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.How unfortunate thatmy sister and her fool of a husband had the bad taste todie.Poor little creature: too far from the main line ofdescent to be of any use as a marriage pawn.No political value at all.Just another useless girl.""Not so useless now." Carlotta/Charina dimpledprettily."Poor Charina," Volmar repeated without anywarmth at all."So easily disposed of.She never will bemissed."Chapter IVKevin woke with a jolt as something smotheringlanded smack across his face, molding itself over hisnose and mouth-Gasping, he clawed the monster aside—and found himself holding a damp towel."Very funny!" he began angrily, only to find himselftalking to empty space.The last of the squires was justleaving the hall, laughing with the others.Fuming, Kevin got to his feet and found the garderobe facilities, grateful that at least the count didn'tfile:///G|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mer.astle%20of%20Deception%20-%20Bard's%20Tale.txt (29 of 200) [2/2/2004 1:24:46 AM]file:///G|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mercedes%20+%20Josepha%20Sherman%20-%20Castle%20of%20Deception%20-%20Bard's%20Tale.txtinsist his underlings use lowly chamber pots.Going tothe communal washing trough, he discovered thesquires hadn't left him more than a few inches of water,barely enough to splash on his face.I should just be glad the water's clean1Grumbling, he dressed, pulling his clothes from thechest at the foot of his bed, and sat down to a solitarybreakfast — at least they'd left him something to eat! —of a roll and some scraps of cheese, washed down with alukewarm goblet ofkhafe.Now, all he had to do was find the count's library.Easily said.Kevin wandered helplessly through thecastle corridors for a time, sure he was going to beshouted at by D'Krikas for being where he shouldn'tbe.At last, to his relief, he intercepted a page, a wideeyed boy even younger than Am, who shyly gave himdirections, then hurried away.At last, the bardling thought wryly.Someone whosestatus here is even lower than mine.The library was a large, dusty room lined with tall40 Mercedes Lackey ^Josepha Shermanshelves piled high with scrolls and books of all sizes.Itwas so redolent with the scent of dusty old parchmentand leather that Kevin sneezed.Obviously scholarshipwasn't high on the count's list of priorities!As he glanced about the crowded room, the bardlingshook his head in gloom.The room faced onto aninner courtyard, safely away from attack, so at least thewindows were large enough to let him see what he wasdoing.But there wasn't a title anywhere, not on booksor scroll cases.There wasn't any sign of a librarian,either.There probably wasn't one, judging from thedusdness of the room.All right The sooner he started looking, the soonerhe'd get this whole stupid job finished.By mid-afternoon, Kevin was dusty, weary of climbing up and down the rickety library ladder and sick todeath of the whole room.Ha, by now he probablyknew more about the contents of the count's librarythan anyone, including the count! And what a weirdcollection it was, without any logic to it! Why in theworld would anyone want to keep not one but threecopies of The Agricultural Summaries ofKendall County forthe First Twenty Years of King Sendak's Reign? And whatwas a treatise on politics doing tucked in between twovolumes of rather bad love poetry?How can the Master even know for sure the manuscript's inhere?By Bardic Magic, of course.Kevin started to sigh,then coughed instead.Blast this dust!file:///G|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mer.astle%20of%20Deception%20-%20Bard's%20Tale.txt (30 of 200) [2/2/2004 1:24:46 AM]file:///G|/rah/Mercedes%20Lackey/Lackey,%20Mercedes%20+%20Josepha%20Sherman%20-%20Castle%20of%20Deception%20-%20Bard's%20Tale.txtThe bardling stopped his hunt long enough to snagsome lunch from a startled page, then dove into thelibrary once more.A book about farm tools.Another.Acatalog of cattle diseases.One on swine, wild anddomestic.A book on —"Ow!"Kevin nearly fell off the ladder, just barely managingCASTLE OF DECEPTION 41to catch his balance in time.Something in the shelveshad bit him!No, no, it hadn't been a bite at all, more of a weirdtingling in his fingertips.Kevin looked warily at the lastbook he'd touched — and let out a whoop of joy.Yes,yes,yes, he'd found the manuscript he needed at last!The bardling scurried down the ladder clutching hisprize, and took it over to the library's one desk, wiping offdust from the manuscripts leather binding as he went.Agood chunk of the day was already gone, but at least hecould get the copying started.Someone, presumably atD'Krikas' command, had left him supplies.Kevin foundan inkwell and two quill pens on the desk, and a nicestack of parchment in a drawer.Sitting with themanuscript open before him, the bardling paused forone anticipatory moment, then dove into his work [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]