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

said sadly. "Miss Hornslager lives in the wagon year-round, so she
travels light - just her possessions, and what she has for barter or
as payment. I haven't seen her do a lot of trading in the few weeks
I've been with her - at least not for goods." Woodrow blushed,
remembering the lusty dwarf's advances.

But Tas didn't notice. "So what do we have on hand?"

"At the moment, we're down to one skinny chicken, a bag of dried
beans, three boIts of fabric with gold threads, two crates of
merganser melons that we don't dare touch, two live pug ferrets -
which will stay that way," he warned through narrowed eyes, "and some
odd spices, most of which have to be scraped off the floor of the
wagon, though there are some in jars."

"That's not much to work with, but I think I can do something
with the chicken and the beans," Tas replied. Woodrow looked
skeptical. "You'll find everything inside the wagon, in a cupboard
toward the front. If it looks edible - except the ferrets and the
melons - it's fair game." With that, he dropped to his haunches and
set about building a cookfire.

Tas sprang into the back of the wagon, expecting to find
Gisella, but the wagon was empty. Fortunately, a lighted lantern hung
from a hook by the door, He looked around in astonishment. The
interior looked much larger than the outside would suggest. From floor
to low ceiling on the right side of the wagon were narrow shelves
containing neatly stacked, corked, green apothecary jars, some empty,
most full of dried herbs. The shelves held various and sundry other
items, from pale yellow beeswax candles to a black velvet-covered
board crammed full of rings studded with winking, colorful gems. Tas
reached out a hand eagerly.

"Don't touch the rings, whatever you do," Woodrow called to him
suddenly from outside the wagon. "The gems are fake, but Miss
Hornslager trades them as real ones. She knows exactly how many she
has and where each one's place is in the velvet display board."
Tas snatched his hand back abruptly.

"I wouldn't," he said, flustered, wondering if the young human
could read minds as well as understand animals. "She shouldn't leave
them out where just anyone can get at them," he murmured.

Tas dragged his eyes away from the sparkling rings and examined
the rest of the wagon. Except for the far front corner, the entire
left side of the wagon was covered with fluffy, overstuffed, brightly
colored pillows atop a thick-piled, midnight-black fur - probably
Gisella's bed, Tas decided. In the far corner was an ornate,
black-lacquered dressing screen folded accordian-style. At the rear of
the wagon Tas spotted Gisella's clothes where they were piled neatly