"David Drake - RCN 01 - With the Lightnings" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

A Cinnabar naval officer was expected to have servants. A wealthy lieutenant, the sort of fellow Daniel would
have been had not he and his father disowned one another, might have a dozen servants in port and several even on
shipboard during war service (though all but one of the latter would be ratings paid from the officerтАЩs pocket for
additional services).
Hogg was neither fish nor fowl: no rich manтАЩs sophis-ticated valet, but not a sailor either. Hogg was a
countryman in his early fifties, balding and cherubic to look at. HeтАЩd been DanielтАЩs watcher as an infant and his
servant in later years.
 Hogg had taught Daniel the history and legends of the Leary family; had guided him through every copse and
ravine of the vast Bantry estate; and had spanked the boy with a hand hard enough to drive nails the day Daniel
struck his mother in a six-year-oldтАЩs tantrum.
Mistress Leary had never known about the spanking. SheтАЩd have dismissed Hogg in a heartbeat if sheтАЩd learned,
despite HoggтАЩs long service with the family. Daniel had been aware of that; but there were -matters for mothers, and
other matters that men settled among themselves.
Daniel apologized to both of them, mother and servant, for behaving in an unworthy fashion. Looking back on it,
he thought that afternoon had been his making as a man.
Hoggs had been retainers of the Learys of Bantry for as far back as the parish records ran. Mostly Hoggs
appeared in those records as smugglers and poachers; in that, too, DanielтАЩs servant ran true to type. Daniel hadnтАЩt
asked how Hogg came by the jitney, because he was pretty sure he didnтАЩt want to know.
The Hajas guards ignored the Cinnabar lieutenant while they argued about a professional handball match. Daniel
didnтАЩt suppose he looked like an assassin, but the guardsтАЩ lackadaisical attitude disturbed him as a military
professional. The folk guarding the Senate House in Xenos were polite, but strangers didnтАЩt -enter the building
without someone to vouch for them.
The ElectorтАЩs Palace was the seat of government as well as a residence and function hall. Inevitably there were
more bureaucrats than space for them. A dozen desks were set against the inside of the staircases sweeping up both
sides of a vast oval entryway. ClerksтАФvery junior clerks if their cheap clothing was anything to go byтАФhunched
there over papers or, in a few cases, electronic data terminals.
The vestibule was a bedlam of strange dialects and Universal spoken with a Kostroman accent. Folk passed up
and down the stairs, talking in voices that echoed from the domed ceiling two flights above. Daniel had been raised in
a great household, had lived in a dormitory at Navy School, and had served in warships whose large crews meant each
rating shared a bunk with a rating of the other division. This caco-phony had a feel of home; he smiled broadly again.
One of the desks in the vestibule faced outward so the man seated at the terminal there could also keep an eye
on his fellows. He was gray and thin; pinned at his throat was a short satin shoulder wrap in the Hajas colors. Daniel
doubted the fellowтАЩs title was anything so exalted as тАЬoffice manager,тАЭ but he clearly had authority over this
assemblage of clerks mostly half his age.
Daniel slipped a coin from a purse that was -extremely flat already and held it in his palm as he approached the
senior clerkтАЩs desk. The fellow was keying in numbers with his right hand while his left tilted a sheet of handwritten
paper to catch light from the electric sconce attached to the balustrade above him.
тАЬSir!тАЭ Daniel said cheerfully, noting the surprise in the eyes of a man who probably hadnтАЩt been addressed by a
stranger at any time in the past week. тАЬI wonder if one of your underlings can guide me to where I want to go? I could
wander all day in a building so impressive as this.тАЭ
He brought the coin out in a trick Hogg had taught him, walking it between his knuckles without ever touching it
with a fingertip. It was Cinnabar money, a five-florin piece: clear plastic with a gold inner layer that danced and winked
in the ill-lit vestibule. In the country five florins was a dayтАЩs wage; in Xenos it would buy a meal without wine. A
Kostroman would lose part of the value in changing it, but Cinnabar coinage was flashier and more impressive than the
local scrip.
тАЬWhat?тАЭ said the clerk. тАЬWell, an usher . . .тАЭ
It took a moment for his eyes to focus on the coin; then they grew wider. тАЬOn the other hand,тАЭ he continued, тАЬI
suppose Russo couldтАФтАЭ
He looked at the young woman at the desk beside him; all the clerks were now staring at their senior and the
uniformed stranger. In sudden decision the man stood up himself. тАЬNo!тАЭ he said. тАЬIтАЩll guide you -myself, good sir.