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

Malum returned the smile. Smiling easily and con-
vincingly was one of his talents. "You're right about
that," he said. "The penmanship on the map is mine.

10 + JOHN LEE

Personally, I don't think the Isphardis will be en-
chanted, but, given their geographical location, I don't
think anything we did would be ideal for them."

"That's as may be. You mean to tell me that you
can't see any other problems?"

The Umbrian shrugged. "Well, it's true that the por-
tion of the Outland allotted to Talisman might be con-
sidered to infringe on Arundel's share, but then again,
they can expand westward across the Unknown Lands
and nobody knows how far that stretches."

"The same could be said of Umbria," Sarad com-
mented dryly, "but I see that she is apportioned the full
width of her present frontier. Do you feel that that's
equitable?"

"I don't know about equitable, but it's certainly log-
ical," Malum retorted.

Sarad's answering smile was tight and had little hu-
mor in it. "I'm afraid that your logic may not go far
enough. There is too much room in this plan for future
disputes."

Mahim's ready smile flashed out again. "I'm not con-
vinced, Thane, that the Commission's job is to ensure
eternal peace. I very much doubt that that is possible-
But don't you think that you're being a little pessimis-
tic? After all, there is so much land out there."

"Oh, come now. Quern, spare me the wide-eyed ap-
proach. Nobody has taken geography into account.
What happens if one nation's territory turns out to be
barren and its neighbor's is fertile? How long do you
think your agreement will hold up?'"

"I am not a Magician, my lord," Malum said, raising
his hands, fingers splayed. "I do not claim to be able to
see the future. We can only go on the best information
that we haveЧand a great deal of that comes from your
friend Jarrod Courtak. He is, after all, the only man to