"Raymond E. Feist - Legends Of The Riftwar - Jimmy The Hand" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

Arutha, Prince of Krondor and ruler of the Western Realm of the Kingdom


file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Ray...%20E.%20Feist%20-%20Return%20to%20Krondor.txt (3 of 194) [10/16/2004 4:50:06 PM]
 file:///G|/Program%20Files/eMule/Incoming/Raymond%20E.%20Feist%20-%20Return%20to%20Krondor.txt

of the Isles, sat on his horse, taking a moment to enjoy the majesty of
the sunrise and the serenade of the birds as he watched his men heading
home. The fighting had been blessedly short but bloody, and while
casualties were lighter than anticipated, he still hated to lose even
one solider under his command. He let the beauty of the vista before him
soothe his frustration and regret for a few moments.

Arutha still resembled the youthful man who had come to the throne of
Krondor ten years before, though lines around his eyes and a small
scattering of gray through his otherwise black I hair revealed the toll
rulership had taken on him. For those who knew him well, he was still
much the same man, a competent administrator, military genius, and
fiercely duty-bound man who would surrender his own life without
question to save the lowest soldier under his command.

His gaze went from wagon to wagon, as if somehow willing himself to see
the wounded men inside, as if he could communicate to them his sense of
gratitude for a job well done. Those closest to Arutha knew he paid a
silent price, pain kept within, for each injury done a man who served
Krondor and the Kingdom.

Arutha pushed aside his regrets and considered the victory. The enemy
had been in full retreat for two days, a relatively small force of dark
elves. A much larger force had been prevented from reaching the Dimwood
when a rift machine had been destroyed by Arutha s two squires, James
and Locklear. It had cost the life of a magician named Patrus, but his
sacrifice had allowed the invaders to fall prey to their own internal
conflicts. Delekhan, the would-be conqueror, had died beside Gorath, a
moredhel chieftain who had proven as honorable and worthy a being as
Arutha had ever met, while they struggled to seize control of the
Lifestone. Arutha cursed the existence of that mysterious and ancient
artifact under the abandoned city of Sethanon, and wondered if its
mystery would ever be understood, its danger removed, in his lifetime.

Delekhan's son Moraeulf had died from a dagger thrust home by Narab,
once an ally of Delekhan. As agreed to by Narab, the retreating moredhel
weren't being harassed by Kingdom forces as long as they were heading
straight north. Orders had been dispatched to allow the moredhel safe
passage home as long as they kept moving.

2 The Kingdom forces in the Dimwood were now dispersing to their various
garrisons, the majority returning to the west, and some heading back
north to the border baronies. They would start moving later in the
morning. The previously secret garrison north of Sethanon would be moved