"Fifth Millennium - 05 - Shadow's Son" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meier Shirley)

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had, short of destituting the family. That was rather a lot. Tirpas had obviously offered that and been
turned down.How rich is this fish-gutted bastard, that my son isn't worth that amount? Or howЕ
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But now the search was done. She ran back down the stairs, and called into the atrium. "Shkai'ra! How
soon can you be ready to leave on a long trip?"

The Kommanza lowered her sword, wiped one forearm across her face. "Two days, traveling light.
Where to? Business or pleasure?"

Rilla, Megan's second wife and cousin, came down the steps with a basket of flower bulbs over her arm.
She was taller than Megan by almost a hand-width, mink brown hair trimmed short and sharp around her
face, giving her an elfin look, making her dark amber eyes seem much bigger. "Dark Lord, Sova," she
said. "We'll have to buy a warehouse of tunics; if you want to play with the dogs, wear an old one! Go
change, now!"

Sova thumped on the ribs of the puppy who held her down, making a bang like a drum. "I want to hear
about this trip."

"Arko," Megan said. "Business. Is Shyll home yet? I want to talk to everyone about this."

Rilla put the basket down. "No, he'll be back for the evening meal. Do you mean businessin Arko,
Meg? Nobody does that who isn't Arkan."

"My agent's found Lixand." Rilla froze, silent, then nodded.

Megan turned away up the stairs, the soft sigh of the door closing cutting off a question of Sova's, and
walked back to her office. The setting sun shone red through the west window, touching the rim of the
city over theLakeQuarter . She would come out when Shyll came home, she decided. She shuffled the
papers with one hand, staring at the words without reading them, looking at the bloody light from the
setting sun on her fingers, remembering.

Lixand, my son. She'd borne him at fourteen, on the oldZingas Brezhani , River Lady, docked in
Bjomholm.I swore you'd be myson, with nothing of himin you. Baby, born in blood and pain, I
nearly gave my life for you. Too big for me, you were, my firstborn, ensuring you would be my last
. Soft blond hair under her fingers as he nursed, eyes that were blue likehis at first, becausehe was an
Arkan, but then turned dark like hers,thank Koru , blinking sleepilyЕ

Samgeld, the captain, her owner. Atzathratzas was his real name, or part of it,every Arkan tacks on all
the formal-sounding titles he can dig up Чbut no Zak could pronounce all those consonants.Solas ,
warrior caste. Nursing, she'd had too much of a woman's rounded shape to interest him. Ex-Arkan,
ex-soldier.May your soul freeze and burn at once in Halya .

My son. The day you were weaned, how you were weanedЕ He'd been two, both running and
speaking, knew already to avoid the captain.He was on deck, dealing with another Arkan, in their
clipped, snobbish tongue, hands hidden in gloves. The baby heard his tread before she did, looking away