"Mindy L. Klasky - Glasswright Progress" - читать интересную книгу автора (Klasky Mindy L)

Chapter 1

Rani Trader swung down from her tall bay stallion, taking a moment to pat the animal's
muscled neck and catch her breath. The wind had torn at her lungs as she raced to the top of
the rise, and she gasped for air, more than a little surprised that the past two years had given
her the skill to ride so wildly. Behind her, several riders were strung out, flung across the tall
grass like discarded chessmen. At the distant edge of the long, long plain, Rani could just
make out the top of the City's tallest tower, already flecked with gold in the late-afternoon
light.

Rani's thoughts were not on Moren's towers, though. Instead, all of her attention was focused
on Gry, the master falconer of Morenia. Rani's heart pounded as she stepped closer to the
cadge that the falcon-master had set on the hilltop. Gry had left Moren early that morning,
transporting by cart the sturdy birch enclosure and two prize falcons.

When Rani saw her kestrel's red-and-brown feathers, stark against the weathered supports of
the cadge, she caught her breath. She was so pleased by Kalindramina that she scarcely
spared a glance for the other raptor perched inside the enclosure. That bird was a peregrine, a
falcon that merchant-born Rani would never be permitted to fly.

"Is she all right?" the girl asked the master falconer as she leaned over the kestrel. "Did the trip
hurt Kalindramina?"

Gry snorted his gruff laugh and pulled at his right ear out of long habit. "Nothing will hurt
that little falcon, my lady. She's too mean to be hurt. It's no wonder the king doesn't fly
kestrels!

I expected you to get here earlier in the day, though." He weakened the implied criticism with
another laugh.

"I wanted to." Rani frowned. This was the first day in ages that she had managed to break
free from her obligations in King Halaravilli's court, free from the endless parade of
ambassadors and nobles, guildsmen and soldiers, all intent on bringing the greatest glory to
the kingdom of Morenia. Rani could barely remember the time, only a couple of years before,
when she'd been afraid to leave the City walls, when she'd feared bandits and plague and all
manner of disaster outside Moren. Now, scarcely a morning passed that she didn't dream of
escaping the palace and all her courtly obligations. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs
with the sweet aroma of autumn grass.

And she wasn't even supposed to be free this afternoon. Rani had promised to work on her
embroidery. Nurse frequently assured her that she'd never find a husband if she did not
master neat, even stitches in her handwork. Bristling against the injustice that made her old
enough to waste her days entertaining visiting nobles but young enough to be subject to
Nurse's jurisdiction, Rani had nodded in reluctant agreement and promised to try harder.
Promised, that was, until Nurse had bustled out of sight.

Of course, Rani justified, Nurse might have relaxed her vigil if she'd known that
Kalindramina was ready to fly. Even though the old woman knew nothing of falconing, Rani
might have convinced her that the small raptor was a needy creature in the world of the
Thousand Gods, a poor soul that required human contact. Besides, Rani could have