"Brian Daley - Doomfarers of Coramonde" - читать интересную книгу автора (Daley Brian)

stepped forward and bowed. "Your Majesty," he intoned, "Eliatim accompanies guests of state home
to then1 embassy houses and the philosopher Faurbuhl seems nowhere to be found."
"In that case, have the Prince taken to his rooms and left in the care of the Lady Duskwind."
Springbuck was hoisted and carted away as she turned to the Court.
"Have the servants rinse clean the floors. Fetch drink and chargers of food and let the musicians
strike up."
As the Prince's bearers exited the Court, he groggily heard the crowd call tentatively for an air
wherewith to dance. In quick fashion the arena was changed back to a ballroom; delicate feet would
soon mince where the blood of men had been but a short time before.
Springbuck ascended slowly from his bodiless fog, jounced along, slung over an armored shoulder
for a trip that seemed endless. Then there was the sound of a discreet knocking, the officer's
respectful voice: "My Lady Duskwind?"
"Yes?"
"It's Captain Brodur, and we have the Prince with us, my Lady."
What odd inflection was that in Captain Brodur's
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14
THE DOOMFARERS OF CORAMONDE
voice? Springbuck wondered dazedly. Was it urgent, almost nervous? His wits were beginning to
return and he felt a growing desire to vomit.
"He is somewhat, umm, incapacitated," Brodur continued, "and the Queen instrтАФ"
"Oh! Bring him in and leave him on the bed. I shall attend to him. Only wait a moment when I
unbolt the door, then you may enter."
The enlisted man made a rude, whispered jest at the Lady's expense and was rebuked by his officer
as the two brought their burden into the room and dropped him onto the brocatelle spread of his
wide bed. He bounced once on the soft mattress and lay in a sprawl, holding down bile.
The instant Springbuck heard the door close, he vaulted clumsily from the bed to stand and take


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his bearings, bracing himself both literally and figuratively. With Eliatim, his instructor-in-
arras and warfare, away, he wouldn't be under the close scrutiny he'd endured lately. Had the
captain left for good, thinking he'd be unconscious for a while? The certainty was suddenly hi him
that his chance to escape had come on this least likely occasion.
He couldn't see Duskwind and so assumed that she was in the bath chamber. Crossing to one of his
wardrobe chests, he extracted three broad, silken headbands, then leaped back to stand beside the
door leading to the bath. Watching it carefully, he groaned as realistically as he could.
"Coming, my love," Duskwind called from the next room. "You drank overmuch, perhaps? I'll ease
your sufferings; we'll see what steam and massage can do to help it".
So saying, she opened the door and walked into the bedroom. She must have been preparing to bathe
when the guardsmen had knocked, he reflected in the brief moment in which she stood with her back
to him, puzzled by his absence. She was naked, her honey-streaked hair unbound and the big knuckle-
shield rings missing from her slim hands.
He pounced on her from behind, snatching her wrists from her sides and drawing them together at
the small
Of Deaths, Of Departure 15
of her back. She gasped in surprise but couldn't turn around, as he confined her hands with two
deft loops of a headband.