"David,.Peter.-.Sir.Apropos.1.-.Sir.Apropos.Of.Nothing" - читать интересную книгу автора (David Peter)

David Peter - Sir Apropos 01 - Sir Apropos of Nothing


Chapter 1

As I stood there with the sword in my hand, the blade dripping blood on the
floor, I couldn't help but wonder if the blood belonged to my father.
The entire thing had happened so quickly that I wasn't quite sure how to react.
Part of me wanted to laugh, but most of me fairly cringed at what had just
occurred. I didn't do particularly well with blood. This tended to be something
of a hardship for one endeavoring to become a knight, dedicated to serving good
King Runcible of Isteria, a ruler who more often than not had his heart in the
right place.
The recently slain knight also had his heart in the right place. This had turned
out to be something of an inconvenience for him. After all, if his heart had
been in the wrong place, then the sword wouldn't have pierced it through, he
wouldn't be dead, and I wouldn't have been in such a fix.
I stood there stupidly in the middle of Granitz's chambers. Like much of the
rest of the castle, it was somewhat chilly . . . all the more so because I was
only partly dressed and the sweat on my bare skin was feeling unconscionably
clammy. There were long, elegant candles illuminating the room, giving it a rosy
glow, since thick drapes had been drawn over the large windows to keep out both
daylight and prying eyes. From nearby on the large and damaged four-poster bed,
my loverЧand the knight's wife (well, widow)Чwas letting out short gasps, trying
to pull air into her lungs and only marginally succeeding. The tiled floor
seemed to tilt under me for a moment, and I steadied myself as my mind raced,
trying to determine what the hell I was going to do next.
The knight's name had been Sir Granitz of the Ebony Swamps, although he was
generally referred to as "Sir Granite." The nickname had been well earned, for
on the battlefield he had been indeed a sight to see. I had seen it myself, many
a time . . . from a safe distance, of course, since my mother, God bless her,
had not raised an idiot for a son. Understand: I did not, nor have I ever,
shrunk from a fight when it was absolutely necessary. However, my definition of
"absolutely necessary" wasn't precisely in keeping with that of everyone else in
my immediate sphere.
For people like Granite, "absolutely necessary" included times of war, matters
of honor, and similar esoterica. For me, the term "absolutely necessary" meant
"self-defense." I considered war to be an utter waste of my time and energy,
since most wars involved people I did not know arguing over matters I did not
care about in pursuit of goals that would not have any direct impact upon me. As
for honor, that was an ephemeral consideration. Honor did not feed, clothe, or
protect me, and seemed to exist primarily to get otherwise inoffensive creatures
into a world of trouble.
"Self-defense," however, was a consideration that I could easily comprehend.
Whether it be an envious knight attacking me on horseback, an enraged dragon
belching plumes of flame, or a squadron of berserker trolls swarming over the
ramparts of a castle, those were instances where my own neck was at stake and I
would happily hack and slash as the situation required so that I might live to
see another sunrise.
I liked sunrises. They made anything seem possible.