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

that dead slaves are of no further use except to the commissary department, and beef is
much cheaper.тАЩ тАЭ

It was a remarkably close quote, delivered with the same contemptuous condescension
as the original. Only the emphases were AhmedтАЩs. And the quotation carried a
background, a context not apparent in the words themselves. Both of KaziтАЩs lieutenants,
bitter antagonists, had wanted field command in the Russian campaign, and Ahmed had
been chosen.

DracoтАЩs face darkened with anger. тАЬBut he did not come back. His field commander led
the army to defeat and allowed the Master to be killed. Now the situation is different. I
am my own master and make my own decisions. I have no more responsibility north of
the Danube.тАЭ

Ahmed smiled slightly. тАЬThis city is north of the Danube. Do I command it alone then?тАЭ

DracoтАЩs eyes bulged with sudden anger, his left hand clutching reflexively at his hilt. тАЬWe
are south of it!тАЭ he snarled. тАЬAre you completely ignorant? The City is north of the canal
but south of the Danube!тАЭ

тАЬA quibble. The Master treated the canal as the eastward extension of the river.тАЭ
AhmedтАЩs tone became more reasonable now, almost conciliatory. тАЬBesides, my defeat
you remind me of left only a ragged few hundred of their warriors alive. Not every
Northman is a warrior; not even most of them. The great majority are peasants.
Consider then that my army did its part when we butchered so many of them in the
Ukraine. We have paid our share of the cost. And you do not want it said that Draco
preferred to leave the fighting to others.тАЭ

Draco did consider, screening from the psis on AhmedтАЩs staff. Perhaps this was an
opportunity. Ahmed had failed in the Ukraine, but he had not been an experienced field
commander; his position had come from his fatherтАЩs influence with Kazi. While he,
Draco, had risen through the ranks.

His patrols had several times encountered Northman patrols and raiding parties with
results ranging from exasperating to shocking. But those had been chance engagements,
not part of a systematic campaign. And the Northmen were no longer a free-roving war
party, vulnerable only in their persons. Their whole nation was with them now, peasants,
women and children, making them a much easier nut to crack. If he destroyed them he

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would be recognized as the new Master.

тАЬIтАЩll think about it,тАЭ he answered stiffly. Ahmed would not have set this before him
without having trouble or treachery in mind, but that he could handle when the time
came.

Ahmed relaxed alone in his windowless chamber, its thick stone walls effectively
shielding his thoughts. Draco had taken the bait. Like tough meat, the Northmen would