"John Dalmas - Yngling 2 - Homecoming" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dalmas John)

warned by the unsynchronized tattoo, already stood clear with their backs to the wall. It
was basic to remain unnoticed, and their minds were carefully blank as the officers
passed, erect, hard, and arrogant.

The man who strode at the front of the group was clearly in command. One of the others,
despite the pace and hard decisiveness of their march, tried to speak confidentially into
the leaderтАЩs ear but was cut off with a brusque gesture. The chamber they entered had no
door to be opened. The corridor simply ended in it, with glass doors opposite standing
open on a sun-lit balcony. Unlike the corridor, the chamber was not walled with dark
polished basalt, but veneered with marble, hung with rich indigo fabric, and carpeted
with furs.

Five men awaited the five, and they too had an obvious leader. All ten dressed much the
same: boots, short-sleeved tunic, and light harness with an ornamental breast plate,
silver for the leaders, polished bronze for the others. Their visible weapons were short
swords, ceremonial but also lethal.

The waiting leader, Draco, was Mediterranean in appearance, ugly-handsome, with olive
skin, thick close-cropped curly hair, and a mat resembling black fur curling on his
forearms and bare legs. He looked like a compact gladiator, mean and muscular, brutal
and deadly.

The leader of the second five, Ahmed, was taller and more slenderтАФfine-boned, actually
тАФgiving somehow the simultaneous impressions of smoothness and lean muscularity.
His coloring was coffee brown, his hair a skullcap of fine kinks. He was cool, contained,
and calculating, and the impression of deadliness he gave was different than DracoтАЩsтАФif
there was gloating to be done it would follow, not anticipate the act.

тАЬYour men are the garrison force,тАЭ Ahmed opened coldly. тАЬYou clean them out. If you
can.тАЭ

Draco smirked. тАЬThe region north and west of the Danube is your responsibility. The
Master himself assigned the sectors.тАЭ He stared amusedly at Ahmed, the tilt of his head
suggesting that he, the telepath, was listening to more than the Sudanese wanted to tell
him.

Ahmed knew better. To him, screening was no effort; it was just there. Words came to
his dark lips and action to the slender-strong fingers with seeming spontaneity. Only
that effortless screening enabled him to compete successfully with ruthless telepaths for
leadership.

тАЬHave you forgotten his final instructions to you?тАЭ Ahmed replied. тАЬLet me quote them.

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Homecoming

тАШDraco, I know you have the taste and wits for the job, and I am leaving you plenty of
men. I also know youтАЩre lazy, careless, and inclined to overkill when left alone. Do not
forget, while I am gone, that I will return. When I do, everything must be in order. I hold
you responsible for any revolts, or incursions by wandering tribes. Also keep in mind