"Martha Wells - City of Bones" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wells Martha)

тАЬHeтАЩs curious.тАЭ The smile was back with renewed strength. тАЬHeтАЩs a student of the past.тАЭ
The man drops the bones into the glowing coals in the iron bowl, and they yellow, then blacken
as the heat takes them, and thin veins of smoke rise into the still air of the time-darkened room.
тАЬNot the future?тАЭ Khat asked, and then wondered why. The old woman hadnтАЩt moved from her rug
near the fountain, where she muttered to herself and burned bone chips to look into the future. Perhaps
he had been thinking of her.
Amazingly, Seul stopped smiling. тАЬThe reason isnтАЩt important. HeтАЩll pay ten gold reals.тАЭ
Khat heard SagaiтАЩs snort of disgust. He said, тАЬIs this a joke?тАЭ
The manтАЩs eyes shifted from the krismen to Sagai and back. тАЬItтАЩs a fair price.тАЭ
 тАЬItтАЩs more than fair,тАЭ Khat agreed. тАЬBut IтАЩm kris. I canтАЩt get a trade license to own Imperial-minted
coins.тАЭ In Charisat and most of the other Fringe Cities, citizenship had to be bought, and noncitizens
couldnтАЩt own or handle minted coins unless they bought a special license to do so, which was almost as
expensive as citizenship itselfтАФand sometimes not worth the trouble, since Trade Inspectors paid special
notice to sales made with minted coins. Trade tokens were a holdover from the old days of barter, and
worthless without the authority of the merchants or institutions who stamped them. If a city became too
crowded and faced a water or grain shortage, it could always declare all trade tokens void, forcing
noncitizens to leave or starve in the streets.
It was better than the early days after the Waste had formed, when the Survivors had struggled for
food and safety on the ruins of the AncientsтАЩ cities, killing any outsiders who tried to encroach on their
water sources, but to KhatтАЩs mind not much better. Foreigners, even foreigners from other Fringe Cities,
were still viewed with suspicion, and if you were poor you stood little chance of ever amassing enough
trade tokens to buy citizenship. Or if you were krismen, and were simply not permitted to buy citizenship
or special trade licenses. For any price.
тАЬI meant the equivalent in trade tokens,тАЭ Seul said.
Khat consulted Sagai, who shook his head minutely. He looked back at Seul and said, тАЬAll right. IтАЩll
guide him.тАЭ
Seul nodded, his hard eyes expressionless. Perhaps he was surprised to come to an agreement so
easily. тАЬI know where you live. One of us will meet you there at sunrise.тАЭ He turned back to the Patrician,
spoke with him a moment, then all three retreated up the street.
Watching them go, Sagai sighed. He said, тАЬSo youтАЩve gotten yourself hired for some uncertain and
suspicious purpose by an upper-tier relic dilettante. You have some clever way out of this, I assume?тАЭ
As Khat stood, the beggar woman caught the hem of his robe and said, тАЬTell your fortune, pretty?тАЭ
Because of the cloudy film over her eyes she was nearly blind. He dug distractedly in a pocket for a
half-bit trade token and dropped it onto her frayed carpet, and told Sagai, тАЬHe knows who I am, where
we live. How can I refuse?тАЭ
The woman took more bone fragments from a stained cloth bag and rubbed them between her palms,
preparing to drop them into her brazier. Some fortune-tellers unscrupulously used rat or lizard bone.
Most bought what were supposed to be the bones of executed murderers or stillborn babies from the
dealers on the Seventh Tier, but those were more often from murder victims, killed by the dealersтАЩ own
bonetakers. Purists in the trade believed that only krismen bones gave a true casting of the future, and,
being one of the few kris in Charisat, Khat occasionally had difficulty keeping his intact.
Sagai was capable of infinite patience. It was one of the reasons he and Khat got along together so
well. Finally, Khat met his friendтАЩs skeptical eyes and said, тАЬHe wants to go there for a reason. Maybe he
knows something I donтАЩt.тАЭ
тАЬBetrayal,тАЭ the beggar woman whispered, startling them both. She was holding her hands in the wisps
of smoke rising from the coals, the burning bones. тАЬBetrayal of you, betrayal by you.тАЭ
In the death-shadowed room the coals have already cooled, and the bones are ash.