"Boreal Moon - 02 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

УRain!Ф Cleaton exclaimed. УOur prayers are answered.Ф
УSo it would seem,Ф said Kilian. УBut no more talk. LetТs eat our food before it gets any colder.Ф
The meal was an excellent oneЧbread rolls with a crock of honey-butter, boiled eggs, a cheese ramekin, and a squat jug of brown ale. But instead of following his own order, Kilian opened the book he had received and leafed through the pages. Almost immediately he found just what he expected.
Drawing the candle closer, he began to read the note from Prior Waringlow. When he finished he burned the bit of parchment, then ate with a hearty appetite.
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The next time Beynor woke the sky was grey and the sea undulated with great slow rollers. He crawled out from under the dodger and saw the dark, hunched forms of the Salka surging through the water. Eight of them were linked to his boat and ten more functioned as outriders, leading the way towards a distant black peninsula with a tip like a gnarled finger pointing south. Beynor recognized the distinctive silhouette of Gribble Head. Beyond it was the entrance to Didion Bay, and at the bayТs end was the mouth of the River Malle, and King HonigalusТs capital city of Holt Mallburn.
His skin garments were sodden and slimy, so he took time to shed them and don dry things from one of the sacks. Then he took the makings of a meal from another. Just as heТd been forced to improvise clothing during his stay with the monsters, he had also developed his own food supply. The Salka had plenty of seafood, but they invariably ate it raw. By trial and error, Beynor learned to cook and smoke fish and other marine edibles. He eked out his diet with the starchy tubers of the reedmace, boiled or baked, and small quantities of berries he could glean from the tundra surrounding the citadel. For seasoning he had sea-salt and an onionlike arctic plant with red flowers that the Salka called cheev. His only beverages were water and various herbal teas. BeynorТs talent now heated up a flask of willow-wintergreen tisane, which not only alleviated his chill but also took away the worst of his aches and pains. He ate a slab of smoked salmon and some of the bland roots. Then he settled himself comfortably and prepared to bespeak Fring Bulegosset, the Archwizard of Didion.
First Beynor scried himЧa hunched, fleshy man with pallid features, whose dark-lashed blue eyes had a frankly sensuous gleam. He wore an elegant robe of black brocade and a matching skullcap. As Beynor watched he moved about a small alchymical laboratory gathering stoppered phials and small boxes, which he then packed carefully into a compartmented leather traveling bag. No doubt he was getting ready to accompany the royal family on its progress upriver tomorrow.
Fring was DidionТs most powerful windtalentЧwhich wasnТt saying much. That barbarian nationТs finest adepts were half-baked dabblers compared to the top conjurers of Moss or Tarn. Even CathraТs Brothers of Zeth possessed more innate magical talent. But Fring was reasonably competent, and if rumors from BeynorТs confidants in Moss could be believed, the Arch-wizard was also a political malcontent who secretly favored Somarus, the rebel brother of the Didionite king.
It was high time Beynor and Fring became reacquainted.
УArchwizard! Respond to one who knew you some years ago, and now wishes to share certain valuable information.Ф
WhoТs that? Good GodЧitТs the failed boy-king, Beynor of Moss!
УTo be sureЧbut now IТm a man of one-and-twenty, and preparing to mend my somewhat battered fortunes. Do you recall the last time we were in contact? You and Honigalus were aboard the flagship of DidionТs war-fleet, sailing south to attack Cathra while Conrig crept in through your back door and sacked Holt Mallburn.Ф
Of course I remember. You were DidionТs staunch ally then. Honigalus bade you use your Weathermaker sigil to speed our vessels along to Cala Bay, while delaying the Tarnian mercenaries who were coming to the aid of Cathra. As I recall, you did a fine job of it. So fine that the huge storm you created sank the navies of Cathra and Didion without discriminationЧto say nothing of the luckless Tarnians and a flock of Continental corsairs.
УIt was my sister Ullanoth who unwittingly caused the storm, not I! And by good fortune, you survived. Less happily, so did ConrigЕ and Honigalus. If either man had perished, both our nations would have been spared vassalage.Ф
I am the loyal servant of the King of Didion. And of his liege lord, Conrig Wincantor.
УOf course you are. But how much happier we both would be if a stouter-hearted monarch ruled in Holt Mallburn. One who would never have signed the damned Edict of Sovereignty. You know who I mean! The information I wish to share with you concerns him. But if you arenТt interestedЧФ
IТm very interested in anything that might pertain to a certain brave prince, who is always in my prayers.
УI thought as much. IТve learned something that may redound greatly to his advantage. And that of his good friends! But before I speak of itЧ
You want something in return.
УA mere trifle. As it happens, IТm curious about the conflagration that took place earlier today at Cala Palace. My windsight is insufficiently powerful to oversee it directly, just as your own is, but I hoped that wizards in Queen RisallaТs entourage would have bespoken you concerning what happened. Were many people killed or injured?Ф
Why do you wish to know?
