"Anne Bishop - Black Jewels 00 - The Invisible Ring" - читать интересную книгу автора (Bishop Anne)

that was to serve in a strong court. Krelis stood up and stretched.
So here he was just beginning his sixteenth century-a young man by the
standards of the long-lived Hayllian race-and he was already the Master of
the Guard of the strongest court in Hayll. An important goal in itself, but
now just a stepping-stone toward the other things he wanted. He had worked
too long and too hard to let some Gray-Jeweled bitch who would die in a few
decades anyway spoil his plans.

Chapter Three

He had almost made it, had almost gotten close enough to catch one of the
Winds. If he'd had a few more seconds before the auction steward had used
the Ring of Obedience to pull him down and make him easy prey for the guards
and their whips, he would have been home by now. He would have had those
seconds if he had killed the guard keeping watch on the slave pen. But at
the last moment, when that wild stranger inside him had surged forward
intent on the kill, he had seen the same fear and knowledge in the guard's
eyes that had been in the eyes of the Queen just before her blood had
covered his hands . . . and he had yanked that savagery back. His attack had
stunned the guard long enough for him to escape from the pen, but the man
had recovered too quickly, had been able to sound the alarm too soon. There
would be no other chance. Not after last night. I'm sorry, Mother. I'm
sorry.

"Don't look so pretty now, do ya, twat-licker?" Pain and the guard's
sneering words brought Jared back to the present. He looked at the man-a
vicious brute whose Yellow Jewel was as grimy as the rest of him-and said
nothing. The guard hawked and spat. "All you pretty boys, prancing around in
your fancy clothes, acting like you was better than other men, real men, who
know what to do with their spears. Well, no one's going to want to play with
you now, are they, pretty boy? 'Cept the Queens in Pruul, and everyone knows
what kind of games they like to play." The guard grinned, showing a black
hole where a couple of teeth were missing. Jared watched the guard warily.
He'd been brought back to this slave pen at dawn, forced to his knees, and
then tied so securely to the four waist-high iron posts he couldn't move at
all, not even his head. He'd had no food or water since yesterday
afternoon's ration. The auction steward in charge of the controlling ring
connected to his Ring of Obedience had been sending low-level pain through
the Ring since his capture last night. His genitals were so tender that even
a fly walking across his balls made him grit his teeth to keep from
screaming. The flies were an additional torment, buzzing around the lash
wounds on his back and belly that had reopened when the guards had pulled
his hands behind his back and yanked his arms up to tie the straps to the
back posts. One fly landed on Jared's cheek. He closed his eye before the
fly could reach it. The guard stared at him for a moment, then cursed
savagely. "You son of a whoring bitch, are you winking at me?" Grabbing
Jared by the hair, he used Craft to call in a knife, then slowly turned the
blade until all Jared could see was the sharp edge. "Well, slut, you don't
need two eyes to dig salt."
Jared panted as the blade came closer, closer. Explaining wouldn't help him.