"Jack vance - Tschai 2 - Servants of the Wankh" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

saw. Almost immediately she averted her eyes, as if uncomfortable or
embarrassed. Reith followed her gaze, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. He
thought better of inquiring the cause of her perturbation, not wishing to risk a
cool stare. And Reith grinned uncomfortably. What a situation: almost as if she
were cultivating an active dislike for him! Perfectly comprehensible, of course,
if Anacho's explanations were correct. His puzzlement regarding the girl's
agitation was now resolved by the sardonic Dirdirman.
"Observe the fellow at the far table," murmured Anacho. "He in the green and
purple coat."
Turning his head, Reith saw a handsome young bravo with carefully arranged
hair and a rich mustache of a startling gold. He wore elegant garments, somewhat
rumpled and well-used: a jacket of soft leather strips, dyed alternately green
and purple, breeches of pleated yellow cloth, buckled at knee and ankle with
brooches in the shape of fantastic insects. A square cap of soft fur, fringed
with two-inch pendants of gold beads, slanted across his head; an extravagant
garde-nez of gold filigree clung to the ridge of his nose. Anacho muttered,
"Watch him now. He will notice us, he will see the girl."
"But who is he?"
Anacho gave his fingertips an irritated twitch. "His name? I do not know. His
status: high, in his own opinion at least. He is a Yao cavalier."
Reith turned his attention to Ylin-Ylan, who watched the young man from the
corner of her eye. Miraculous how her mood had altered! She had become alive and
aware, though obviously twitching with nervousness and uncertainty. She flicked
a glance toward Reith, and flushed to find his eyes on her. Bending her head she
busied herself with the appetizers: dishes of gray grapes, biscuits, smoked
sea-insects, pickled fern-pod. Reith watched the cavalier, who was
unenthusiastically dining upon a black seed-bun and a dish of pickles, his gaze
off across the sea. He gave a sad shrug, as if discouraged by his thoughts, and
shifted his position. He saw the Flower of Cath, who feigned the most artless
absorption in her food. The cavalier leaned forward in astonishment. He jumped
to his feet with such exuberance as nearly to overturn the table. In three long
strides he was across the room and down on one knee with a sweeping salute which
brushed his cap across Traz's face. "Blue Jade Princess! Your servant Dordoho.
My goals are won."
The Flower bowed her head with an exact modicum of restraint and pleased
surprise. Reith admired her aplomb. "Pleasant," she murmured, "in a far land to
chance upon a cavalier of Cath."
"'Chance' is not the word! I am one of a dozen who went forth to seek you, to
win the boon proclaimed by your father and for the honor of both our palaces. By
the wattles of the Pnume's First Devil, it has been given to me to find you!"



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Anacho spoke in his blandest voice. "You have searched extensively, then?"
Dordoho stood erect, made a cursory inspection of Anacho, Reith, and Traz,
and performed three precise nods. The Flower made a gay little motion, as if the
three were casual companions at a picnic. "My loyal henchmen; all have been of