"Dave Duncan - Tales of King's Blades 5 - The Jaguar Knights" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

“If you’ll let me get away before he finds out.”

But Parsewood accepted both of them and ordered a skinny boy namedWil-low to take the horse out
to the men waiting on the moor, tell them it had wan-dered in the gate, and ask if it was theirs. The
juniors thought it wonderful to have two Brats to torment instead of one.Wolf they labeled Dog-face,
soon short-ened to Dog so that Alf could be Cat. Ed took the brunt of the hazing, trying to stand up for
Alf as he had at home, but two weeks later another boy was ad-mitted, so Ed and Alf Attewell were
promoted to candidates, logically choosing the names of Wolf and Lynx.

“A simple tale, Inquisitor. Tell me yours. What sort of family lets a daughter become a Dark Chamber
snoop?”

Hogwood paused in raising a crust to her mouth to give him a very long stare, not the glassy-eyed snoop
stare, just a stare. He was annoyed to find himself discomfited by it.

Then she said, “Have you ever heard of Waltham House?” “There’s a Waltham House near the Bastion.
It’s an orphanage en-dowed by Queen—” “Run and financed by HM Office of General Inquiry.That’s
where inquisitors come from.That’s the only home I’ve ever known, Sir Wolf.”

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Dave Duncan

P

“All of them?” He had never heard this.

“All of us.”

“Spirits! No fathers, no mothers?”

Pleasure at shocking him flickered momentarily in her face.“Waifs left on the doorstep, or promising
toddlers from other institutions ob-tained in exchange.The Dark Chamberismy family. I have been trained
from birth for this work.”

He had never wondered where snoops came from.The idea of their black-coated forms emerging from
some teeming ants’ nest made him squirm. “Time to go.The moon will be up.”

She resumed her picky eating. “The groom promised to tell me when it is.”

“You can’t rely on kids like him.”

“I can. He knew I was not a boy and he was not lying. Enough about background, let’s discuss
qualifications.Why did the King choose you to lead this investigation, Sir Wolf?”

Hoping to shock her in turn, he said, “Probably because he hates me.”