"Karl Edward Wagner - Ravens Eyrie" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wagner Karl Edward)

About to warn her to be silent, Kane stopped. "How can you
dream of someone you've never seen?" he wondered, somewhat
in awe of the child. Seeing her brought memories that he cared
not to linger upon just now.
"I saw you," Klesst insisted. "And another man, all in black
with a great black cloak. He has a great black hound..."
Kane frantically signed for her to be silent. A number of men
were coming down the hall. They were searching the rooms.
Kane's hand reached over his right shoulder, and the ancient
blade of Carsultyal steel silently swung from its scabbard. It was
a good weapon, Kane thought with grim pride. This one had been
difficult to findтАФprobably few like it still existed. Carsultyal lay
buried by sand and sea and time. And the ancient city's last
citizen would very shortly lie dead with its memory.
Again he glanced outside. They were watching from below.
The soldiers in the hallтАФhe might kill the first group to enter, but
there were more to take their place, and Kane was
trappedтАФwounded so that his last fight would not even be a good
one.
The door was locked from outside. And there was Klesst. It
might make them less thorough in their search; they would likely
assume the child would cry out if Kane had somehow hidden
inside her room.
A futile hope, probably. And the room was too small. Kane
assumed it was one of the narrow single rooms for wealthy
travellers who deigned not to share quarters with other guests.
Such accommodations cost dear and were cramped, but at least a
well-to-do traveller would not have to share a bed with three hog
drovers.
 The search was only a few doors away.
And there was no place to bide. Just a bare-timbered room. No
chests, no tapestries. Kane's huge frame could never squeeze
under Klesst's tiny bed. There was a closet. That in itself marked
the room as once a luxury accommodation. Kane swung open its
door. The closet was surprisingly large, considering the economy
of space that an inn demanded. An oddly dank smell came from
within. A few nondescript items of clothing hung from pegs along
the interior.
It was worth a chance. At any event, Kane decided, when they
opened the door be would hurl himself out, with luck cut down a
couple of them before they could meet his rush. It was better
than standing there like a condemned man in the middle of his
death cell.
"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.
"Klesst."
"Well, Klesst, I'm going to step inside your closet. I want you
to pull this latch down from outside, and then get back in bed.
When the soldiers come in, just tell them no one's been in here.
And if they don't believe you and look inside... well, afterwards
you can tell them that I said I'd hurt you unless you did as I told