"Patricia C. Wrede - Caught in Crystal" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wrede Patricia C)

face with the back of one hand and made herself continue
sweeping the stone step. Some Prefect with a macabre sense of
humor, no doubt, or perhaps a wealthy merchant. Horses were
rare in Mindaria; only a noble or an exceptionally wealthy
tradesman would hire . . . Kayl's thoughts froze as she realized
that the travel-chariot was turning onto the hard-packed area
that served as a courtyard for the inn.

The rasping of the cicadas was suddenly loud in her ears.
She forced herself to breathe. "It's a customer," she said
under her breath. "Just a customer."

The customer's chariot halted just in front of her in a
cloud of dust. Kayl knew immediately that this was no
aristocrat's whim; she could feel power emanating from the
chariot, pulling at the old bondтАФ She cut the thought off as
she realized where it might take her, and waited.

The driver jumped down from his seat and pulled back the
curtains that hid the interior of the chariot. With a rustle of
movement, a tall woman emerged. Her robes were black, her
hair was black, and her eyes were the color of midnight. On her
right hand she wore a ruby ring the color of blood, on her left
an emerald green as poison, and in the. hollow of her throat,
suspended from a chain as thin as a spider's web, hung a tiny
silver skull with diamond eyes.

"You have a room," the visitor said, and her voice was dark
music.

Kayl moistened lips that had gone suddenly dry, but her
voice was steady. "Five pence the night, lady. Seven if you want
an evening meal." Then she remembered the driver. "That's
each."

The woman raised a perfect eyebrow. "The last three
innkeepers charged nothing at all."

"They don't have Prefect Islorran's tax to pay, lady."

"You mistake my meaning." The woman studied Kayl for a
moment more, and slowly her lips widened into a smile. "I shall
take a room. One week, at the price you named. After that, we
shall see." Without waiting for Kayl's response, she turned and
gave an order to her driver. He nodded and sprang back up to
his seat; a moment later, the travel-chariot drove back the way
it had come.

The woman turned and held out a hand. Automatically, Kayl
extended her own, and seven thin copper coins dropped into it,