tha donТt ask. And thaТll have to be firm about it, Jinian.Ф

УI donТt know anything about VorboldТs House,Ф I said sulkily. УItТs probably awful.Ф

УWell, for one thing,Ф said Bets, УMendost would not be allowed to get at you there. Not ever. Which would neatly eliminate that part of his scheme, whatever it is. And Eller wouldnТt be likely to make the trip, as you well know.Ф

It was true. I didnТt think Mother would bother. УNeither would you,Ф I argued. УAnd my SchoolingТs being done by you dams, by us seven.Ф

УWait a bit, wait a bit. WeТve talked that over. No reason we have to stay here. An old pawnish dam is an old pawnish dam. Not much value, not much missed, isnТt that what they say? I figure two of us could go with you. Even Eller wouldnТt be so silly as to send you off to Xammer without servants. Most of the students have two or three housed in the town. Margaret could go, and Sarah. TheyТre the youngest. ThatТs two.Ф

УI would sneak away soon after,Ф said Tinder-my-hand, Уwith Cat. WeТll not be missed.Ф She sounded almost wistful, and I thought how boring it must be for her in the Demesne. Invisibility was all very well, but sometimes it must become wearing. УSince Murzy has been most useful around here and might be sought for, she might have to delay a bit. Perhaps she could take to her bed with a fever, down in town.

УWhich will go on and on,Ф said Bets. УI would be needed to nurse her, of course. ItТd be a season before anyone would come looking for us, wondering if we lived or died.Ф

УSo,Ф I said, considering it. УStill, the time would come my Schooling would be done. Then the King might expect me to be ... available.Ф

УThatТs later,Ф said Margaret Foxmitten. УLater we can worry about it. NowТs time to figure out how youТre going to get the KingТs Negotiator to agree.Ф And they began a long session of quite specific instructions about that. Finally Murzy sighed and shooed all of them away.

УOne way or another, chile. One way or another. Now, wash tha face, put on this pale dress, and let me comb that hair. ThaТll never be a beauty, and thatТs all to the good. InvisibilityТs hard for beauties. In this case, though, thaТre on show, so we have to make the best of whatТs there.Ф Which she did, with rouge pots and dark stuff on my lashes to make my eyes look greener, and a pumice stone to rub the brown calluses off my hands. My hair had never been so clean, and she brushed it until it gleamed like polished, ruddy wood. She was right: I was not beautiful, but on that occasion I was not difficult to look at.

She did a small spell casting, too. Inward Is Quiet was the spell, something very calming. Enough that I went down to dinner in full command of myself, intent on being graceful and quiet and well mannered. I sat beside the Negotiator, determined to be charming. Of course, Mother drank too much, got into a violent whispered argument with Mendost, and threw a tantrum you could have heard in Schooltown halfway through the soup, but Garz and Poremy covered it up and I pretended not to notice. The NegotiatorТs name was Joramal Trandle, and he gave me several boring gifts and one nice one and some well-thought-out compliments. Margaret and Murzy had thought up a couple for me to return, and by the time they brought in the cakes, we were getting along very well. I told him then that I must speak with him privately, after the meal, in the gardens, and he agreed, though he did look puzzled.

So, later in the evening he insisted on talking to me privately in the gardenЧwhich Mendost did not like at all. After I thanked him for the third time for the scent bottle carved out of greenstone in the shape of a frog, I remarked that it would have been nice if Mendost had cared enough about me to ever be kind to me. It would have made me feel more secure in the current situationЧmore sure that I would be treated well in future. This was said rather wistfully while batting my eyelashes the way Margaret had showed me. Joramal turned a little pink, then white, and I knew he was trying to figure out how he was going to tell King Kelver that MendostТs sister certainly wasnТt MendostТs friend. Though if the King had any sense, he would already have figured out that Mendost didnТt have any friends.

УI am sure King Kelver will not want an unwilling wife?Ф I asked, smiling. УUnwilling allies are so dangerous to one during Game.Ф I had practiced this line twelve times in front of the mirror with Cat sitting beside me, coaching me.

УThe, umm, King,Ф he ummed, Уdesires willing and, umm, enthusiastic allies. Umm. Of course.Ф

УAs you have noticed, I am very young.Ф This was demure. It is not easy being demure. I had wanted to say, УIТm too damn young to get married, and I donТt want to,Ф but older heads had prevailed. Instead, I looked down, twined my fingers together, and tried to evoke pallor.

УAh,Ф Joramel said. УYes.Ф

УI do not feel that marriageЧor even guest status within the KingТs Demesne while he has yet a living wifeЧwould be appropriate. It would be beneath the KingТs honor. I am a mere child, after all. Without Talent. Or Schooling. No. It would not be honorable.Ф

УAh, no,Ф he said.

I looked up. Now was time for the firm, friendly look. УHowever, if I were to attend School in Xammer for a few yearsЧVorboldТs House would doЧthen the KingТs honor would not be questioned. Nor could I question his ... friendship.Ф

He smiled at me, really smiled, with a definite twinkle behind it. УYoung woman, I would be happy to accede to this request on the KingТs behalf. It would, quite frankly, ameliorate certain aspects of this alliance which neither the King nor his Negotiator have found ... becoming.Ф He gave me a long, level look, and I knew we understood one another. The King was playing some Game or other, and Mendost was an unsuspecting part of it, but the King did not wish to Game against me. Good. The dams had, as usual, been right.

I gave Joramal Trandle my hand, and we agreed. I told him I could not possibly go to Xammer without my two servants and my pony, MisquickЧeven though the pony was not a mount that lent me much dignity. He was very grave about this, agreeing only after an appropriate amount of consideration to show he took the matter seriously. I told him my servants were Margaret and Sarah, stressing that Mother some times forgot the proprieties. He made a note of their names, right there in the garden, so I thought we would have no difficulty about that.

And when Mendost came up to me afterward with a bloody word in his mouth, ready to smack me if things hadnТt gone his way, I smiled sweetly at him and told him I thought traveling with Joramal Trandle would be immensely enjoyable. Joramal was beside me, ears quivering as NegotiatorsТ always are. They must see and hear everything and use it for the benefit of their patrons. Mendost didnТt dare say anything at all, much less haul me heavenward by my left foot. I caught the Negotiator looking at me out of the corner of his eye, watching me and Mendost together, as though he wanted to know a great deal more about that particular relationship.

I continued to be charming throughout the evening, though I had begun to feel a little odd because of the wine. It had begun by making me warm and relaxed, but as the evening waned it gave me a sad, weepy feeling. MurzyТs spell was wearing off, and I felt a little sick. When the party ended, Mother went up the stairs just ahead of me, and I followed her as she turned along the corridor leading to her own suite, not out of any planЧafter all, everything was said and done except the contract itselfЧbut more out of that sadness, as though I were about to lose something ephemeral and wonderful that I could never have again. So I went after her, slipping into the room behind her, saying, УMother ...Ф

IТm sure it was a whiny little voice. She turned on me, her hair billowed out around her head like a cloud, her favorite jewel held against her lips, her eyes lit up with a kind of bleary impatience.