"Dave Duncan - Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

Shadow




PART ONE

CRIME




Chapter 1
"He who ever trusts a bird,
Never speaks another word."
--Skyman proverb

SALD HARL was running, running as hard as he had ever run in his life. He
clutched a bulky bundle in both arms and pounded along the ornate pavement
with
the low sun at his back. His long, spindly shadow jigged endlessly before
him,
running just as hard as he.
Running in the palace grounds was forbidden. Wearing a flying suit in the
palace grounds was forbidden also, but he had already broken so many
regulations
that a few more would not matter, and if he was going to be late for a royal
summons, then perhaps nothing would matter much anymore.
If he twisted an ankle...The roadway was paved in squares of white
alabaster
and black basalt, but generations of feet and hooves had worn the softer
alabaster into toe-catching hollows, and the carriages and landaus jolting
past
him set up a continuous clamorous rattle over them.
He had no time to admire the sculptures ornamenting the marble
balustrades
which flanked the avenue or the swans swimming on their reflections in the
ornamental lake on his right. To his left the gilded pheasants strutted
unseen
on silk-smooth grass amid the blazons of the rose garden. Sald had not
visited
the palace since he was a child. Contrary to his expectations, it did not
seem
smaller than he remembered; it seemed much, much larger, and he was very,
very
late.
Splendid ladies and elegant gentlemen strolled along, pouting in haughty
disapproval, as he zigzagged between them, dodged the wheeled traffic, and
ran,
ran, ran...