"Tanya Huff - Be It Ever So Humble" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)
Be It Ever So Humble
by Tanya Huff
"So, got any dirt on this place?" Magdelene asked the gold and black lizard who was sunning itself on
a nearby rock. The lizard, looking more like a beautifully crafted piece of jewelry than a living creature,
merely flicked its inner eyelid closed and pretended to be asleep. Children with rocks or nets it had to do
something about. Young women in donkey carts who asked stupid questions could safely be ignored.
Magdelene studied the little village nestled along the curve of its natural harbor and chewed reflectively
on a strand of chestnut hair. It looked like a nice place, but, as much as she wanted to settle down, as
tired as she was of constantly packing up and moving on, she knew better than to get her hopes up. In a
dozen years of traveling, she'd learned that the most jewel-like villages, in the most bucolic settings,
often had the quaintest customs. Customs like welcoming wandering wizards with an axe, or attempting
to convince wandering wizards to stay by outfitting them with manacles and chains, or by suggesting the
tarring and feathering of wandering wizards with no better reason that the small matter of a straying
husband or two. For the most part, Magdelene had found these customs no more than a minor
inconvenience, although, had she known the man was married, she would never have suggested they ...
She grinned at the memory. He'd proven a lot more flexible than she'd anticipated.
"Well, H'sak?" She spit out the hair and glanced back at the large mirror propped up behind the seat
H'sak, trapped in the mirror, made no answer. Magdelene wasn't entirely certain the demon was
aware of what went on outside his prison, but, traveling alone, she'd fallen into the habit of talking to
him and figured, just in case he ever got out, it couldn't hurt if he had memories of pleasant, albeit one-
sided, conversations. Not, she supposed, that a bit of chat would make up for her trapping him in the
mirror in the first place. Stretching back, she pulled an old cloak down over the glass-no point in
upsetting potential neighbors right off-then gathered up the reins and slapped them lightly on the
donkey's rump. The donkey, who had worked out an understanding with the wizard early on, took
another few mouthfuls of the coarse grass lining the track and slowly started down the hill to the village.
At the first house, Magdelene stopped the cart and sat quietly studying the scene. A few chickens
scratched in the sandy dirt that served the village as a main street, and a black sow sprawled in the only
visible bit of shade, her litter suckling noisily. A lullaby, softly sung, drifted through one of the open
windows, and from the beach came the screams and laughter of children at play. Just the sort of lazy
ambience she appreciated.
"Who are you?"
Languidly, for it was far too hot to be startled, Magdelene turned. A boy, nine or ten years old, naked
except for a shell threaded on a frayed piece of gut, peered up at her from under a heavy shock of dusty
black hair. Although he showed no signs of malnutrition or neglect, his left arm hung withered and
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...Tanya%20Huff%20-%20Be%20It%20Ever%20So%20Humble.txt (1 of 15)24-2-2006 20:51:41
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20d...menten/spaar/Tanya%20Huff%20-%20Be%20It%20Ever%20So%20Humble.txt
| © 2025 Библиотека RealLib.org (support [a t] reallib.org) |