"Recluce - 07 - The Chaos Balance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

when you are young so that you all sound alike?"
а а "Chaos and order do not change because we exist, Sire." Themphi
shifted his weight again.
аа "Wizard, your powers must serve Cyad, not the other way around. See
that they do, or your nephew's children or his children's children will
bow under the yoke of the easterners. Lands either become more powerful
or less powerful and then perish. I intend to make sure Cyador becomes
more powerful. You may go."
аа "Yes, Sire."
а
а
XI
а
EVEN BEFORE NYLAN sat at the table and balanced Dyliess on his right
knee, his eyes kept ranging to the end of the great room toward the
central pedestal and the staircase. He could feel the slight movement of
warm air from the furnace ducts set in the central stone pedestal that
held the stairs and around which the tower was built. Interspersed with
the warmth were gusts of cold dry air from the opening of the main tower
door as guards headed up to handle livestock details or wood-carrying.
аа Breakfast was the usual-some bread, some cheese, and for the
stout-hearted, some thin porridge. Eating one-handed, Nylan suffered
through the yellow-green bitter root-and-leaf tea, taking quick sips and
keeping the mug out of reach of Dyliess's curious fingers. The bread was
dark and cold, but hearty and chewy.
аа "Gaaaa ... da ... oooo . .." His daughter's hands grasped for his
bread.
аа "Grabby, isn't she, ser?" said Hryessa from farther down the table.
аа "They all are at this age, from what I can tell," Nylan answered.
"They want to grab the world and explore."
аа "Don't we all?" mumbled Huldran, finishing a wedge of cheese and some
bread.
аа Nylan reached out and redirected Dyliess's wandering hand, in time to
keep her from grasping the spout of the teapot. "Exploration gets
dangerous."
аа "True enough even when you get older." Saryn frowned, then added after
a moment of silence, "Ryba said you were working on more blades."
аа "We've been working on blades on and off all winter. Don't you have
enough yet?"
аа "For now. She insists we'll have over fourscore guards by fall, maybe
more, that we'll have to convert half the fifth level into a barracks
room or something." Saryn turned her head as if Ryba were to appear, and
the short, dark brown hair seemed almost black in the great room lit by
only the four armaglass windows. "Or start adding to the tower," Nylan
said. "You said it would hold over a hundred."
аа "It will," the smith answered, his eyes still seeking Ayrlyn, He
hadn't seen Istril, either. "How many years will it take to build the
addition if each stone has to be chipped out of the canyon with a sledge
and chisel?" Somehow, Nylan wasn't thrilled about adding to Westwind, but
he wasn't about to voice that lack of enthusiasm.