"Alan Dean Foster - Catechist 2 - Into The Thinking Kingdom" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

Possessed was neither.

Alighting from the chariot, he bade his general remain behind to maintain control of the still feisty
stallions. Trailing purple and splendor, his regal cape flowing behind him, he strode over to the north
side of the breakwater to confront the neglectful. Peregriff waited and watched, his face impassive.

Other fisherfolk edged away from his approach, clutching their children close to them as they tried their
best to make their individual withdrawals inconspicuous. The last thing any of them wanted to do was
attract his attention. That was natural, he knew. It was understandable that simple folk such as they
should be intimidated and even a little frightened by the grandeur of his presence. He preferred it that
way. It made the business of day-to-day governing much simpler.

Which was why he was taking the time to query the one individual among them who had not responded
to his arrival with an appropriate gesture of obeisance.

The stubble-cheeked man was clad in long coveralls of some tough, rough-sewn cotton fabric. His long-
sleeved shirt was greasy at the wrists with fish blood and oil. He sat on a portion of the breakwater
facing the sea, long pole in hand, two small metal buckets at his side. One held bait, the other fish. The
bait bucket was the fuller of the two. By his side sat a tousle-haired boy of perhaps six, simply dressed
and holding a smaller pole. He kept sneaking looks at the commanding figure that now towered silently
behind him and his father. The expressionless fisherman ignored them both.

тАЬI see by your pails that the fish are as disrespectful of you as you are of me.тАЭ

The man did not flinch. тАЬтАЩTis a slow morning, and we had a late start.тАЭ

No honorific, the necromancer mused. No title, no тАЬGood morning, Lord.тАЭ By his slow yet skillful
manipulation of the pole, Hymneth determined that the fellow was not blind. His reply had already
marked him as not deaf.

тАЬYou know me.тАЭ


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 Into the Thinking Kingdoms: Journeys of the Catechist, Book 2

The man gave the rod a little twitch, the better to jog the bait for the benefit of any watching fish.
тАЬEveryone knows who you are.тАЭ

Stillno praise, no proper acknowledgment! What was happening here? It made no sense. Hymneth was
fully aware that others were watching. Surreptitiously, covertly as they could manage, but watching still.
He would not have turned and walked away had he, fisherman, and child been on the far side of the
moon, but the presence of others made it imperative that he not do so.

тАЬYou do not properly acknowledge me.тАЭ

The man seemed to bend a little lower over his pole, but his voice remained strong. тАЬI would prefer to be
given a choice in who I acknowledge. Without any such choice, the actual execution of it seems
superfluous.тАЭ