"Dave Duncan - A Handful Of Men 1 - The Cutting Edge" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

One said that the portent signified the destruction of the Yllipo family, the other that it was the Impire itself that was to be overthrown. Neither
would explain what part Baby Ylo might play in such an unthinkable catastrophe, and they could not even agree whether he would survive it.


Both Sisters died within the year, and thereafter the midsummer convocations were held elsewhere. In time the two sinister prophecies were
forgotten.


And in time they were both fulfilled.


file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/D...f%20Men%201%20-%20The%20Cutting%20Edge.html (1 of 210) [10/15/2004 5:53:17 PM]
 The Cutting Edge




ONE
Blow, bugle!

1

The elves had a proverb, Minnows mourn when bridges fall. Unlike most elvish sayings, it even made a sort of senseespecially to minnows.


The Marquis of Harkthil was arrested on a bright and sunny afternoon in the spring of 2995. By sunset the Impire was in the throes of the sensation
that became known as the Yllipo Conspiracy. Day by day the scandal spread and the toll mounted. The marquis' relatives followed him into the
dungeons, one after another.


Even at the first, there was considerable doubt that the treason was as widespread as Emshandar maintained. More than likely, the gossipmongers
said, the imperor was merely seizing a Godsgiven chance to subdue a family that had grown too powerful and troublesome for the good of the
realm. Whatever the truth, the old man's vengeance was savage. By the time the affair was over, eight senators had bared their necks for the ax, and
no one counted the lesser victims.


One of those lesser victims seemed likely to be Recruit Ylo of the Praetorian Guard, youngest son of the disgraced Consul Ylopingo. His fellow
Guardsmen were doing the arresting, so Ylo was not surprised to find himself confined to quarters. From there he watched the tide of blood creep
ever closer to his toes, until he was the only member of his family outside the imperor's prisons. His friends had disappeared, also, and who could
blame them? Public confessions, private executions, rumors of torture ... When the inevitable summons came, it was almost a relief.


Ylo had enlisted three months earlier, on his eighteenth birthday, feeling he was doing the Guard something of a favor. Apart from being a consul's
son, he was related in various ways to at least a dozen senators, and his grandfather had become a national hero by dying dramatically during the
Dark River War. All the hereditary titles would go to his eldest brother, so Ylo's ordained future was obviously a career in politics. In the Impire,
political careers began in the army.


In Ylo's considered opinion, the regular legions engaged in far too much unpleasant marching around. They were also prone to violent activities