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

He squinted in the flickering light and deduced from a smudgy title at
the top that this was a map of Kendermore. But he couldn't make out
any fine details on the aged, delicate map. He needed more light.

The window in the examination room faced west, so Phineas didn't
even bother opening it; he knew he wouldn't get any appreciable light
from that direction so early in the morning. Instead, he stepped into
his small waiting room and opened wide the shutters, which faced the
east and the rising sun. Morning sunlight filtered in beneath a heavy
canvas awning. Phineas dragged a rickety stool to the open window,
spread the map out on the waiting bench, and parked his bulk on the
stool. The wood creaked in protest, which usually happened when
Phineas sat in anything made for a kender.

Not that he was heavy, at least by the standards of his own
race. He was of average human height, with a barrel-shaped chest and
rather sticklike arms and legs. His hands were lily white, and there
was not an ounce of muscle on his bones. He had always been considered
slight and nonthreatening among his own people.

But compared to kender, he was large, which was one of the
reasons he liked living in Kendermore. Nibbling at a fingernail now,
Phineas scanned the old parchment map for the word "treasure." He
scanned it again, and then a third time. Had his eyes somehow played a
trick on his mind? He was sure he'd been looking at the right side of
the map, near the edge. Phineas concentrated his gaze there.

"Hey, it'th Dr. Teeth!" called a high, lisping girl kender's
voice. Phineas started so violently he almost fell backward off the
groaning stool. The voice's owner poked her head under the awning to
peer in the window. "Are you open?" she asked. "I have thith terrible
toothache, and thinth there'th no waiting right now, you could..."
"No, I'm not 'open' yet," snapped Phineas, his eyes
drawn back to the map. "Do you see an 'open' sign in
my door?"

"Well, no, but your window ith open and I thought maybe you
hadn't turned the thign yet, and my tooth hurtth real bad. Thay,
what'th that? A map?"

Phineas instinctively jerked the paper from the kender's prying
eyes, then looked up. A white strip of cloth was stretched around the
kender's jaw and tied to the top of her head.

"This? Why, yes, it is a map. I'm thinking of moving my shop,
and I'm simply considering new locations," he improvised hastily. "And
yes, my window is open, but I am not."

"Well, when will you be open?" she asked, laying a hand gingerly
to the left side of her jaw.