"H. Beam Piper - The Space Viking" - читать интересную книгу автора (Piper H Beam)

"And you, Lady-Demoiselle Elaine?"

"It is my dearest wish, your Grace."

The Duke took the sword by the blade and extended it; they laid their hands on
the jewelled pommel.

"And do you, and your houses, avow us, Angus, Duke of Wardshaven, to be your
sovereign prince, and pledge fealty to us and to our legitimate and lawful
successors?"

"We do." Not only he and Elaine, but all around them, and all the throng in
the gardens, answered, the spectators in shouts. Very clearly, above it all,
somebody, with more enthusiasm than discretion, was bawling: "Long live Angus
the First of Gram!"

"And we, Angus, do confer upon you two, and your houses, the right to wear our
badge as you see fit, and


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pledge ourself to maintain your rights against any and all who may presume to
invade them. And we declare that this marriage between you two, and this
agreement between your respective houses, does please us, and we avow you two,
Lucas and Elaine, to be lawfully wed, and who so questions this marriage
challenges us, in our teeth and to our despite."

That wasn't exactly the wording used by a ducal lord on Gram. It was the
formula employed by a planetary king, like Napoleon of Flamberge or Rodolf of
Excalibur. And, now that he thought of it, Angus had consistently used the
royal first person plural. Maybe that fellow who had shouted about Angus the
First of Gram had only been doing what he'd been paid to do. This was being
telecast, and Omfray of Glaspyth and Ridgerd of Didreksburg would both be
listening; as of now, they'd start hiring mercenaries. Maybe that would get
rid of Dunnan for him.

The Duke gave the two-band sword back to his esquire. The young knight who was
carrying the green and tawny shawl banded it to him, and Elaine dropped the
black and yellow one from her shoulders, the only time a respectable woman
ever did that in public, and her mother caught and folded it. He stepped
forward and draped the Trask colors over her shoulders, and then took her in
his arms. The cheering broke out again, and some of Sesar Karvall's guardsmen
began firing a pom-pom somewhere.

It took a little longer than he had expected to finish with the toasts and