"Julian May - Boreal Moon 2 - Ironcrown Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

and to observe other events transpiring here and there about High Blenholme. Part of this intelligence she shared with her sometime lover,
High King Conrig. The rest of it she kept to herself, while she quietly pursued thaumaturgical studies and pondered the possibility of
seizing control of the Sovereignty herself when the time ripe.

Early in the spring of 1130, when most Tarnian ports remained icebound and the majority of that nationтАЩs fighting ships were still hauled
up ashore, High Sealord Sernin learned that a large fleet of freebooters had set sail from Andradh on the Continent, intending to seize
Tarnholme and the other important port cities of Goodfortune BayтАФthe only section of the Tarnian coast that remained reliably unfrozen
in winter. Poised in the mountains above Tarnholme to reinforce the sea invasion was a ragtag but formidable army of insurgent warriors
loyal to Prince Somarus, led by robber-barons of western Didion.

Facing an impossible situation, Sernin and his Company of Equals swallowed their pride and sought aid from the Sovereignty, pledging
fealty in return. Conrig agreed only after Tarn bowed to draconian conditions. The High King dispatched his new navy to beat off the
Andradhians, and commanded his Royal Alchymist to bespeak the hedge-wizards attending rebellious Prince Somarus, warning of nasty
consequences if his fighters pressed their attack on Tarn.

The Continental freebooters were soundly defeated at sea, while the princeтАЩs outlaw Didionite land force scuttled back over the White
Rime Mountains into the wilderness of the Great Wold, never having unsheathed their swords.

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 May, Julian - Boreal Moon 2 - Ironcrown Moon


While these events transpired, I myself grew from a youth into a man. My wild talents ripened with maturity, known only to my royal
master Conrig, to his brother Stergos who had become the Royal Alchymist, and to a handful of other trusted intimates of the High King.

During those early years of Conrig IroncrownтАЩs reign, my duties were important but rather humdrum. I spent most of my time spying on
CathraтАЩs quarrelsome Lords of the Southern Shore, holders of the original fiefdoms established under Bazekoy over a millennium ago.
This group of affluent merchant-peers, who had played only a minor role in the establishment of the Sovereignty, remained a continuing
thorn in the High KingтАЩs side because the ancient laws of Cathra made it difficult for the Crown to increase taxes on their considerable
revenues. Also, unlike the rest of the nobility, the Lords of the Southern Shore possessed the immemorial right to veto changes in the
Codex of Zeth, the charter affirming the rights and privileges of Cathran aristocracy and defining limits of regal authorityтАФincluding the
succession to the throne. It was the Codex that specifically excluded anyone possessing the least whiff of magical talent from CathraтАЩs
kingship. This rule dated from BazekoyтАЩs time, and prevailed in Tarn and in Didion as well. Only Moss, youngest of BlenholmeтАЩs nations
and founded by a brilliant sorcerer, was an exception.

Less than a year after ConrigтАЩs second marriage, High Queen Risalla gave birth to a strapping son who was named Bramlow.
Unfortunately Lord Stergos, the Royal Alchymist, almost immediately determined that the child had moderate arcane powers. In a move
that surprised and bewildered his Privy Council and loyalist nobility, the High King pressured the Lords of the South to amend the Codex
so the boy could be named Prince Heritor in spite of his talent. The lords refused, backed up by the powerful Brethren of the Mystic
Order of Zeth, who inflamed the sentiments of the common people against the kingтАЩs dubious proposal. In the end, Bramlow was
consecrated to the Order as an acolyte, the inevitable fate of windtalented royal offspring.

Excepting Conrig himselfтАж

Oh, yes. My royal master was himself possessed of an all-but-insignificant portion of magical aptitude, imperceptible to the scrutiny of
the Brothers. His urgent push to amend the Codex in Prince BramlowтАЩs favor was actually an attempt to safeguard his own position as