"L. E. Modesitt - Corean Chronicles 4 - Alector's Choice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

ALECTOR'S CHOICE

(The Fourth Book of the Corean Chronicles)



By

L E. Modesitt, Jr
For Ree and Renn Zaphiropoulos

Proud towers rise to challenge sea and sky, Green needles that capture
the dullest eye, and palaces and halls with columns strong and true with
glory, song, and pleasures for the few.

So seemly are those soaring spires That few remember the fierce
desires and fewer still the price Acorus pays for each alector's unending
days.

Yet towers unseen in the higher chill, hold ancients with a different will,
who also ask a price, more long delayed, but still upon your living spirits
laid.

Landers, which fate and bargain will you take? Which deadly
compromise is left to make?

1

Colonel Dainyl looked down at the stack of reports on his desk. He was
almost afraid to take his eyes off them. The moment he looked away, more
reports appeared. He knew that wasn't so, but it was the way things felt.
Although he was the number four Myrmidon officer on Acorus, when he
studied all the reports, he felt more like a glorified lander clerk.

He pushed the resentment aside. He'd had his years as a flying officer,
more than most Myrmidons, and he'd been rewarded for long and faithful
service. He could have easily been one of the rankers who spent decades or
longer in service, yet who never became more than a squad leader or an
undercaptain--if that.

He brushed back a lock of shimmering black hair, hair that needed to
be trimmed, he reminded himself, and glanced toward the window that
looked out on the headquarters courtyard. There, on the raised stage, a
pteridon had just landed, folding back its long blue leathery wings. The
Myrmidon rider vaulted from the saddle and handed the dispatch case to
the headquarters duty squad leader. So early in the morning, it had to be
the incoming daily message run from Ludar.

For a moment, Dainyl just watched the ranker and pteridon. Then he
looked down at the report he had been reading--the quintal operations