"Christopher Rowley - Bazil 02 - A Sword For A Dragon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rowley Christopher)

to appease their hunger. Relkin was so subdued by cold and hunger that
he scarcely argued with the fishermen about the quality of the soup.

The afternoon wore on, cold and colder. An occasional dark cloud flew
past. The river continued in spate.

Then at last, just before dusk, they spied a sail and soon afterward
cheered the arrival of a large trading boat, the Tench, captained by one
Polymus Karpone.

Dragon and boy signaled frantically to the trader, and she set her sails
to come around and fight the current, cross the stream, and picks them
up.

The Tench was a two-masted brig with a shallow draught and a mobile
keel. She was purposely built for the river trade and able to get in close to
almost any shore.

Her captain was a bald, full-bellied man who wore a weathered suit of
black fusgeen. His ruddy face was creased, and he most often had his pipe
protruding from the corner of his mouth.

“What accommodations have you for a dragon and a dragoneer?” asked
Relkin when they’d been hauled aboard.

“You can have the front quarter of my forward hold. It’s a little tight,
but it’s warm down there and it’s dry. Plenty of hay. We’ve taken dragons
before this. Where are you headed?”
 “Port Dalhousie.”

“Well, that’ll cost one silver groat apiece…”

“Two groats! To get from here to Dalhousie? That’s extortion! One
groat will suffice.”

“One groat will buy only the cold collation, which is essentially bread.”

Relkin scowled. “What are the hot items on the menu?”

“There is a venison pie, we took on several of them at Argo Landing.
And there is the fish chowder, our chef is an expert on the chowder.”

“Forget the chowder, we have eaten little but chowder for the last day
or so.”

“Then it must be two groats. A dragon will eat one entire pie, not to
mention dumplings.”

“Do you have akh?”