"Kate Novak - Finders Stone 2 - Wyvern's Spur" - читать интересную книгу автора (Novak Kate)

Nor had Dorath, the matriarch of clan Wyvernspur, been impressed by her
nephew's
tale of his subsequent hair-raising encounter with a red dragon named Mist. To
her mind, any young man who could not avoid entanglements with assassins and
monsters needed to be sent far away for an extended period. Aunt Dorath had
assumed that His Majesty Azoun had exiled Giogi in disgrace for those
transgressions.
What Dorath, and most of the general population, had not known, was that King
Azoun actually had assigned Giogi a secret mission, to discover the
whereabouts
of Alias of Westgate, the king's potential assassin.
Not that I needed to be assigned, Giogi thought. I seem destined to run into
the
woman—or her relatives—wherever I roam. Yet, after Giogi had spotted her near
Westgate that summer, she seemed to have vanished from the Realms entirely.
Giogi rose from his writing desk and stretched. His fingertips brushed against
one of the overhead chandeliers. He was a very tall young man, a legacy from
both his father and his mother. Last year he'd been slender and clean-cut, but
his travels had left him gaunt and his hair in desperate need of a trim. His
sandy-brown locks straggled down his sunburned neck in back and into his muddy
brown eyes in front. His long face made his features seem less plain than they
were. He bore no resemblance, however, to the other living members of the
Wyvernspur family, who all had thin lips, hawklike noses, blue eyes, pale
skin,
and dark hair.
Taking up his goblet of mulled wine, Giogi crossed the parlor to the
fireplace,
where he warmed his fingers by the flames. It would take a day or two of
blazing
fires to chase the last of the winter chill and damp from the parlor.
Uncertain
as to his master's return, Thomas, Giogi's manservant, had decided not to
waste
wood and effort heating an empty house. Giogi shuddered to think of the effect
that ten months of such neglect had on the plush wool Calimshan carpeting, the
brilliant Sembian satin furniture coverings, and the Cormyrian duskwood
paneling. At least, it being the month of Ches, the returning spring sunshine
kept ice from forming on the leaded glass windows. It had come as quite a
shock
to Giogi, though, to find no candle burning in those windows upon his return,
neither literally nor figuratively.
The young noble wondered whether a mere fire laid in the hearth could burn off
the strange and unwelcome feeling he now sensed in his home. Everything was
familiar and in its proper place, but the townhouse felt empty. After months
spent at inns, aboard ships, and in traveling with strangers, now being alone
left Giogi disquieted. He took a long swig of wine to shake off his gloom.
On the mantlepiece lay the most interesting souvenir of his travels: a large
yellow crystal. Giogi had found it in the grass outside Westgate, and he was
sure there was something special about the stone besides its beauty and
financial value. The crystal shone in the dark like a great firefly, and Giogi