"Elizabeth Moon - Paksenarrion 2 - Divided Allegiance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

any of us want to live under someone like him? I remember the faces in those cities, if you
don't."
"But he fought SiniavaтАФ"
"YesтАФat the end. For a good reward, too. I'm not saying he's all bad, Vossik; I don't know. But so
far he's done what any mercenary mightтАФgone where the gold is. How will he govern? A man who
thinks he's nobly born, and has been cheated of his birthrightтАФwhat will he do when we reach the
Immer ports?"
They found out at Immerdzan, where the Immer widened abruptly into a bay. It sheltered four ports:
Immerdzan and Aliuna, across the river from each other, Ka-Immer, seaward of Immerdzan, and
Seafang, high on the last rocky point of the bay on Aliuna's side. Seafang alone had not been
controlled by Siniava in the past few years; it was more a pirates' lair than a port anyway. But
Immerdzan, Ka-Immer, and Aliuna had been governed by Siniava's minions.
Immerdzan required no formal assault. It had never been fortified on the land side, beyond a wall
hardly more than man-high with the simplest of gates. The army marched in without meeting any
resistance. The streets were crowded and dirty; the air stank of things Paks had never smelled
before. Paks got her first look at the bay, here roiled and murky from the Immer's output. The
shore was cluttered with piers and wharves, with half-rotted pilings, the skeletons of boats,
boats sinking, boats floating, new boats, spars, shreds of sail, nets hung from every available
pole, and festooned on the houses. She saw small naked children, skinny as goats, diving and
swimming around the boats. Most of them wore their hair in a single short braid, tied with bright
bits of cloth.
Beyond the near-shore clutter, the bay lay wide and nearly empty under the hot afternoon sun. A
few boats slid before the wind, their great triangular sails curved like wings. Paks stared at
them, fascinated. One changed direction as she watched, the dark line of the hull shorten-
DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE 9
ing and lengthening again, now facing another way. Far in the distance she could see the high
ground beyond the bay, and southward the water turned green, then blue, as the Immer's water
merged with the open sea.
Around the Duke's troops, a noisy crowd had gatheredтАФ squabbling, it seemed to Paks, in a language
high-pitched and irritable. Children dashed back and forth, some still sleek and wet from the
water, others grimy. Barefoot men in short trousers, their hair in a longer single braid,
clustered around the boats; women in bright short skirts and striped stockings hung out of windows
and crowded the doorways. One of Alured's captains called in the local language, and a sudden
silence fell. Paks heard the water behind her, sucking and mumbling at the pilings, slurping. She
shivered, wondering if the sea had a spirit. Did it hunger?
Alured's captain began reading from a scroll in his hand. Paks looked for ArcoTin and watched his
face; surely he knew what was going on. He had no expression she could read. Now the announcement,
whatever it was, was finished: Alured's captain spoke to the Duke, saluted, and mounted to ride
away. The crowd was silent. When he rounded the corner, a low murmur passed through them. One man
shouted, hoarsely. Paks looked for him, and saw two younger men shoving a graybearded one back.
Another man near them called in accented Common:
"Who ofyou speaks to us?"
"I, do." The Duke's voice was calm as ever.
"YouтАФyou are pirates?"
"No. What do you mean?"
"ThatтАФthat manтАФhe says is now our dukeтАФhe is a pirate. You are his menтАФyou are pirates."
"No." The Duke shook his head. Paks saw Arcolin give the others a hand signal, saw the signal
passed from captains to sergeants. It was unneeded; they were all alert anyway. "We are his
allies, not his men. He fought with us upriverтАФagainst Siniava."
'THiat filth! The man spat. "Who are you, then, if you fight Siniava but also with pirates?"