"Mary Kirchoff. Kendermore ("Dragonlance Preludes I" #2) (angl)" - читать интересную книгу автора

"That'll be twenty copper." It was a bit steep for parchment
spectacles, but he had to make up for lost revenue from the sawmill
worker.

"I'm afraid I can't see very well," the kender apologized.
"Could you?" He held open the pouch dangling from his belt by a
string.

Phineas helped himself to twenty-three copper pieces and two of
his own pliers. "Thank you, do come again."

Only two of the previous nine patients were still in the waiting
room, the rest having apparently wandered off after untangling their
shoelaces. Or perhaps they all trooped out in one big knot, mused
Phineas.

One of the two patients was a young woman whose fingers had
somehow got caught in opposite ends of a hollow stick and a
construction worker who had nailed his own pant leg to a board. Eyeing
the reflection of the setting sun in the shop windows across the
street, Phineas decided to call it a day.

Ushering out the unhappy kender, he advised the two of them to
try again tomorrow. Locking the door behind them, he extinguished the
one source of light in the room, a small, dim oil lantern with a
greasy, black mantle.

Phineas Curick commended his good fortune as he cleaned his
tools in the examination room at the back of his "Doctor's Office."
Kender were such wonderful patients, even for someone who wasn't a
doctor! And while he seldom cured anyone outright, he assuaged his
guilt with the knowledge that he provided a great psychological balm
to people in distress. And that should be worth something, shouldn't
it?

"Ten copper pieces per examination!" he chortled happily under
his breath.

Hearing a noise in the outer waiting room, he wiped his hands on
his spattered apron and called out in irritation, "I'm closed, didn't
you see the sign?" There was no telling what might be going on, since
even locking the front door was no guarantee against a kender just
strolling into the office. "You'll have to come back tomorrow."
Many moments passed, and he heard no response.

Puzzled, Phineas stepped into the shadows of the waiting room.
"Hello!" said a deep voice in the darkness.

Startled, Phineas fell back against the wall, setting up a
chorus of rattling glass bottles. "Who are you," he demanded, "and