"Joan D. Vinge - Eyes of Amber" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vinge Joan D)

EYES OF AMBER
Joan D. Vinge

The beggar woman shuffled up the silent evening street to the rear of
Lord Chwiul's town house. She hesitated, peering up at the softly glowing
towers, then clawed at the watchman's arm. "A word with you, masterтАФ"
"Don't touch me, hag!" The guard raised his spear butt in disgust.
A deft foot kicked free of the rags and snagged him off balance. He
found himself sprawled on his back in the spring melt, the spear tip
dropping toward his belly, guided by a new set of hands. He gaped,
speechless. The beggar tossed an amulet onto his chest.
"Look at it, fool! I have business with your lord." The beggar woman
stepped back, the spear tip tapped him impatiently.
The guard squirmed in the filth and wet, holding the amulet up close to
his face in the poor light. "You . . . you are the one? You may passтАФ"
"Indeed!" Muffled laughter. "Indeed I may passтАФfor many things, in
many places. The Wheel of Change carries us all." She lifted the spear.
"Get up, fool . . . and no need to escort me, I'm expected."
The guard climbed to his feet, dripping and sullen, and stood back
while she freed her wing membranes from the folds of cloth. He watched
them glisten and spread as she gathered herself to leap effortlessly to the
tower's entrance, twice his height above. He waited until she had vanished
inside before he even dared to curse her.
"Lord Chwiul?"
"T'uupieh, I presume." Lord Chwiul leaned forward on the couch of
fragrant mosses, peering into the shadows of the hall.
"Lady T'uupieh." T'uupieh strode forward into light, letting the ragged
hood slide back from her face. She took a fierce pleasure in making no
show of obeisance, in coming forward directly as nobility to nobility. The
sensuous ripple of a hundred tiny miih hides underfoot made her callused
feet tingle. After so long, it comes back too easily . . .
She chose the couch across the low, waterstone table from him,
stretching languidly in her beggar's rags. She extended a finger claw and
picked a juicy kelet berry from the bowl in the table's scroll-carven
surface; let it slide into her mouth and down her throat, as she had done
so often, so long ago. And then, at last, she glanced up, to measure his
outrage.
"You dare to come to me in this mannerтАФ"
Satisfactory. Yes, very . . . " I did not come to you. You came to me . . .
you sought my services." Her eyes wandered the room with affected
casualness, taking in the elaborate frescoes that surfaced the waterstone
walls even in this small, private room . . . particularly in this room? she
wondered. How many midnight meetings, for what varied intrigues, were
held in this room? Chwiul was not the wealthiest of his family or clan: and
appearances of wealth and power counted in this city, in this worldтАФfor
wealth and power were everything.
"I sought the services of T'uupieh the Assassin. I'm surprised to find
that the Lady T'uupieh dared to accompany her here." Chwiul had
regained his composure; she watched his breath frost, and her own, as he
spoke.