"David Drake - General 03 - The Anvil" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

own beautifully manicured fingers.
Raj's expression was blandly respectful and attentive. On the
expedition to the Southern Territories, Tzetzas had seen that Raj
sailed with weevily hardtack and bunker coal that was half shale; Raj
had returned the favor in his last stop in Civil Government territory
by exchanging the goods for replacements from Tzetzas's own estates and
mines, at full book price.
observe, Center said,

***
Sesar Chayvez stood before his patron. The plump little man was
sweating as Tzetzas sat leafing through the documents in the file
before him.
"And here, my dear Sesar, we come to your signature, right next to that
of then-Brigadier Whitehall and Mihwel Berg of the Administrative
Service, on the bottom of this requisition order. Authorizing the
exchange of worthless trash for goods from my estates in Kolobassa
District."
His voice was light, even slightly amused. "An exchange which, since
the hardtack in question was useful only for pig feed and the coal
unsalable in an exporting center like Hayapalco, cost me approximately
fourteen thousand gold FedCreds. Not to mention the expenses for
repairing estates ruined when Whitehall quartered Skinner mercenaries
on them to . . . shall we say, motivate the staff to cooperation."
"Your Most Excellent Honorability," Chayvez said, twining his fingers
together.
His eyes flicked around the room, on the cabinets of well-thumbed
books, the curios, the restrained elegance of the mosaic floor. Oddly,
that was mostly covered with a square of waxed canvas on this visit. He
swallowed and forced himself to continue:
"The . . . the hill-bandit of a Descotter occupied my headquarters with
troops loyal only to him!" he burst out. "One of his thugs started to
strangle me with a wire noose until I signed. What could I do?"
"Oh, I can understand your fears," Tzetzas said, waving a deprecatory
hand. Chayvez began to relax. "In fact, it isn't the first time that
Whitehall and those ruffian Companions of his have caused me
substantial trouble. They brutalized a number of my placemen and
employees in Komar, when stationed there. Brutalized them so thoroughly
-- I believe they began to skin one of them -- that they revealed
far, far too much, and I was forced to turn over all my investments in
the province to the Chair to avoid serious disfavor."
Barholm had been quite annoyed. The scheme had involved holding up the
landgrants usually given to infantry garrison troops, and then
pocketing the revenues from the State farms. It might have gone
unnoticed if Raj Whitehall hadn't been sent to bolster that particular
frontier against the Colony.
Chayvez nodded enthusiastically. "The man is a menace to peace and
orderly government, Your Most Excellent Honorability," he said.
"True. You will understand, then."
"Ah . . ." The plump provincial governor hesitated. "Understand, Your