"Modesitt,.L.E.-.Spellsong.05.-.Shadow.Singer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

"This time . . . this time it benefited us. Do you not think that the Mynyan lords thought the same when they first unleashed song-sorcery?

"That may be, but there is little I can do about this. What do you wish of me?"

"At the very least, you could send a messenger to Lord Robero."

A crooked smile crosses Ashtaar's lips. "What will I tell him? That he must forbid his sorceresses from the sorcery that is all that keeps his realm from falling to the Sea-Priests? Or that we will send the lancers we do not have to attack him?"

"You made sure we had few lancers. That was your doing," points out the hooded woman.

"Indeed it was, and I would do the same again. With the sorcery of Defalk, and the strength of our fleet, we may yet survive and prosper. You would strip Liedwahr of all that would keep it from the chains of the Sturinnese for fear that sorcery you cannot describe might prostrate us in a fashion you cannot define."

"Words, honored Ashtaar. Elegant and well-spoken, but only words. The facts are thus. We do not have enough lancers to stop Defalk from using sorcery. We do not have enough ships to stop the Sea-Priests from bringing their sorcery to Liedwahr."

"You sit on the Council, lady. You know as well as do I that we have spent all the coins we could on our fleet, and that fleet has protected our traders well enough that we yet prosper. Would we have prospered had we spent the golds on lancers? Had we any more golds to spend on ships?"

"Yet you risk two of our fleets by sending them westward?"

"As you know," replied Ashtaar, letting a trace of tiredness and exasperation show in her voice, "the Council agreed that it was far better to do that than to leave the fleets either caught in the ice or laid up at their piers and moorings. The presence of our vessels in the Western Sea will at least make the Sea-Priests more cautious." She pauses for the briefest of moments before continuing. "Besides complaining about matters neither of us can change, what do you wish?"

"What we always wish. Your word that you will not support the sorcery of Defalk in the war between the Defalkans and the Sturinnese, and your word that you will not allow your seers to turn to sorcery."

Ashtaar's eyes seemed to darken further. "That I cannot do. It would be most unwise."

"You will regret not renouncing the sorcery of Defalk."

"I am most certain that I will," replied the Council Leader. "I am also certain that I would regret acting as you wish far more. Neither of us would wish to survive under the rule of Sturinn, and if we did, even you would regret most bitterly condemning song-sorcery."

"You presume too much, Ashtaar."

"No. I do not presume at all. Sturinn has been planning to take Liedwahr for years. The Maitres built their fleets and trained their sorcerers and lancers and waited until the Great Sorceress and the old Liedfuhr died. In this time of change, they have acted. We are at a time when the whole future of all Erde will be fixed for generations, if not forever. I will not place Nordwei in the van of opposition to the Sea-Priests. That would be foolish for many reasons. But I will not do anything to harm the efforts of those who oppose them, and where we can help, we shall."

"You are old and mad. You will have sorcery destroy us all, worse than in the Spell-Fire Wars."

"I think not. The harmonies will prevent that," Ashtaar asserted quietly.

"Words. Vain words, especially from one who does not believe in the harmonies."

"I admit that I do not believe in your harmonies. Harmony is a force. So is dissonance. They will balance. We may not like the resulting balance, but it is better to strive for the harmony we wish, than to abdicate to those who would use dissonance because we fear the changes that struggle may bring." Ashtaar's fingers rest on the polished agate oval, unmoving.

"We will see." The Lady of the Shadows rises.

'We will see, and I will also regret having to use a seer to ensure that your assassins are less than successful."

'We will see about that as well."

Ashtaar nods. "You may go."

After taking a step toward the door, the hooded woman turns back toward Ashtaar. "If I might ask, why did you not attempt to use your fine words to persuade me? Why did you oppose me so strongly?"