"Roger E. Moore - Spelljammer - Cloakmaster Cycle 03 - The Maelstrom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moore Roger E)

Aelfred raised a thick-knuckled hand and pointed up the street. "The Greater Market's right ahead,
around the corner, where that cyclops is going-the one with the head horn, not the bald red one."
Teldin Moore looked in Aelfred's direction and started to say something, but the sight of two Cyclopes
at once among the crowd caused his thought to trail away. He'd never seen a cyclops before, much less
discovered that Cyclopes came in different sizes and shapes. His blue eyes widened at the sight, but he was
slowly becoming accustomed to being surprised.
"The market can be a rough place," said Aelfred, warming to a memory. "I heard a story about a goblin
here who tried to cut the purse on this merchant, only to find out that the merchant was an illithid. The
illithid mind-controlled the little guy, then made the goblin take its dagger and cut out its own-"
"Aelfred," Teldin said abruptly. He was already able to visualize the rest of the gruesome tale. "You
told me you'd heard that the elven Imperial Fleet was here, but you didn't say anything about exactly where
it was. I haven't seen any elves wearing that silver fleet armor you described."
"Oh, the elves are here, all right. The first mate on the Drunken Kraken, in the dock next to ours, said
that his sister, who's a helmsman on a freighter out of Toril, once met this gnome who said the elves had an
admiral or two here on the Rock. Their embassy is just a small one, up in the forest I pointed out when we
were coming in. The elves had the trees imported to make a little bit of home for themselves. The forest is
just beyond the Greater Market, a little ways up toward the prince's palace over there." Aelfred pointed in
the same direction as before, his finger elevated toward an illuminated tower shining against the black,
star-filled sky.
They walked on together in silence, Aelfreds tale about the unfortunate goblin thankfully dropped.
Hundreds of white, gull-like birds-Aelfred called them gullions-wheeled and cried above them, sailing
against the starry darkness like winged ghosts. In a few moments, the two men rounded the corner and
came to a stop.
 "The Greater Market," Aelfred said.
Teldin gaped, then closed his mouth. For perhaps a tenth of a mile ahead of him lay a shifting sea of
humans and other beings, their voices filling the open square like roaring surf. Teldin rubbed his bristly
mustache as he surveyed the rolling chaos before him.
An arm's length away, a huge giff in a green military uniform drank from a great pewter tankard as he
walked by, his normally blue hippopotamus face now a warm purple. A brown, waist-high halfling with
curly black hair and a bright yellow outfit argued vehemently with an overweight albino human, the latter in
a black robe belted with a live white serpent. A shoulder-high elf wearing only deerskin trousers and
moccasins, his face and chest tattooed with fine green whorls into patterns of trees and leaves, examined
the wares of a leather-goods booth. Behind the booth's counter was a sad-eyed, winged baboon-woman in
a toga of white silk, whose two hair)' children shouted creative insults at passersby. A stone's throw to his
right, seven colorfully dressed aperusa, human gypsies whose handsome, tanned skins shone with sweat,
entertained the crowd for coins. The men played mandolins and tambourines as the women danced and
laughed. On and on went the sights, across dozens of races, scores of languages, and hundreds of beings
stretched over the whole of the marketplace.
Teldin smelled the heavy, sweet perfume of the aperusa women, the scent mixing with that of curried
meats from a nearby food vendor, the citric odor of a pulpy green fruit crushed on the paving stones, and
the smell of potent beers and ales. It was a place once beyond his imagination.
"Doesn't look like much is going on today," said Aelfred, surveying the crowd with a bored gaze. He
shrugged and glanced at Teldin. "You want to find the elves on your own, or you need a hand?"
"I... I'll be fine." Teldin recalled with an effort the details of his mission to the Rock. "Let's meet at the
Probe later. I could be quite a while, so I can't say when I'll get to the ship."
"Take your time," said Aelfred. "I'm going to look up some old friends and get another cask or two of
sagecoarse for the saloon." He gave Teldin a nudge in the ribs with a rock-hard elbow. "Maybe you can
find a trinket for Julia. Women love that, even the warriors-sometimes especially the warriors."
Teldin clenched his teeth, but he kept calm and looked away. This wasn't the time to start thinking
about the copper-haired woman back on the Probe, Aelfred's sharklike hammership, but Aelfred insisted