"Andrew J. Offutt - Cormac 02 - The Tower of Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

as good.
We have never met. We live precisely halfway around this planet from each other. Yet there are few lines in
this book that are pure Taylor or pure Offutt. When we collaborate, we collaborate. (How? Expensively,
between here and Australia!)
Sir Keith has worked out and sent over a fascinating astrological compilation for both Cormac and Wulfhere.
Maybe it is pure imagination and maybe it isnтАЩt. What do you think their signs are? (Well actually, no, I didnтАЩt
say that we are believersтАФor that we are not.)
The zodiacal signs of these two troublesome seawolves are of no concern to Emperor Zeno over in
Constantin-opolis, or to his comes of Burdigala, the Count of Bordeaux. The Dane and the Irisher have been
raiding all too successfully, and are about to be in big trouble.
тАФAndrew Offutt
Kentucky, U.S.A.


PROLOGUE

тАЬDтАЩye command war-galleys or wash-tubs? And are they fighting men at your orders-тАФor babes messing their
swaddling linen?тАЭ
Harshly the demand was snapped out, and harsh was the mood of the speaker. Count Guntram of Burdigala*
had lately come in for scathing rebuke on the grounds that heтАЩd let his masterтАЩs law be flouted. Not a man to
suffer in silence was milord Count, or to deny his underlings their just share of the kingтАЩs anger. In truth he
had just vented but a tiny measure of his frustration on the stolid officer before him.
*Bordeaux
Athanagild BericтАЩs son looked back at the count levelly. тАЬMy men are warriors, by God! As for the shipsтАФтАЭ
Athanagild shrugged and the movement brought a twinkling flash from the silver-gilt brooch that pinned his
long green cloak to his shoulder. тАЬMy lord has inspected them himself. There are not enough, and they are
old, and no others abuilding. You said it yourself, so donтАЩt tell me IтАЩm scrabbling for excuses.тАЭ
Guntram scowled and his face worked, but he told the officer no such thing. The man was right. Rome was a
dying Colossus and the world it had created was coming apart all around the deathbed.
The count turned, still scowling, to stare out the unshuttered window at the courtyard of his mansion. The
softly playing fountain, the colonnaded walk, the tiled roofs; all boasted silently of Roman architecture, and at
least a hundred years old. The fountain leaped and shimmered prettilyтАФand if it stopped Guntram of
Burdigala knew it would hardly be worthwhile trying to have it repaired. The matter of warships was
comparable.
But no, he mused, not quite; the matter of constructing and repairing warships was not quite the same.
Proculus, head of the municipal curia (who had brought two shrewd members of that body with him) coughed.
Guntram turned slowly back, wearing a sour and challenging expression.
тАЬMy lord Comes,тАЭ Proculus said primly, тАЬit is not that shipwrights cannot be had. There are enough and to
spare, it would seem, to knock merchant vessels together.тАЭ He stressed the one word with distaste, while
blandly ignoring the men of commerce also present in the chamber. тАЬFashioning warcraft, no doubt, is a
different matter, and the men able to do it fewerтАФтАЭ
тАЬAnd most of them,тАЭ Athanagild put in, for he commanded the royal fleet based in the Garonne, тАЬwould liefer
work for shares in pirate loot.тАЭ
The comes or count banged a sword-strengthened fist on his oaken table. Objects jumped, and so did his
secretary, who was sorely needed since my lord Count could neither read nor write. The count did not notice
how heтАЩd disrupted the poor manтАФor paid no mind, at any rate.
тАЬPirates!тАЭ he roared. тАЬBy the heart of Arius, IтАЩve gone through reports of pirates all morning until IтАЩm fairly
sickened. That shipping isnтАЩt safe is ill enow. That these northern thieves have dared pillage ashore is enough
to make meтАФme, a man who followed king Euric into battle after battleтАФwish for Judgment Day!тАЭ
тАЬTheir numbers alone make them difficult to destroy as rats, my lord.тАЭ The smooth, rather soft voice came