"Jude Fisher - Fool's Gold 02 - Wild Magic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fisher Jude)

skeletal forms, their heads poised to strike.
"Be careful with the shipmaker," Aran was saying. "If you have to knock
him unconscious just make sure you have all the information you need
from him first? men, timber, tools: I want nothing left to chance. And
don't hit him too hard, for he'll be no use to me if he's addled? "
"Aran." Tarn Fox gripped his old friend by the shoulder. "Do you think I
have the memory of a chicken that you tell me this again and again? We
will bring you Morten Danson, bruised if necessary, but in full possession
of his wits; we will bring you the oak and the tools and the men to wield
them, and we will be back here by Harvest Moon." He paused, his eyes
scanning the crowd over the Master of Rockfall's broad shoulder. "I had
hoped to bid farewell to your daughter," he added casually.
"I haven't seen her since this morning when we had an altercation,"
Aran said stiffly.
"I saw her," Halli offered helpfully. "She came storming past me into the
longhouse, grabbed up some bread and wine, then ran out to the stables,
leaped on one of the ponies and galloped off into the hills."
Aran grimaced. "She'll be back when her temper's cooled."
"She's a tricksy little minx, your Katla," Tarn Fox said with a grin, "but
I like her fiery temperament well enough. Why not make her part of our
bargain, Aran Aranson, and save yourself the trouble of civilizing her for
another? I'll wager you'll not have her wed by next Winterfest otherwise!"
"The last time I included Katla in such a deal it was ill-fated," Aran
growled. "I'll not be tempting the gods again."
"I mean to have her, Aran."
The Master held the mummer's gaze. "Did I not know you to be more
than you seem, this discussion would be ended for good and all. Besides,
persuading Katla to be wed at all is likely to be the harder part of the
bargain."
Tarn Fox gave the Rockfaller his lupine smile. "Despite all appearances
to the contrary, I am a patient man. Time weighs differently for me than it
does for you, my friend."
The ship's boat came bumping against the seawall below them and
Halli threw his leather sack down to the men at the oars, then lowered
himself nimbly into the stern. "Fare well, father," he said tightly. He
turned his gaze to the Snowland Wolf, its prow rising and falling on the
tide, as sleek and elegant as a swan's neck, scouring the decks for one
slight figure.



KATLA Aransen watched the group of men on the mole with curiosity;
but when they stopped talking and looked out toward the ship, she swiftly
ducked her head and made herself busy about the lines. None of Tarn
Fox's crew had noticed anything amiss when Aran Aranson's younger
"son" had boarded the Snowland Wolf; but that might have had more to
do with the skins of stallion's blood she had brought with her than the
efficacy of her disguise. Even so, she thought, fingering the unfamiliar fuzz
on her chin, the honey had done a remarkable job of keeping in place the
snippets of fox fur she had stolen from the edge of one of her mother's best