"Robert Jordan - Knife of Dreams Prologue (Embers Falling on Dry Grass)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jordan Robert)

sunburst on the breast of his white cloak. There had been more than a few dead at
Jeramel, including no fewer than three of the Lords Captain. They had been fighting the
Seanchan then, not allied with them.

тАЬIтАЩve done dark things in service to the Light,тАЭ gaunt-faced Byar said grimly, his deep-set
eyes glittering as though at a personal insult, тАЬdark as moonless midnight, and likely I
will again, but some things are too dark to be allowed.тАЭ He looked as if he might spit.

тАЬThatтАЩs right,тАЭ young Bornhald muttered, scrubbing a gauntleted hand across his mouth.
Galad always thought of him as young, though the man lacked only a few years on him.
DainтАЩs eyes were bloodshot; he had been at the brandy again last night. тАЬIf youтАЩve done
whatтАЩs wrong, even in service to the Light, then you have to do whatтАЩs right to balance
it.тАЭ Byar grunted sourly. Likely that was not the point he had been making.

тАЬVery well,тАЭ Galad said, тАЬbut thereтАЩs no fault to any man who turns back. My business
here is mine alone.тАЭ

Still, when he heeled his bay gelding to a canter, he was pleased to have them gallop to
catch him and fall in alongside, white cloaks billowing behind. He would have gone on
alone, of course, yet their presence might keep him from being arrested and hanged out of
hand. Not that he expected to survive in any case. What had to be done, had to be done,
no matter the price.

The horsesтАЩ hooves clattered loudly on the stone ramp that climbed to the manor house,
so every man in the broad central courtyard turned to watch as they rode in: fifty of the
Children in gleaming plate-and-mail and conical helmets, most mounted, with cringing,
dark-coated Amadician grooms holding animals for the rest. The inner balconies were
empty except for a few servants who appeared to be watching while pretending to sweep.
Six Questioners, big men with the scarlet shepherdтАЩs crook upright behind the sunflare on
their cloaks, stood close around Rhadam Asunawa like a bodyguard, away from the
others. The Hand of the Light always stood apart from the rest of the Children, a choice
the rest of the Children approved. Gray-haired Asunawa, his sorrowful face making Byar
look fully fleshed, was the only Child present not in armor, and his snowy cloak carried
just the brilliant red crook, another way of standing apart. But aside from marking who
was present, Galad had eyes for only one man in the courtyard. Asunawa might have
been involved in some wayтАФthat remained unclearтАФyet only the Lord Captain
Commander could call the High Inquisitor to account.
Eamon Valda was not a large man, yet his dark, hard face had the look of one who
expected obedience as his due. As the very least he was due. Standing with his booted
feet apart and his head high, command in every inch of him, he wore the white-and-gold
tabard of the Lord Captain Commander over his gilded breast- and backplates, a silk
tabard more richly embroidered than any Pedron Niall had worn. His white cloak, the
flaring sun large on either breast in thread-of-gold, was silk as well, and his gold-
embroidered white coat. The helmet beneath his arm was gilded and worked with the
flaring sun on the brow, and a heavy gold ring on his left hand, worn outside his steel-
backed gauntlet, held a large yellow sapphire carved with the sunburst. Another mark of
favor received from the Seanchan.

Valda frowned slightly as Galad and his companions dismounted and offered their
salutes, arm across the chest. Obsequious grooms came running to take their reins.