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

Sagai was still registering disapproval when they reached their own court down on the Sixth Tier. It
was ramshackle and poor, and its fountain was only a small basin up against one wall, but the day-coated
tin shutters on all the second- and third-story windows glowed with SagaiтАЩs colorfully painted designs,
and some of the neighbors lounging around the court greeted them cheerfully.
Their house, consisting of three rooms set one atop the other and a fair share of rooftop, had been
owned for a time only by the widow Netta and her two children. Netta was well able to take care of her
own affairs, but a large family of cap makers from the next court had taken a fancy to the house, as well
as to NettaтАЩs daughter, and had continually tried to force the widow out. She had taken in a pair of young
street entertainers to help her hold on to her property, but the struggle to keep the cap makers out went
on so long they had little time to practice their own livelihoods. It was not until Khat and Sagai, and
SagaiтАЩs wife Miram, had moved in that the cap makers had chosen discretion as the better part of valor.
Netta had boasted that all the two relic dealers had had to do was sit out on the front stoop and all
enemies had fled. Khat and Sagai hadnтАЩt told her that they had also gone to the cap makersтАЩ house late
one night and beaten the libido out of the three eldest brothers.
The other neighbors in the court were mostly street entertainers or peddlers who worked the fringes
of the Garden Market, and it was a good arrangement, with no other relic dealers nearby to generate
competition or theft.
тАЬHe could still be a Trade Inspector trying to trap you somehow,тАЭ Sagai argued as they crossed the
court. тАЬThat Seul fellow did offer you coin.тАЭ
тАЬThen IтАЩll be honest,тАЭ Khat answered, reaching into the door hole to pop the latch. тАЬIтАЩm always
honest.тАЭ
Sagai snorted. тАЬNo, you think youтАЩre always honest, and that is not the same thing at all.тАЭ
This side of the court had been in shadow as the sun moved behind the bulk of the city, and the room
would have been almost cool except for the press of bodies. The floor was covered with children of
various ages: NettaтАЩs youngest, barely able to walk, Sagai and MiramтАЩs three small daughters, and the
baby boy whom Sagai had vowed would be the last child born to them in Charisat. Libra and Senace,
two young men who did a juggling act in the market, were sprawled on the faded matting, counting the
copper bits they had been tossed that day. Copper could be weighed and exchanged for trade tokens,
another way noncitizens could get around the Coin Laws.
The widow Netta sat on the narrow bench carved out of the wall, fanning herself and Miram, who
was at the low table separating a tray of colored beads into individual glass bottles. The two youngest
children were helping her in this task by struggling for possession of her lap. When Miram and Netta
could afford to buy the metal thread they needed, they made jewelry from the supply of beads Miram
had managed to bring with her from Kenniliar, and sold the product to one of their neighbors who kept a
market stall.
Miram looked tired and frazzled from the children, but still smiled up at them as they came in. тАЬWell,
are we wealthy yet?тАЭ Though Miram hadnтАЩt made a serious study of the Ancients, she had picked up an
interest in the subject from Sagai. Her education hadnтАЩt been nearly so extensive, but her ability to read
and write Trade-tongue occasionally let her do a lucrative business in reading legal documents and writing
letters for their neighbors.
тАЬNo, but weтАЩre comfortable, at least for today,тАЭ Sagai said, and put the result of their dayтАЩs trading on
the table for the others to look at. There was a small box etched with floral designs and made of
mythenin, a hard, silvery Ancient metal that made up most of the relics found intact. There were also
some pieces of smooth stone of a rich blue-green color in round settings of the same metal, that might
have been anything from jewelry to pieces in some forgotten game.
CharisatтАЩs metalworkers and gemstone cutters were acknowledged as the best across the Fringe and
down to the cities of the Last Sea, but even they couldnтАЩt manipulate liquid metal like the Ancients.
Khat settled on the seat next to Netta. Water jugs filled most of the cubbies, and pegs pounded into
the clay-smoothed walls held the few copper cooking implements Netta owned and the oil mill and grain
grinder every household needed. The position of honor on the only shelf was taken by her grandmotherтАЩs