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

Shadow. "Strip," he said. "We haven't much time."
The timid little man was fussing with clothes. Sald reached up to remove
the
damnable black baldric.
"We're the same size, more or less," Vindax said. "You'll wear my second
best until we get some for you."
Cloak and coat...Shadow would wear the same garb as the prince, except
for
the decorations. He would taste his food, possibly sleep in the same room.
"But why me, Prince?"
"Many reasons, for many people. My father, for example?"
He hadn't changed a fraction--he was still all arrogance, mockery, charm.
And wits.
The breeches went next, and the valet had produced underwear, to show
that
this was to be no half effort. Sald must start matching wits again. It had
never
been easy. "You would tell the king that I am nothing, so I am your creation
and
owe everything to you. You alone have my loyalty."
He had scored. "Close."
"You would have told the queen that I am an expert skyman."
The prince smiled. "Right reasons, wrong parents. Chief of protocol?"
"You told him that the appointment of a nobody would not disturb the
balance
of court factions." Obviously he was right again. "And the truth?"
"You're the best man, of course."
Sald could not believe that. "I heard Count Moarien--"
"Moarien sniffs. Sniff, sniff, all day long. Probably snores."
He was being mocked again.
The new breeches were silk, the softest material he had ever handled.
"Many
don't sniff. Why me?"
The dark eyes studied him carefully. "You're my second Shadow. You heard
what happened to the first?"
"A wild struck him."
"It wasn't a wild. Idiot Farin Donnim had been feeding his bird batmeat.
He
lost control. It took Shadow in an instant."
Half into a coat which proclaimed him to be crown prince of Rantorra,
Sald
paused. "What happened to Donnim?"
"Nothing--his uncle's a duke. But you do it to me and they'll cut you
into
meatballs with blunt scissors."
NailBiter must learn his manners quickly, then. Every time he flew now,
he
would have a prince stretched out under his beak, a tempting royal breakfast
within easy reach of a quick strike.
But they would take NailBiter from him. How much flying did Vindax do,