"Marco,.John.-.Tyrants.And.Kings.3.-.Saints.Of.The.Sword" - читать интересную книгу автора (Marco John)

won't rest unless you do."

She was asking the impossible of him, but he knew there was
nothing else worth saving here in Aramoor. Alazrian gave his
mother a forlorn smile.

"I swear it," he said softly. "I'll not use the gift around Father."

"Or your grandfather," Calida cautioned again. "He loves you,
Alazrian, but he's not to be trusted. He'll not be the same once I
go." True enough, Alazrian knew. He had already seen the
aberrations in his grandfather. Tassis Gayle had never been stable
and the death of his son had rushed him toward insanity. Now the
death of his daughter was sealing his fate.

"Has grandfather told you?" Alazrian asked gently. "I'm to go to Nar
City. The emperor has summoned Father, and me with him. I'm
afraid, Mother."

Calida's thin eyebrows went up. "The Black City? The emperor has
asked for you?"

"Yes, I think so. Father just told me so. We're to face the
Protectorate." Even from her sickbed Lady Calida had heard of the
Protectorate. The emperor's tribunal was famous throughout Nar.
Or more precisely, it was infamous. War criminals from the corners
of the Empire were being summoned to face Biagio and his
inquisitor, Dakel. Since the death of Arkus, Nar had become a very
unstable place.

"I'm not surprised about your father," said Calida at last. "The way
he butchers these Aramoorians . . ." She thought for a moment.
"Biagio is a devious man. Do you remember him, Alazrian?"

"Not well," replied the boy honestly. In the days before the death of
Arkus when Biagio was merely the head of the Roshann, he would
come to Talistan from time to time, mostly to supervise the goings-
on in Aramoor. Alazrian's grandfather always had a room ready for
Biagio in the castle. The two titans had been friends then, or more
precisely allies. But times had changed. "I remember he was odd-
looking," Alazrian mused. "I remember his eyes."

Lady Calida smiled. Biagio's eyes were unforgettable. They were
sapphire blue and preternatural, and they burned with fire. Alazrian
didn't remember much about Biagio, but he could never forget
those eyes. "The emperor wants the truth," Calida decided. "And
he thinks he can get it from you."

"But I don't know the truth. I don't know what I can tell the emperor."
It wasn't a lie. Elrad Leth kept everything he did a secret, especially