"Patricia C. Wrede - Magician 1 - Mairelon the Magicia" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wrede Patricia C)

file:///G|/rah/Patricia%20C.%20Wrede%20-%20Magician%20Series%201%20-%20Mairelon%20the%20Magician.txt

ONE

Kim walked slowly through the crowd, slipping in and out of the traffic almost without thinking
She enjoyed the noise and bustle Common to all the London markets, but Hungerford was her favorite
Though it was small by comparison to Covent Garden or Leadenhall, it was very busy Carts stood hub-
to-hub along the sides of the street, leaving only narrow aisles for the customers The more
fortunate among the sellers had permanent stalls, others displayed their shoes or brooms or
baskets on bare strips of pavement Still others walked through the crowd with baskets of turnips,
apples, parsnips, onions, or cress, crying their wares in unmusical voices

Kim let the flow of traffic carry her closer to the market's most recent addition, eyeing it with
a mingling of curiosity
and professional appraisal It was a wagon painted in sunbleached yellow and gold, its tall red
wheels half hidden by the stalls on either side Two large doors made up the end of the wagon that
faced the street, and they were fastened with a rusty padlock The doors carried a rough painting
of a man in a black top hat, with a string of incomprehensible but decorative letters Just below
him.

The wagoneer had bagged one of the best spots in the
market, right between Jamie the Tailor and Red Sal's fish
stand. Kim frowned. Sal was a good sort, but she wouldn't
take kindly to having Kim lighten a wagon next to her- Even
if "lightening" wasn't exactly what Kim planned to do. Jamie
was more irritable but not so noticing- Kim's frown deepened.
She wondered, not for the first time, whether she'd been wise
to take this job. Tofts were trouble, no two ways, and a toff
knowing enough to find Kim in the back streets of
London.

Firmly Kim brought her mind back to the business at hand.
The wagon was close enough to Red Sal's to have scraped the
paint off the side of the stall, had there been any paint to
scrape- Small as she was, Kim would never be able to squeeze
through. She'd have to go in past Jamie's, then, and time
things so he was busy with a customer. She looked at the
wagon with misgiving.

A man came around the corner of the wagon and began
undoing the latches at the rear- He was tall and thin and
everything about him seemed to droop, from his baggy trou-
sers to his sloping shoulders to the brim of his slouch hat.
Even his mustache drooped, and as he worked he chewed
absently first on one end and then the other.

The doors swung open, and Kim blinked in surprise- The
entire rear end of the wagon was occupied by a tiny stage. A
faded red curtain separated the back of the stage from the
wagon's interior, Kim forgot her eventual goal and slid closer,