"Tamora Pierce - Circle Opens 1 - Magic Steps" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pierce Tamora)

Tamora Pierce-BOOK ONE OF THE CIRCLE OPENS QUARTET: magic steps - Kurr


THE CIRCLE OPENS

Magic Steps

TAMORA PIERCE

BOOK ONE OF THE CIRCLE OPENS QUARTET

Lady Sandrilene fa Toren opened the door to her room and stepped into the dark
corridor. She was dressed for riding in broad-legged breeches, tunic, and blouse,
and in one hand she carried her riding boots. In the other she held a round blob of
crystal threaded with dark lines. It shone brightly and steadily against the gloom.
The hour was early enough that most of the servants were still abed, and the
torches set to burn in the halls the night before had guttered out.

Holding up her stone to light the way, Sandry padded down the corridor in
stockinged feet. It was because of the servants that she made so little noise. In six
weeks' residence at the castle, she had learned that most of them were light
sleepers. No amount of persuasion that she could look after herself quite nicely,
thank you, was enough to send them back to bed. They would rise at dawn
anyway—why cause them to lose as much as an hour of rest when they worked so
hard?

As she passed a high table, she noted that the candle sticks atop it stood on a
rumpled length of embroidered cloth. She reached out a hand. The cloth shifted
until it lay flat and neat on the wood. A silk rug knocked askew slid in her wake
until it lay straight again.

She plopped herself onto the top stair and tugged on her riding boots, then
frowned. A light showed under the door of a ground-floor room that opened onto
the entrance hall.

Uncle, she thought, vexed. And what odds that he hasn't been up since four? With
a sigh, she trotted downstairs and entered the room, a small library. There sat her
great-uncle in a wing-backed chair. He was reading a sheaf of papers by the light

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 Tamora Pierce-BOOK ONE OF THE CIRCLE OPENS QUARTET: magic steps - Kurr


shed by a crystal globe. The globe was larger than Sandry's, perfectly round and
with out flaws, its light as steady as the suns.

Inspecting his stark white shirt, black tunic, and breeches, Sandry decided she
would have to do some thing about the duke's clothes. He liked to dress plainly,
but there was no law that said he had to wear blacks, browns, and dark blues
without any bright colors. A crimson tunic might warm his skin tone, and a touch