"Moon, Elizabeth - Deed Of Paksenarrion - 02 - Divided Allegiance V1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

Prologue
Long ago, before the elder folk were driven from the lands south of the Hakkenarsk, the elves who dwelt in those heights had found a valley more lovely than any other. The shape of its rock and the clarity of its water brought joy to all who saw it. There for a time the elves lived, and built as they rarely build, while the greatest among them sang to the taig of that place, and wakened it to its own power. Over long years they shaped it, singing one song of beauty after another, and the taig responded, willing itself to flourish as the elves suggested. Very dear was this valley to all who could sense the taigin, both elder and younger folk, and it was known as the elfane taig, the holy place and living banner of the elves and their powers.
Then troubles came: the tales are lost that tell who brought them, or how those who fled sought refuge far away. Even to the elfane taig the evil came, and the elves fled, driven out by a power they could not resist for all their songs. The taig remained, crippled in its resistance to that evil by corruption placed at its heart, no longer truly elfane but banast, or wounded. Most of its great strength was spent in containing that corruption. The taig could not attack the embodied evil without loosing the worse danger, the periapt which would leave it permanently defiled.
Few travelers went that way at first, for its hazards were well known. The elves, when they were asked, warned all. No dwarf would venture so near the Ladysforest, and humans, for the most part, preferred the easier pass at Valdaire, or the shorter one over Dwarfwatch. So for long years the contending powers in the valley had only each other to feed on. A stray ore here, a wolfpack thereЧthese nourished the conflict ill. And of the travelers that passed, not all were apt for use. Some, when the visions came, woke quickly and fled, leaving packs and animals behind. Others, greedy for treasure, stormed into the ruins without sense, and fell to the first of the traps and creatures, ending as servants of evil, or its food.
But ages passed, and time dulled human memories, and ever the contending powers sought lives and souls to serve them, to war in their long and bitter strife. As elven influence waned hi Lyonya, the nearest settled land, few asked elves for advice; fewer still obeyed. Bold explorers, half brigand, wandered the northern slopes. From time to time an entire band disappeared below the valley's ruins, to live in the eternal light of the old halls, and fight for whichever power could enchant each separate soul. There they died, for none came alive from the banast taig. So the treasure accumulated, over the years: most of it the weaponry and armor of wandering mercenaries or brigands, but also odd bits of magical equipment, scholars scrollsЧwhatever a lost traveler might be carrying.
Then two more travelers entered the valley.
Chapter One
When all Siniava's troops had been marched away under guard, most of the Phelani assumed they'd be going back to ValdaireЧeven, perhaps, to the north again. Some were already making plans for spending their share of the loot. Others looked forward to time to rest and recover from wounds. They were more than a little surprised, then, to be marched south, along the Immer, in company with Alured's men, the Halverics, and several cohorts of the Duke of Fall's army. These last looked fresh as new paint, hardly having fought at all, except to turn Siniava away from Fallo.
"I don't understand it," muttered Ken to Paks as they marched. "I thought we were throughЧSiniava's dead. What more?"
Paks shook her head. "Maybe the Duke has a contract."
"Contract! Tir's bones, it'll take us the rest of the season just to get back to Valdaire. Why do we need a contract?"
"Have you ever seen the sea?" asked Seli.
"NoЧwhy?"
"Well, that's reason enough to go south. I've seen itЧyou'll be impressed."
"What is it like?" asked Paks.
"I don't think anyone can tell you. You have to see it. I've heard the cliffs are tower here, at the Immer's mouth, than at Confaer, where I was. But even soЧ"
As they marched south beyond the forest, the river beside them widened. They passed through a few small towns and villages. Alured stationed some of his troops in each of these. Word trickled down from the captains that Alured was claiming the title of Duke of Immer. This meant nothing to Paks or the younger soldiers, but Stammel knew that the title had been extinct for several hundred years, since the fell of the old kingdom of Aare across the sea.
