"Tanya Huff - Be It Ever So Humble" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

"Your lives," replied the rider, and his hand dropped to the hilt of his sword.

Magdelene rolled her eyes. She'd never much cared for melodrama.

"If you take the kayle, we will have nothing when the traders come."

"The traders will not come. The warlord rules here."

"I don't recall being conquered," Carlos snapped, temper showing at last. The rider smiled, showing
perfect teeth and no sense of humor. "You are being conquered now." The line of horses took a single
step in intimidating unison. Juan's one hand curled into a fist. Magdelene stood, dumping the indignant
cat to the ground. "Just one minute," she began. "SILENCE, WOMAN!" the rider thundered. "Stuff a
sock in it." She brushed cat hair off her skirt. "You're not impressing anyone." For just an instant, acute
puzzlement replaced the rider's belligerent expression. A people in the process of being terrorized simply
did not behave in this fashion. With a perceivable effort, he regained his scowl and drew his sword. To
either side, his men did the same. "Kill them all," he said. The horses leapt forward and vanished. The
saddles and the riders hung in the air for one long second, then crashed to the ground, raising great
clouds of dust and more panicked squawking from the chickens. "And as you want the kayle so badly,"
Magdelene said. Steel swords became silver fish making desperate attempts to get free of the grip on
their tails. The children laughed and pointed. When they found they couldn't release the fish, the riders
began to panic. "When you get back to your warlord," Magdelene told them smiling pleasantly, "you'll
be able to let go. If I can make a suggestion, don't waste any time. Very shortly those fish are not going
to be the best of traveling companions." Throwing garbage and clots of dirt, the children chased the
riders from the village. Magdelene turned and saw four of the five adults regarding her with awe. Carlos
merely looked thoughtful. "With luck, they'll convince their warlord that this village is more trouble than
it's worth," Magdelene explained reassuringly, rubbing at the beads of sweat between her breasts.
"Unless he has a wizard of his own, he'll only be beaten again if he comes back." She didn't add that
even if he did have a wizard, he'd still be beaten-it sounded too much like bragging. Even though it was

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true.

"And without luck?" Carlos prodded.

Magdalene sighed. "Without luck, I'll just have to convince him myself. But I hope he does the
sensible thing."

Carlos snorted. "Men who style themselves 'The Warlord' seldom do the sensible thing."

"Men in general seldom do the sensible thing." Magdelene winked at the baker, who had, after all,
only lost one leg at sea. "Fortunately, they have other uses."

Carlos cackled wildly. The baker blushed.

"... although you did say you'd keep out of what didn't concern you."

"My home concerns me."