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

little beauty and proceeded to use it to make a kabob of the shipwright."
Katla frowned. Quite how Fent had come by the Dragon with which to
carry out the deed she had no idea; nor why the death of Finn Larson
should be such a loss to a mercenary troop.
 "The king promised us one of Larson's ships," Joz said helpfully, as if
reading her mind. "Thought we'd take to the high seas in our own right,
instead of in the service of some other rich bastard, make our own
fortunes. Bit of a problem now he's a goner."
"But you still got the price of one? " the small man called Dogo started,
then stopped with a yelp as the tall man in war gear kicked his shin. "No
need for that, Knobber, I was just thinking of that coffer of coin we fished
out of his ten? "
"Aye, well Danson's prices have gone through the roof since old Larson's
demise," Mam said dourly.
Katla went uncharacteristically quiet. She found herself wondering
about the coffer of coin, and whether it might have contained the money
her father had stolen from his sons and taken to Finn Larson in order to
commission the icebreaker which obsessed him to the point at which he
had even agreed to throw her into the bargain? Knots within knots, she
thought frowning. "This coin? " she started, but Halli, aware of the
reputation of these apparently mild-mannered folk, and witness to their
considerable violence at the Allfair, stepped in front of her and changed
the subject rapidly. "Since it seems my brother lost you a fortune," he said,
"the least I can do is to offer you an ale as some reparation for your
trouble."
Mam grinned horribly. "It'll take more ale than you ever seen, little
bear, to win my favor; but I suppose it's a start."



THE Enemy's Leg boasted a crudely painted sign and a tally board
outside on which a number of frayed old strings had been knotted in
various complex arrangements. Halli, Katla, and the mercenaries perused
the board, complete with inventive misknottings and unintentional errors
with interest. "Shepherd's Eye" sounded like a dish worth avoiding, but:
"Kipper's Ale," Doc said, smacking his lips appreciatively. "Two bits a
flagon. That'll do me."
"Don't know how you can drink that stuff," the one-handed man
observed. "Tastes as bad as it sounds. Fish's piss."
"It's a bit salty," Doc conceded. "But you know, Knobber, it reminds me
of home. Tastes? well, I'd say 'authentic', but then I'd have to explain the
meaning of the word to you. So I'll stick with right good."
The ugly man took a cheerful swing at Doc, who sidestepped neatly so
that Knobber's fist connected dully with the top of Dogo's skull. In the
ensuing confusion, Katla slipped into the inn ahead of the rest of the
group. Inside, the taproom was low-ceilinged, dark, and wreathed with a
smoke so pungent it made her eyes burn. The place was still crammed
with customers even at this late hour. Unable to look down for the press of
the crowd, Katla could feel wood shavings crunch under her feet with each
step she took. A proper seagoing, shipmaking town, she thought