"Raymond E. Feist - Kingdom of the Isles 2 - The King's Buccaneer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

tone he muttered, "Why are we going to Crydee, Ghuda? I haven't the vaguest
idea, Ghuda. Shall we go find Nakor, Ghuda? Certainly, Ghuda. Then shall we
strangle him, Ghuda?" With a single nod of his head, he answered himself,
"With great delight, Ghuda."

HURRIED ALONG the soldiers' marshaling yard, where an afternoon drill was
under way. He was looking for Harry.

The young Squire was where Nicholas expected to find him, watching die team
from Krondor getting ready for a football match with the visiting team from
Ylith. The sport, played by Prince of Krondor rules — codified some twenty
years earlier by Arutha — had become the national sport in the Western Realm,
and now city champions challenged one another regularly. Years before, an
enterprising merchant had erected a field and stands near the palace. Over the
years he had improved it and expanded it, until it was now a stadium diat
could easily accommodate forty thousand spectators. It was expected to be full
next Sixthday when the match was played. The visiting Ylithmen, die North
Precinct Golds, were playing Krondor's champions, the Millers and Bakers
Association Stonemen.
Nicholas arrived to see an attack drill, in which five Stonemen descended upon
the goalkeeper and three defenders and, with three deft passes, scored a goal.
Harry turned and said, "I hate to miss the match."

Nicholas said, "Me too, but diink of it: a sea voyage!"

Harry regarded his friend and saw an excitement in Nicholas he had never seen
before. "You really want to go, don't

your

"Don't you?"

TffE KfNG 'S BUCCAN££K

33

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Crydee sounds like a pretty sleepy place. I
wonder what the girls are like." He grinned at the last and Nicholas grimaced
in return. Nicholas was as shy of girls as Harry was shameless. Still, he
enjoyed being around Harry when he flirted with die younger girls in the court
and the servants' daughters, because he thought he might learn something—as
long as the Squire wasn't bullying them, as he had the day before. At times
Harry could be charming, but at other rimes he got too rough for Nicholas's
taste.

Nicholas said, "You may miss getting put tn your place by the local girls, but
I feel like I'm getting out of a cage."

Harry's usual bantering manner vanished. "It's not that bad?"