"04 - Emperor and Clown 1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

while Ythbane is watching! '
Grandfather was supposed to say something then, but all Shandie heard was
another half snore.
As a consul, Ythbane stood at the head of the line of toga-clad ministers,
nearest to the imperor. Shandie could feel those hateful eyes washing over him,
looking for signs of fidgeting, but he stared rigidly across at the empty White
Throne and did not breathe. Little tremors crawled over his scalp. If his hair
stood on end, would Ythbane call that fidgeting?
Ythbane said loudly, "His Imperial Majesty welcomes the greetings from his loyal
city of Shaldokan." The fat delegate looked confused, but then realized he could
begin his withdrawal. He had trouble managing his toga while crawling backward
at the same time. Probably he'd never worn one of the stupid things before in
his life. Now he was rising and bowing, and so on ...
The chief herald ponderously consulted his list. "The honored delegate from the
loyal city of Shalmik,"-he proclaimed. This one was a woman, one of only two
women today. She was very ugly, but these were northern cities, so maybe she had
some goblin blood in her. Goblins had been talked of a lot just lately, although
Shandie had almost never heard them mentioned until a few weeks ago. In the
spring, a horde of the little green vermin had ambushed and massacred four
cohorts of Grandfather's legionaries while they were on diplomatic business-and
tortured the prisoners to death! Marshal Ithy had promised Shandie he would
punish them severely.
Twenty-four cities had delivered their birthday presents. That left four more to
come after the woman. Then there would be some sort of petitionthe Nordland
ambassador was waiting in the background. A jotunn, of course. He was old, but
he still looked strong enough to take on a century singlehanded. Maybe his hair
had always been that pale color. He would have those creepy jotunn blue eyes,
too. Ugly, bleached monsters, Moms said. Imps were the only really handsome
people.
Emine's Rotunda was very big. Shandie wondered how many people it would hold,
but if he asked Court Teacher he would just make Shandie work it out on his
abacus. Circles were tricky-was it times twentytwo, divide by seven, or the
other way?
There were at least a hundred senators on the bank of seats around the north
side, distinguishable from their guests and other notables by the purple hems on
their togas. They certainly weren't keeping still. They were talking and reading
and some of them were dozing, like Grandfather was.
The southerly seats held lesser people, even commoners, and they were being
quieter, but he mustn't look around to see how many there were.
Emine II (q.v.), imperor of the First Dynasty, and legendary founder of the
Protocol (q.v.), which brought the powers of sorcery under control by
establishing the Council of Four Wardens (q.v.), occult guardians of the Impire
... Without Court Teacher telling him to, Shandie had memorized a whole page
about Emine and recited it for Moms, and she had been pleased and given him a
candycake. She had made him repeat it for Ythbane that evening, and even Ythbane
had praised him and almost smiled.
They were always pleased when he did bookish things well. They wouldn't let him
do military things-things with horses and swords, although those were what he
really wanted, because when he grew up he was going to be a warrior imperor;
like Agraine. He wasn't allowed to do boyish things with other boys hardly at