"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 20 - Web of Sand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

The assembly was as she'd expected; the rich and powerful
exhibiting their possessions. Jashir Yagnik had a juggler, a
clown who filled the air with spinning orbs and turned and
danced and grimaced with pretended terror which grew real
when, fumbling a ball, he saw the expression on his patron's face.
Khan Barrocca had a clairvoyant, an albino who tittered and
clutched her breasts and foamed from bloodless lips as she
spouted frenzied gibberish. Even fat old Keith Ambalo, Yunus's
uncle, was disgusted and made no attempt to disguise it.

"For God's sake, Khan, get rid of that thing. She's enough to
turn my stomach."

"I thought you'd be amused."

"I'm not." Old and powerful Keith Ambalo could afford to
indulge in the luxury of discourtesy. "Standards should be
maintained. Yunus, my boy, Where's that singer of yours?"

She was seated beside him, tall resplendent in an ebon gown,
her hair shimmering with an inner effulgence, the blaze of
scarlet giving a translucent luster to her skin. It was a measure of
his contempt for all beings not of the Cinque that he chose to
ignore her. It was a measure of her pride that she risked being
discourteous in turn.

"Yunus, you didn't tell me! How sad that your uncles eyes are
failing!"

"Failing?" He frowned then, catching the meaning, hesitated
between rage and laughter. To mock his family was unforgivable
and yet Keith did make himself ridiculous at times. And it would
do no harm to take Ellain's side—Khan, at least, would be
pleased. "A recent development," he said seriously. "He cannot
see anything which does not belong to him. Nor anything he
envies and cannot obtain. But there is nothing wrong with his
ears."

"Ears? What are you thinking about? What—" He stuttered to
a brief silence then, with a shrug, continued, "Have your joke, my
boy. Laugh at an old man while you can. But at least let me hear
something worth listening to while I am your guest." His eyes
swiveled toward Ellain. "If you would accommodate me, my dear,
I would be grateful."

"Yunus?"

He delayed his permission, selecting a sweetmeat from a
selection on a salver of precious metal, biting into it with a flash
of strong, white teeth. A childish display of arrogance but one