World of a Thousand Colors

Начало книги

When Jolvar Hollinrede discovered that the slim, pale young man opposite him was journeying to the World of a Thousand Colors to undergo the Test, he spied a glittering opportunity for himself. And in that moment was the slim, pale young man’s fate set.

Hollinrede’s lean fingers closed on the spun-fibre drinkflask. He peered across the burnished tabletop. “The Test, you say?”

The young man smiled diffidently. “Yes. I think I’m ready. I’ve waited years—and now’s my big chance.” He had had a little too much of the cloying liqueur he had been drinking; his eyes shone glassily, and his tongue was looser than it had any right to be.

“Few are called and fewer are chosen,” Hollinrede mused. “Let me buy you another drink.”

“No, I—”

“It will be an honor. Really. It’s not every day I have a chance to buy a Testee a drink.”

Hollinrede waved a jeweled hand and the servomech brought them two more drinkflasks. Lightly Hollinrede punctured one, slid it along the tabletop, kept the other in his hand unopened. “I don’t believe I know your name,” he said.

Читать дальше →