"Dave Duncan - Shadow" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

The penetrative power of the royal gaze was legendary. It was said that
no
man in the kingdom could face it. But that was not true when the kingdom had
just crumbled into rubble and buried you up to your ears, when every muscle
had
frozen with shock. The twin sapphire flames burned above Sald, and he stared
back into them with no trouble at all--an easy feat for one whose life had
been
totally ruined without warning. Chosen career, skymanship, private life,
family,
friendships--all had been snatched away in an instant.
For a lifetime the blue eyes and the black stayed locked, and the king's
eyebrows rose in mild amusement.
"And how is NailBiter?' the king asked softly.
"Well, Your Majesty." They had researched him, of course.
The royal brows frowned at the brevity. "Out of DeathBreak by SkyHammer."
The king's interest in his bloodstock was famous, and his knowledge
encyclopedic. "We had great hopes of that pairing--yet there has been but one
chick, and it seems that only one man in our entire Guard is capable of
handling
him."
Five minutes ago, that royal compliment would have sent Sald Harl into
delirium.
"An exaggeration, Majesty. And I am teaching him better manners."
The long eye contact ended as the king blinked. He almost seemed to
smile.
He spoke even more softly. "Perhaps you can do the same for our son?" But no
answer was expected to that.
The king raised his hand, and a page paced forward with a black baldric on
a
scarlet cushion. Sald's knees found the edge of the dais. The king laid the
baldric in silence over Sald's head and across his chest--and by that royal
act
turned a man into a shadow.
Sald rose. He moved one pace back and was about to bow--
No! Up from his childhood, from classes in protocol in the palace school,
seeped a long-forgotten maxim: Shadow bows to no one. He froze.
Should he play it safe and begin his new job with a major display of
ignorance before the entire court? Never! But if he was wrong, then he would
be
guilty of lese majesty at the very least. He looked to King Shadow and got
the
merest hint of a head shake.
So the commoner awarded the king a barely perceptible nod, the sort of nod
a
fat duke might so easily have given an ensign, and moved one pace to the
side.
Appointments took effect immediately. He looked to Vindax, and this time the
signal was positive. Certain he was dreaming, he stepped up on the royal dais
and walked toward the two princes. Jarkadon backed away for him, smiling