"Lee, John - Unicorn Saga 04 - The Unicorn Peace UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lee John)

tor divided his time between Angorn and Stronta and
was a key personage in both capitals. As the Elector's
private secretary, Malum followed his master every-
where, and, because of his access to Phalastra, he was
often courted by powerful men. While the pay was
rather meager, he would never have been able to live at
Court on the revenues from his estate, let alone travel
to foreign lands.

Estragoth himself was a remarkable old bird. He had
been well advanced in years when Malum was first taken

8 t JOHN LEE

into his household, and he must be pushing eighty now.
That in itself was no mean feat, but the remarkable
thing was that the old boy was still active. He no longer
hunted and he was somewhat hard of hearing, but his
mind was still sharp. He walked with the aid of a stout
cane on those days when the gout or the rheumatism
was bad, but Malum had seen him belabor a would-be
Causeway bandit with it and drive the fellow off.

He put away his knife and lined the quills up in a
row. He moved the inkwell closer to him. The water
clock was approaching the tenth hour and the Com-
missioners would be coming in soon. They were an in-
teresting lot, all except the Chamberlain who nominally
represented Paladine. He was a fussy little man preoc-
cupied with protocol and details, but everyone knew
that the real decisions were taken by the Queen or her
Arundelian paramour. There was noise from the ante-
room and he looked up as the three regular scribes came
in. Polite greetings were exchanged.

Borr Sarad, the former Thane of Talisman, was the
first of the Commissioners to arrive. He was a compact
man with an outdoor face and iron grey hair. He was
always on time, usually early, and Malum could predict
the opening words. Sure enough:

"Beat me to it again, eh Quern? One of these days
. . . one of these days."

Malum stood and ducked his head. "May the best of
the day be before us. Thane," he said, and smiled. Borr
Sarad had been voted out of office by his people in the
first election after the war, but everyone still used the
old title.