"K. D. Wentworth - Hallah Iron-Thighs & the Change of Life" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wentworth K D)

Hallah Iron-Thighs & the Change of Life
K.D. Wentworth


The Jamplit Mountains between Alowey and Damery were tall and forbidding, infested with nasty hulking
bandits who hardly ever changed their socks or wrote home to their mothers. Gerta and I had done in
eighteen already that morning, which wasn't even a record for a single day.



For the first time in our long partnership though, I hadn't kept up my end of the fighting. My mail was tight
across the back and under my arms, making me much slower on the downswing. The score so far was
Gerta, twelve; Hallah, six. I was in a seething, foul mood.



"It's just the Change of Life, Hallah." My sister-in-arms, Gerta, a good ten years younger, gazed blithely
ahead at the winding mountain trail. She flicked a gnat off her wrist. "That's why it's best to die young. It
happens to all of us eventually if we don't get our skulls smashed in glorious battle at an early age."



"Not to Hallah Iron-Thighs, eldest daughter of Marulla Big-Fist, it doesn't!" My bay mare, Corpsemaker,
missed a step on the rock-strewn trail and I had to grab the saddle for support.



"So, when we get to Damery, we'll stop in at Benito's Hammer-and-Go and let his armorer add a few
rings. It just means there's more of you toтАФ"



I drew my sword with a great ringing hiss, irritated all the more at the way my mail pinched at the slightest
move. "If you say it means there's just more of me to love, I'll slit you from nose to belly button!"



Our client, Perchis Dal, an anemic-looking hymnal merchant from far-off Brezia, cringed, then gazed
longingly down into the green river valley below. His white donkey, resigned to his none-too-steady
weight, merely bobbed its head and snorted. Not wanting to be left out, the three gray donkeys following
behind laden with boxes of hymnals did the same.



Gerta tossed her head and her golden braids flew in the breeze. "What I was going to say is that there is
more of you to aim at now, and so less chance of taking a mortal blow."



"Oh. That's okay, then." My brow furrowed. "I think."