The Complete Soldier Son Trilogy: Shaman’s Crossing, Forest Mage, Renegade’s Magic. Robin Hobb

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СКАЧАТЬ he had finished speaking, he was standing more at ease.

      I think all of us were breathing small sighs of relief as we waited for Trist to respond with his own apology. Emotions I could not name flickered across the handsome cadet’s face, and I think he struggled, but in the end, what won out was not pretty. His lip curled with disdain. ‘That’s what I would expect from you, Spink. A whiny excuse that solves nothing.’ He finished picking up his books from the study table. I thought he would walk away and he did turn, but at the last moment, he turned back. ‘Once pays for all,’ he said sweetly, and with a graceful flick of his manicured fingers, he overturned the inkwell onto not only Spink’s paper but also his book.

      Gord righted the inkwell in an instant, snatching it away from the table. It was good that he did so, for in the next moment, books, papers, pens and study tools went flying as Spink took two giant steps over the table to fling himself on Trist. Momentum more than the small cadet’s weight drove them both to the floor in front of the hearth. In half a breath, they were rolling and grappling. We ringed them, but there was none of the shouting that would ordinarily mark two men fighting in a circle of their fellows. I think every one of us who watched knew that we suddenly had been catapulted into a place of decision. Spink and Trist were breaking Academy rules by fighting in quarters. And those rules dictated that at least one of the combatants must be expelled and the other suspended, if not both expelled. The rules stated that anyone witnessing such a fight must immediately report it to Sergeant Rufet. By not immediately going to report it, we were participating in the fight. Every one of us standing there suddenly risked his entire military career by doing so.

      I expected Trist to end the conflict quickly. He was taller and heavier than Spink, with a longer reach. I braced to see Spink go flying and hoped there would be no blood. I think if Trist had ever managed to get to his feet, he would have made short work of my friend. But to my astonishment, once Spink had Trist down, he quickly restrained him. Trist, shocked to be borne down and then held face down on the floor, first thrashed and then flailed like a landed fish. ‘Let me up!’ he bellowed. ‘Stand up and fight me like a man!’

      To this, Spink made no reply, but only spread his legs wide and tightened his grip about Trist’s neck and one of his shoulders. The smaller cadet clamped on like a pit dog and gripped his own wrists to lock them around Trist’s neck and shoulder while Trist heaved and bucked beneath him, trying to throw him off. Trist’s boots crashed against the floor and he kicked over two chairs as he struggled. Every time Trist tried to pull a knee under himself to come back to his feet, Spink kicked it out from under him. Both their faces were red.

      No blows were struck, save for a few flailing and forceless ones by Trist. Watching Spink get a hold on him and then immobilize him reminded me of a battle I had once witnessed between a weasel and a cat. Despite the difference in size, the weasel had quickly dispatched the cat before I could intervene. Now Spink, despite his smaller size, mastered Trist, half-choking him. The tall cadet was running out of wind; we heard him wheeze. Spink spoke for the first time. ‘Apologize,’ he panted, and then, when Trist only cursed at him, he said more loudly, ‘Apologize. Not just for the ink but for the name-calling. Apologize, or I can hold you here all night.’

      ‘Let him up!’ Oron cried in a voice shrill as a woman’s. He sounded outraged and distressed. He sprang forward as if to attempt to drag Spink off. I stepped between them and him.

      ‘Leave them alone, Oron,’ I advised him. ‘Let them settle it now or it will plague us all year.’ Then I stood where I was to be sure he did so. For an instant, I half-feared that he’d lift a hand to me; I was fairly sure that if he did, the struggle on the floor of our study room would turn into a full-fledged brawl involving all nine of us, for Caleb had stepped forward to back Oron while Nate and Kort were rallying behind me. Rory looked completely distressed and ready to fight anyone. Fortunately, Oron stepped back, glowering at me.

      ‘Don’t fret about it, Oron,’ Caleb sneered at me. ‘Trist will finish him in a minute. See if he don’t.’

      Trist thrashed about more wildly at that, but Spink only spread his weight, set his jaw and held on as grimly as a terrier on a bull. I saw him tighten the arm around Trist’s throat. Trist’s face went redder, his eyes bulged and he gasped out a foul name. Spink’s face showed no change in emotion but his grip tightened relentlessly and then, ‘I give. I give,’ Trist wheezed.

      Spink relaxed his grip, but not completely. He let Trist draw in a gasping breath before he spoke. ‘Apologize,’ he commanded him.

      Trist was very still for a moment. His chest heaved as he sucked in a larger breath. I thought it was a trick and that he would resume the struggle. Instead, ‘Very well,’ he said in a tight, grudging voice.

      ‘Then apologize,’ Spink suggested calmly.

      ‘I just did!’ Trist spoke into the floor, clearly furious that Spink continued to pin him. I think the loss of his dignity pained him more than the chokehold.

      ‘Say the words.’ Spink replied doggedly.

      Trist’s chest heaved, and he clenched his fists. When he spoke, it was only words with no sincerity behind them. ‘I apologize for insulting you. Let me up.’

      ‘Apologize to Gord, too,’ Spink persisted.

      ‘Where is Gord?’ Rory suddenly asked. I had been so caught up in the drama before me that I’d almost forgotten the other men ringing the combatants.

      ‘He’s gone!’ Oron exclaimed. And then, without even a breath between, ‘He’s gone to report us, I’m sure of it. That treacherous bastard!’

      In the stunned silence that followed his accusation, we heard boot steps coming hastily up the staircase. It sounded like more than one man. Without uttering another word, Spink freed Trist and they both leapt back to their places at the study table. The rest of us followed their example. In less than two seconds, we were all apparently busy at our studies. Scattered pages and dropped books had been restored. Save for Trist’s reddened face and rumpled appearance, and a slight puffiness on the left side of Spink’s jaw, we looked much as we usually did. Spink was blotting haplessly at the spilled ink and ruined book when Corporal Dent and our freckled monitor entered the room.

      ‘What’s going on here?’ Dent demanded angrily before he’d even got all the way into the chamber. We made a fair show of innocence as we lifted our heads and stared at him in perplexity.

      ‘Corporal?’ Trist asked him in apparent confusion.

      Dent gave a furious look to our erstwhile monitor, then glared around at us. ‘There was an altercation here!’ he asserted.

      ‘That was my fault, Corporal,’ Spink said earnestly. He looked as if butter would not melt in his mouth. ‘I’ve made a bit of a mess. Knocked over my ink; fortunately, it’s only my own book and work that I’ve ruined.’

      I could almost feel how keen Dent’s disappointment was. He salved himself with ‘Five demerits for disrupting study time, to be marched off during your Sevday, Cadet. Now back to your books, all of you. I’ve better things to do than come rushing up here to settle you.’

      He left the room, and after a disconsolate stare at all of us so meekly occupied, our monitor followed him. We heard him say, ‘But, Corporal, they were—’

      ‘Shut up!’ Dent rebuked him crisply, and then, several stairs down, we heard a flood of angry whispering, interspersed with our monitor’s whiny protests. When he returned to us a few moments later, his freckles were lost in his angry flush. He stared around at us and then said, ‘Wait a moment! Where СКАЧАТЬ