"Elizabeth Haydon - Symphony of Ages - Threshold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haydon Elizabeth)

What I ask of you requires more bravery than staying behind, Sevirym; I am asking you to live. Dying is
easy; any fool can do itтАФitтАЩs living that requires courage. Now get on that damned ship and do your duty
to the king, to me, and to yourself.тАЭ

After a moment Sevirym lifted his eyes and met HectorтАЩs. тАЬWhy me?тАЭ he asked softly. тАЬI go, Hector, but
I just want to know why you chose me, and not Anais, or Jarmon, or Cantha.тАЭ

Hector exhaled. тАЬBecause you have never really believed that you were going to die, Sevirym. Unlike the
rest of us, you kept hoping that the Island could be spared, that death was not inevitableтАФand perhaps
that is a sign from God, the One, the All, that for you it is not.тАЭ

Sevirym continued to stare at him for a long time, then finally nodded, acceptance in his eyes.

тАЬI will find Talthea and your children, Hector, and guard them until my last breath.тАЭ

Hector embraced him. тАЬThank you, my friend. Tell Talthea that they were in my thoughts until the last,
and what happened here. Everything, Sevirym, tell her everything; do not spare her. She is stronger than
any of us.тАЭ His grip tightened. тАЬI will say this to you, Sevirym, and it is something I have not said, nor will
I say, to any other living soul.тАЭ He leaned closer and whispered into his friendтАЩs ear.

тАЬNone of us should have had to stay.тАЭ

Sevirym, unable to form words, nodded again.

They walked to the end of the pier, swathed in impenetrable vapor. The shade of the captain was waiting
still. Hector watched as the boatswain lifted the lamp from the prow of the longboat to light SevirymтАЩs
way aboard, then raised a hand in final salute.

In the misty glow of the longboatтАЩs lantern, Sevirym held up his hand in return.

Hector stared, trying to keep his eyes focused until the shadow had slipped away into the sea mist, then
turned to the captain again.

тАЬThank you,тАЭ he said.

тАЬIs that all, then?тАЭ Petaris Flynt said regretfully. тАЬI cannot change your mind, Sir Hector?тАЭ

тАЬThat is all,тАЭ Hector answered. тАЬCan you take some of the horses from the livery? Those mounts served
the king with their lives as well; if you have room for them, it would gladden my heart to see you spare
them.тАЭ

Flynt nodded dully. тАЬSuch a waste,тАЭ he muttered. тАЬA handful of human rats, some skeletal horses, and
one soldier, while good men stay behind to their doom. Proffer my apologies for my insult to your elderly
friend, Sir Hector; any king who inspires so much loyalty and devotion in such obviously true men must
have been a very great king indeed.тАЭ

Hector exhaled evenly. тАЬHe was our king,тАЭ he said simply.

тАЬI understand,тАЭ said Flynt. He glanced toward the setting sun. тАЬHave your companions round up those
animals and get them into the longboatsтАФwe can only make one last trip back to the ship before we