"Clayton Emery - Lost Empires 03 - Star of Cursrah" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emery Clayton)

warning.
Captain Anhur detailed six guards to watch the house until the palace chancellor could search it.
"A lucky rescue, your highness," concluded the captain. "Only three soldiers and two innocents
were killed, and you were only grazed. We'll return you home now."
It was not a request. Surrounded by guards, Amenstar went meekly.
*****
". . . you could have been killed, darling, or held for ransom. That, you must understand, would
upset your father's plans terribly. With you prisoner, those hatori criminals could make outrageous
demands, such as the release of their cronies from prison. These kidnappers don't work alone, but they
conspire with our enemies. Even some noble houses in this city plot against us. Their demands are
more plebian, centering on money, of course. They scheme for lower tariffs, or trading favors against
rivals, or that we install some vagabond to a high office. . .. Are you listening?"
"Yes, Mother."
Amenstar resisted the urge to roll her eyes and sigh deeply. Her mother was cranky enough,
awakened early: that is, just at sunset. Star slouched and stared through the tall windows at her
courtyard. A fountain danced above a glittering pool laced with fading shadows. A servant fed tidbits
to bug-eyed carp. On a perch near the window, two scarlet and blue macaws nuzzled. An ocelot rolled
in its sleep, brass chain chinking. One of her saluqis, a slate-blue greyhound, yawned so widely that
Star had to clamp her own jaw shut. Four maids, identical in simple linen shifts, square-cut black hair,
and eyes lined with kohl in tribute to their mistress, waited along the wall like painted effigiesтАФ
punished along with their mistress. Four personal maids comprised the day shift, and eight more
attended Star by night, when the royal compound became active.
Bored, Amenstar let her eyes roam over her quarters. Everything in sight was hers. One entire wing
of the family compound, nine opulent rooms surrounding a courtyard with a pool, gardens, and fruit
trees. Her father, the bakkal, or priest-king of Cursrah, had four wives, of which Star's mother was
sama, the first, or senior queen. Star had two elder brothers and twelve younger, and nine younger
sisters, with more siblings on the way. Luckily, as eldest princess she enjoyed great privileges, as well
as grating pains, such as her mother's incessant harping. The daughter tuned in momentarily to see if
the tirade covered anything new.
"... is the duty of royalty to set a good example for the kingdom. How can we expect commoners to
behave and exalt us as descendants of the most high genies, when you insist on crawling through
gutters with low-born rascalsтАФ"
"My friends are noble born," Star interrupted, "and I think royalty should venture out occasionally
and see how common people regard us. How can you and Father claim to rule this kingdom if you
don't know the people? Do the citizens love us, hate us, or not care at all? Do you know? All of
Cursrah's noble class lives by night while the commoners toil by day. How can you say that you
understand them?"
Star's mother resembled her daughter but for greater girth and thicker makeup to disguise wrinkles,
and like her daughter she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Having just arisen from a day of sleep, even
the first sama wore the universal, simple tubelike shift. Her plump figure floated in a cloud of gauze
filmy as spider webs.
"Amenstar, dear, royalty relies on advisors to gather knowledge and give counselтАФwhich always
conflicts. We don't tell the cooks how to salt the broth. Great Calim himself, all praise his name,
assigned us each a specific role. The royal family tends to the highest chores: steering diplomacy
between the city-states, interpreting the wishes of the gods, overseeing a balanced trade, monitoring
our neighbors' internal politicsтАФ"
"You're lax in that," Star blurted. "Our soldiers fear Father, and you underestimate the threat from
Oxonsis. Their scouts reconnoiter our borders and harry our outermost garrisons, I've heard. The
wisdom of the marketplace is that we should bloody Oxonsis's nose before they annex our eastern
plains." Star lifted her pointed nose, proud to score political points, but in fact she understood neither