УIТll be frank with you, Fring. I hate Conrig Wincantor with every fiber of my being. He conspired with my sister to rob me of my throne. If heТs suffered a great setback as a result of this disaster, IТll rejoice. What damage was done? Is it known who was responsible?Ф
Rejoice then. My sisterТs boy, who is an adept in service to Queen Risalla, told me that the library and the entire cloister wing of the palace were destroyed. The kings brother Stergos and some two dozen Zeth Brethren were injured. Six people were killedЧincluding one man who may have helped start the fire.
УWho was he? Did he act alone?Ф
He was a Brother of Zeth, one Vitubio Bentland. It seems he and two other alchymical scholars came to the palace together, from Zeth Abbey, some months earlier. No one seems to know much about them yet. The two survivors have disappeared. ThereТs a royal warrant for their arrest and a great hue and cry throughout Cathra and Didion, with a sizable reward for their capture. And hereТs a fascinating detail: the three used tarnblaze to blast open a secret crypt in the Royal AlchymistТs bedroom. By now, half the palace has seen the hole with their own eyes. ItТs said that some treasure was stolen from there. No one in authority will admit that, but it would explain why the attack occurred in the first place. If someone merely wanted to kill Stergos, they could have found an easier way.
УAnd no one knows which way the surviving thieves went?Ф
If they were wise, they hopped on a fast boat and sailed away. Pictures of the pair are being circulated in all parts of Cathra. The roads leading from the capital are blocked, and every traveler is being questioned.
УI donТt suppose your informant transmitted images of the fugitives?Ф
Hah! Now we come to it. He did indeed, and I etched them on vellum with my talentЕ or reasons of my own. If you wish to oversee the portraits, produce the valuable information you said you would share with me.
УVery well: under no circumstances should you accompany Honigalus and his family on the royal barge upriver. Become diplomatically ill. Say you will travel overland to catch them up when you feel better. See that you donТt feel better until they approach Boarsden Castle, in six days.Ф
Е WhatТs going to happen?
УNothing you would enjoy participating in.Ф
ButЧbut I should give warning! The royal childrenЧ
УThe one you should alert is Prince Somarus. Roust him out of his lair in the Elderwold wilderness. Tell him to trim his beard, pare his fingernails, and clean up himself and his drabble-tailed band of followers, so he appears approximately regal when heТs unexpectedly summoned by Duke Boarsden and the other high lords of Didion to take up the crown.Ф
Almighty God! How can you knowЧ
УI do know. Now show me the picture of the two thieves, and give me their names.Ф
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Kilian heard the approaching footsteps long after the midnight bell. His three companions had long since surrendered to exhaustion and filled the dungeon with their snores, but he lay sleepless, turning over details of the plan endlessly in his mind, trying to anticipate potential obstacles and working out methods to overcome them.
The dim lantern-shine in the corridor outside his cell brightened. Rising, he waited at the iron door of his cell until a key grated in the lock and it swung wide open. Standing there was the tall figure of Vra-Waringlow, wearing the usual red robes of the Order. But the gammadion pendant hanging at his neck was not gold inlaid with onyx, as befitted the abbeyТs second-ranking official. It was finely wrought platinum.
УSo all went as we hoped!Ф Kilian said by way of greeting.
WaringlowТs impassive face showed the barest flicker of a smile. УNoachil was a tenacious old man, in spite of his many painful ailments. He entered into eternal peace shortly after a noon collation of shirred eggs with anchovies, one of his favorite dishes. It was an easy death. God grant such to all afflicted souls.Ф
Kilian nodded piously. УMay I offer my felicitations upon your elevation, Father Abbas?Ф
УThank you, my son. And I, in turn, must express my profound gratitude for your having taught me the subtle coercive spell that swayed the vote of the governing council in my favor. I thought it best to use the magic before your departureЧnot that I doubted the spellТs efficacy for a moment.Ф
УVra-Garon has returned with the horses?Ф
УHe awaits you in the ravine just outside the postern gate.Ф The new leader of the Mystic Order of Zeth lifted a tiny key. УPlease turn around.Ф
Hands manipulated the lowered hood of KilianТs robe. He heard a sharp click and his onerous neckchain, together with the iron gammadion it held, fell to the floor. He felt his heart leap with a sudden influx of arcane power. Now he was no longer dependent upon the chancy goodwill of Beynor, who had claimedЧperhaps falselyЧto know a spell that would free him of the iron.
УIt may take a few days for you to regain the fullness of your natural abilitiesФ the abbas said, Уespecially the ability to windspeak and scry over distance. IТll do my utmost to confuse any pursuers until you are once again able to weave a spell of couverture.Ф
УYouТve been a staunch and loyal friend, Waringlow. In time, when the tyrant Conrig is overthrown and my own power is consolidated, be assured that IТll reward you further.Ф
УNo further recompense is necessary. Thanks to you, I have what IТve always wanted.Ф He picked up the iron gammadion and handed it to Kilian. УYouТd better dispose of this. ItТs a pity that the totality of your magical endowment as an ordained Brother of Zeth cannot be restored to you. But as you know, new golden gammadions for you and your companions would render you perceptible to ordained windsearchers. Still, I have no doubt that youТll find other ways to augment your sorcery.Ф