"Sara Douglass - The Axis Trilogy 1 - BattleAxe" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

"I but follow the Brother-Leader's orders, sire." Bland as it was the remark
was designed to irritate Priam. For many hundreds of years the Acharite
monarchs had chafed that the Axe-Wielders, as a wing of the Brotherhood of the
Seneschal, remained under the supreme control of the Brother-Leader rather
than the monarch. Axis risked a glance towards Borneheld. His half-brother was
furious to see him here, and was the stem of his golden wine goblet so hard Axis
thought it might bend or snap at any instant. There was nothing but bitter
enmity between the two brothers.
Axis looked back at Priam, thinking that the man's curls made him look
effeminate and ineffectual. "Sire. May I say that the passing years only add to
your elegance and majesty? Permit me to offer my congratulations on your
nameday celebrations. I'm sure you must find it a great comfort to be
surrounded by your entire family on this joyous occasion." He paused, his level
gaze once more on Priam, calmly ignoring the white faces at his slight stress on
the word "entire". "If I might have your leave to speak with the Brother-Leader,
sire."
Priam stared at Axis, his entire body rigid, then took a deep breath and
dismissed him with a curt wave of his hand.
Axis bowed again. "Furrow wide, furrow deep, sire." "Wide and deep," Priam
muttered stiffly as Axis bowed again and moved around the table to speak with
Jayme privately.
Borneheld let out a furious breath and turned to Priam. "Why in Artor's name
did Jayme have to recall him!"
Priam laid a restraining hand on Bornehelds arm and spoke quietly,
repressing his own temper at the BattleAxe's remarks. "No matter, nephew. It is
as well, perhaps, that he is here. The latest news from the north is not good and
we may well have to use both his expertise and that of his Axe-Wielders."
It was not the most diplomatic thing to say to Borneheld. Although control of
Achar's regular army was theoretically in Priam's hands, Borneheld was their day-
to-day commander. He had dedicated his life to the sword and was a clever
military theorist if a somewhat untested combat commander. Priam had recently

awarded Borneheld the title of WarLord of Achar; many said more in
recognition of his position as heir to the throne than his demonstrated skill as a
commander. To suggest that Borneheld might require Axis' assistance to cope
with the threat from the frozen wastes to the north of Gorkenfort was to throw
salt into a gaping wound. The Axe-Wielders followed Axis with a loyalty, a
devotion and a single-mindedness that Borneheld both coveted and resented.
Borneheld wanted nothing more than to see the Axe-Wielders disbanded and
incorporated into his own command. But he could do nothing. And meantime he
watched the reputation of the Axe-Wielders flower under the leadership of Axis.
Because of their time spent fighting in the Corolean Empire, they had
accumulated more real combat experience in five years than Borneheld had
managed in fourteen years. It did not help that, while Borneheld was not an ill-
featured man, it was Axis who had inherited most of his mother's (and perhaps
father's) style and striking looks.
Yet of all the hatreds Borneheld bore Axis, it was the fact they shared the
same mother that he resented the most. Even though Rivkah had betrayed both
her husband and her elder son in conceiving and giving birth to a lover's child,
Borneheld still revered her memory. And Axis had killed her. Axis had taken