"I'm surprised that the Duke of Fall and the other nobles are accepting it," he said one night.
"That was the price of his help this year," said Vossik. All the sergeants were gathered around one fire for an hour or so. "I heard talk in Fallo's cohorts about it. If the Fallo, Andressat, and Cilwan would uphold his claimЧand our Duke, of courseЧthen he'd turn on Siniava."
"But why would they, even so?"
"It's an odd story," said Vossik, obviously ready to tell it.
"Go on, Voss, don't make us beg," growled StammeL
"Well, it's only what I heard, after all: I don't know whether those Fallo troops know the truth, or if they're telling it, but here it is. It seems that Alured used to be a pirate on the ImmerhoftЧ"
"We knew thatЧ"
"Yes, but that's the beginning. He'd captured another ship, and was about to throw the prisoners over, the way pirates doЧ"
"Into the water?" asked Paks.
Someone laughed. Vossik turned to her. "Pirates don't want a mess on their shipsЧso they usually do throw prisoners overboardЧ"
"But don't they swim or wade to shore?" asked ^Natzlin.
"They can't. It's too for, and the water is deep."
"I can swim a long wayЧ" said Barra.
"Not that far. Tir's gut, Barra, you haven't seen the sea yet. It could be a day's march from shore, the ship, when they toss someone out." Vossik took a long swallow of sib and went on. "Anyway, one of the prisoners was a mageЧor said he was. He started calling to Alured, telling him he should be a prince by rights."
"I'd have thought Alured wouldn't listen to prisoners' yells," said Stammel. "He doesn't look the type.
"No," agreed Vossik. "He doesn't. But it seems he'd had some sort of tale from his fatherЧabout being born of good blood, or whatever. So he had the man brought to him, and the mage told him a long tale about his ancestors. How he was really heir to a vast kingdom, and was wasting his time as a pirate."
"He believed that?" Haben snorted and reached his own mug into the sib. "I'd heard pirates were superstitious, butЧ"
"Well, the man offered proof. Said he'd seen scrolls in old Aare that proved it. Offered to take Alured there, and prove his right to the kingdom."
"To Aare? That heap of sand?"
How do you know, Devlin? You haven't been there."
"No, but I've heard. No one's ever said anything was left in Aare but ruins."
"That's what the mage told AluredЧthat he'd been in the ruins, and could find the proof of Alured's ancestry."
"It seems to me," said Erial, "that it's extra trouble to hunt up ancestors like that. What difference does it make anyway? Our Duke's got his steading without dragging in hundreds of fathers and fathers' fathers."
"Or mothers," muttered Barra.
"You know they're different here in Aarenis," said Stammel. "Think of Andressat."
"That stuffed owl," said Barra.
"NoЧdon't be that way, Barra. He's a good fighter, and a damn good count for Andressat. Most other men would have lost Andressat to Siniava years ago. He's proud of his ancestorsЧtrueЧbut he's someone they could be proud of as well."
"But go on about Alured, Voss," said Stammel. "What happened?"
"As I said, he already had some idea that he was nobly bred. So he listened to this fellow, and sailed back to old Aare with him. ThenЧnow remember, I got this from the Fallo troops; I don't say it's trueЧthen the mage showed him the proof. They say that Alured believed itЧan old scroll, showing the marriages, and such, and proving that he was in direct descent from that Duke of Immer who was called back to Aare in the troubles."
"But Vossik, it wouldn't take muchЧany decent mage could fake something like that!" Erial looked around at the others; some of them nodded.
"I didn't say I believed it, Erial. But Alured did. It fitted what he wanted, let's say. If Aare had been worth anything, it would have meant the throne of AareЧif it was true. It certainly meant the lands of Immer."
"And so he left the sea, and settled into the forest to be a land pirate? How was that being a duke?"
"WellЧagainЧthis is hearsay. Seems he came to the Immer ports first, and tried to get mem to swear allegianceЧ"