"Debra Doyle & James MacDonald - Mageworlds 01 - The Price of the Stars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Doyle Debra)

hidden grav-clip up Metadi’s sleeve.

“Sorry,” he said. “Old habits die hard.”

Beka nodded, unsurprised. Innish-Kyl had that effect on people. She’d almost gone for her
blaster herself back in the cantina, and she was nothing like the old hand that her father was. Behind her,
she heard Errec Ransome half-laugh.

“You could get a bodyguard from the Guild any time you wanted,” the Adept said. “Will you
take one?”

“I’ll take a bodyguard when I run into somebody who’s even fonder of keeping my hide in one
piece than I am,” Metadi said. “And I don’t mink the creature exists.” He turned back to Beka. “Sit
down, girl. We have to talk.”

Beka took a chair on the other side of the mess table and braced herself for a struggle. She
hadn’t written or spoken to anyone on Galcen-except, once in a great while, to her brother Owen-since
that last, bitter quarrel the night she left home. She wondered what twist in galactic politics had convinced
the Domina to send for the family’s runaway daughter.

It must really be bad, she thought. The realization stiffened her resolve. If Mother wants me to
come back again, she’s going to have to take me on my own terms, not hers.

There was a long pause. Finally her father said, “You look like you’ve done well enough for
yourself.”

“I’m piloting for Frizzt Osa on Claw Hard,” she said. “The ship’s a pile of junk, and Osa’s a
bastard, but it’s a job.”

Metadi nodded. There was another pause. Finally Beka said, “I never expected to see you
here.”

“I never expected to come back,” said the General. “The town’s gone downhill since the old
days-the Magelords turned Entibor into an orbiting slag heap, but that’s nothing next to what peace and
prosperity can do to a place.” He gave Beka an appraising look. “That blaster you’ve got-are you willing
to use it?”

“I already have once,” she said.

“Good,” said Metadi.

Once again, conversation lapsed. Warhammer’s environmental systems kept up their low,
almost subliminal hum. Beka looked from her father to Master Ransome, who had made himself
inconspicuous after an Adept’s fashion, leaning against the wall in a shadowed corner.

The Adept’s face was hidden, and her father’s was unreadable. Neither man seemed ready to
break the silence. She drew a deep breath.

“How did you know I was going to be in Waycross tonight?”
 The answer came quickly. It wasn’t, she thought, the question they’d been expecting.