"Jude Fisher - Fool's Gold 01 - Sorcery Rising" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fisher Jude)

hounds, "His name is Rui Finco, lord of the powerful province of Forent. He's a dangerous
man to cross. You leave customers like that to me. We're here to trade, and I won't
tolerate any trouble."
"I don't like him," Fent said stubbornly, but the fighting light had gone out of his eye.
"Liking has little place in business."
And with that, Aran strode out into the breakers to haul the next of the laden faerings
ashore.
***
THE vegetation of the foothills turned out to be nothing that Katla had encountered in
Eyra: consisting largely of oddly-colored sedges and lichens, and tufted grasses sprouting
through all these like clusters of feathers. The gradient was steep, too, but the stitch
didn't return, and she made it to the top in less than a half hour, breathing harder than
she'd like but delighted to have explored farther than any of her brothers into this new
land. Near the summit she turned to look down on the fairground. From here, Sur's Castle
seemed no more than a tiny crag, the people like insects bustling around, the ships as still
and small as roosting birds on the glistening sea. But when she got to the crest of the hills,
instead of being rewarded by a sunlit panorama stretching away to the exotic land of
Istria, she saw nothing but mountain after mountain after mountain, ranges lining up one
behind another like an army defending its territory; then she remembered that the
anchored boats off the shore of the Moonfell Plain had not been Eyran alone, but also
those oddly elegant Istrian craft with the eyes carved at bow and stern so that the vessel
could see in all directions. So most of the Istrians also came to the annual gathering by
sea, not overland.
In which case, who were all those people a thousand feet below? Down there, the
valley lay like a jeweled sash, impossibly green amid vast expanses of rockfall and scree, a
narrow tract that wound its way like an emerald snake in and out of the mountains' feet.
And on that path, as far as the eye could see, came cart after cart, wagon after wagon, and
hundreds of great, black slow-moving beasts toiling ahead in a long, long line, tiny figures
perched, as bright as ladybirds upon their backs.
Katla felt her mouth open in a great gasp of wonderment. Nomads, the wandering
peoples of Elda, doing what they were most famous for: traveling the world. It was the
most amazing sight she'd ever seen. She watched them making their way toward a col
farther up the range, which meant—they were coming to the Allfair! All at once she was
laughing, her head tilted up to the sky, the sun warm upon her skin. Truly, Sur took with
one hand and gave with the other: if she hadn't climbed his rock, her father would have
had no cause to cut her hair; and if she hadn't lost her hair, she'd never have run off in a
rage and ended up here, rewarded by this secret glimpse of another world.
As they said in the north: "The likely may happen: also the unlikely." And it was true.
***
 IT was the arrival of Fabel Vingo that saved Saro from the beating he might otherwise
have won from his brother.
"Handsome beasts this year, eh, Tanto?"
"Indeed, uncle. As you can see," he held out his injured arm for inspection, "Saro and I
have paid dearly to make them look their best!"
Fabel roared his approval. "Ah, well, it'll be the high-spirited ones that always fetch the
best price; and it ain't the case only with horses—eh, lad?"
Tanto's huge, open-hearted laugh joined with his uncle's bellow. Saro looked on, smiling
weakly. It would never do not to accede to the joke, though he had no idea what it was
that had set them off so.
Uncle Fabel took his eldest nephew by the elbow and together they walked around the