"David Drake - Belisarius 2 - In The Heart Of Darkness" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

general remarked idly.
Rana Sanga did not respond. Belisarius glanced at him again. The scowl had
disappeared, replaced by a frown.
A moment later, the frown also disappeared, replaced by a little sigh.
"It goes without saying, Belisarius," said Sanga softly. The Roman did not
fail to notice that this was the first time the Rajput had ever called him by
his simple name, without the formal addition of the title of "general."
"It goes without saying. Yet -- in some ways, I might prefer it if the Vedic
glories remained a thing of the past." Another brief silence. Then: "Glory,"
he mused. "You are a soldier yourself, Belisarius, and thus have a better
appreciation than most of everything the word 'glory' involves. The ancient
battle of Kurukshetra, for instance, can be described as 'glorious.' Oh yes,
glorious indeed."
They were now within a hundred yards of the Roman encampment. Belisarius could
see the Kushan soldiers already drawing up in formation before the pavilions
where the Romans and their Ethiopian allies made their headquarters. The
Kushans were vassal soldiers whom the Malwa had assigned to serve as the
permanent escort for the foreign envoys.
As always, the Kushans went about their task swiftly and expertly. Their
commander's name was Kungas, and, for all that the thirty or so Kushans were
members of his own clan and thus directly related to him by blood, maintained
an iron discipline over his detachment. The Kushans, by any standard, were
elite soldiers. Even Valentinian and Anastasius had admitted -- grudgingly, to
be sure -- that they were perhaps as good as Thracian cataphracts.
As they drew up before the tent which Belisarius shared with Dadaji Holkar,
the Maratha slave emerged and trotted over to hold the reins of the general's
horse. Belisarius dismounted, as did his cataphracts.
From the ground, Belisarius stared up at Rana Sanga.
"You did not, I believe, complete your thought," he said quietly.
Rana Sanga looked away for a moment. When he turned back, he said:
"The Battle of Kurukshetra was the crowning moment of Vedic glory, Belisarius.
The entire Bhagavadgita from the Mahabharata is devoted to it. Kurukshetra was
the greatest battle ever fought in the history of the world, and uncounted
words have been recorded discussing its divine meaning, its philosophical
profundity, and its religious importance."
Rana Sanga's dark, heavily bearded, handsome face seemed now like nothing so
much as a woodcarving.
"Eighteen million ordinary men, it is also written, died in that battle."
The Rajput drew back on the reins, turning his horse.
"The name of not one of those men was ever recorded."

Chapter 2
Belisarius watched Rana Sanga and his men ride away. Not until the Rajputs had
vanished did he turn to Dadaji Holkar.
"I do not think he is typical of Rajputs," he said. It was more of a question
than a statement.
The Maratha slave disagreed. Instantly, and without hesitation. With any other
master, he would not have done so. By ancient Indian custom -- though only the
Malwa had ever written it into law -- a slave was expected to cherish as well
as obey his master. That Dadaji Holkar did so in actual fact was due, as much