"02 - The Star Scroll" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

They separated at the stables, Pol to report to the Master of Squires and Meath to inform Chadric and Audrite of the day's events. Word and the prisoners had gone ahead, and Lleyn was even now interviewing the Gribain captain. Chadric's eldest son, Ludhil, brought the ominous news that the bearded soldier had somehow managed to hang himself in his cell.

Lleyn came into Audrite's solar a short time later. Past eighty, frail as parchment stretched over brittle glass, he leaned on a wooden cane and refused the assistance of his son and grandson in taking a seat. Narrowing his fine, faded eyes at Meath, he folded his hands over the cane's carved dragon's head handle and said, "Well?"

"From your expression, my lord, the Gribain captain knows nothing of the Merida's origins and has nothing to say about the cause of the argument." Meath shrugged. "I imagine she is telling the truth."

"I'm not interested in imagination," Lleyn snapped. "I want to know what happened."

"Pol believes the Merida provoked the fight on purpose. And since he killed himself, I'd say he had something to hide."

"But why attempt Pol's life now?" Chadric asked. "Surely they had plenty of chances while he still lived at Stronghold."

"You should pay more attention to rumors," his father told him. As Audrite caught her breath, Lleyn nodded. "I see you've taken my meaning, my dear."

Chadric's plain, pleasant face tightened to grimness. "If you're talking about that possible son of Roel-stra'sЧ"

"He'll be nearing twenty-one. Pol's barely fourteen," Lleyn remarked.

"But it's ludicrous!" Audrite protested. "Even if the boy is Roelstra's, he'd have to rally all Princemarch behind him. And that won't happen. Rohan has done well by them in making Pandsala regentЧno one but a fool would trade certain prosperity for an unknown pretender. ''

"Nicely put," Lleyn grunted, fingering the dragon's head. "But it so happens that Rohan is an honorable fool. He'll feel compelled to meet this young man and hear him out."

"No proof one way or the other," Chadric said. "It's all supposition."

Meath said, "Lack of proof makes Roelstra's supposed son dangerous."

"There's Lady Andrade," Audrite reminded them. "She was there the night of the births."

"She might know what happened, and she might not," Lleyn replied. "And for all her authority as Lady of Goddess Keep, she's also Rohan's aunt and not exactly an impartial witness."

Chadric shook his head, rising to pace the solar. "The issue isn't the pretender's identity, Father. It comes down to this: Does the claim of someone with Roelstra's blood weigh more heavily than the years of good governance established by Rohan in lands he won by right of war?''

Lleyn's eyes sparkled. "I'm gratified to see that my training hasn't been wastedЧand that you inherited your mother's wits as well as her eyes. You have the right of

it, Chadric. Who do we support when and if it comes to it? If this youth is indeed Roelstra's son, do we take his side and support the blood-claim that keeps all princes in power? Or do we back Rohan and the things he's done in Princemarch?" He smiled without humor. "It's not the kind of choice a prince finds comfortable."

Meath sat forward, elbows propped on his knees. "Your grace, it's yet to be proved that the person is who some say he is. But even if he isn't, there will be those who choose to believeЧ"

"Or act as if they believe," Lleyn agreed. "Just for the sake of making mischief. Real proof to the contrary

will be needed."

"I see why Pol is suddenly a Merida target," Audrite said unhappily. "Miyon of Cunaxa still shelters them, though he says he doesn't. He's probably behind what happened today. There'll never be proof, of course. But without Pol to inherit Princemarch, this pretender might be welcomed outrightЧand Miyon would rather deal with anyone else than Rohan or his son. And I see, too, why Rohan wants the boy with him this summer and at Waes."

"There's a progress planned for them to Castle Crag,"

Lleyn affirmed.

Chadric gestured the pretender away with one hand. "Once they see Pol and he wins them the way he does