"Melanie Rawn - Dragon Star 1 - Stronghold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rawn Melanie)

desire the Summer Room made ready for a conference with the Gribain
ambassadors this evening?"
This was the perfect opening, and the courtier who had been sent by Prince
Velden took advantage of it with practiced smoothness. "It is extremely wise
of your grace to wish this unhappy matter settled as quickly as possible. We
will, of course, make ourselves available to your grace immediately after
dinner."
Rohan considered answering Isriam in the negative, then chided himself. He had
spent most of the spring and all summer at play. He planned a trip to Radzyn
in a few days that would extend the holiday well into autumn. He really ought
to do a little work and earn the privilege of being bowed to and gossiped
about behind his back. Deciding to give in, he replied with a smile, "That's
very kind of you, Master Eschur. The journey from Grib is a tiring one. But if
it suits, then yes, we'll meet in a little while."
"As your grace wishes," Eschur said with a slight bow. Rohan reflected that
his name suited him; eyes with a "wolfs sight" he truly had,-yellowish and
sharp. The High Prince did not anticipate a fun evening.
He was right. With Sioned at his side and Isriam attending themтАФone could only
hope he would learn somethingтАФ Rohan listened as the Gribains presented their
prince's views. The problem outlined to him was a reminder that whatever he
had accomplished by way of codifying laws, he hadn't thought of everything.
Not by any means.
The difficulty was one of inheritance. An Ossetian younger brother had married
the heiress of a neighboring athri in Grib. It was agreed all around that the
young man would forswear his allegiance to Prince Tilal and commit himself
instead to Prince Velden. The athri had died this spring and the daughter and
her husband had inherited. But the elder brother had recently suffered a
serious head injury; he recognized no one and was subject to intermittent fits
of violence. His heartbroken brother had reluctantly ordered him confined for
his own safety and that of his people.
With the elder brother incapable of rule, the younger was the heir. But this
would leave the young man with two holdings in two different princedomsтАФwith
two sets of loyalties. Should the lands be combined under one princedom? If
so, which? Should they be kept separate against the day when sons would be
born to take one holding each? Or
should the man inherit only his own father's land, with the Gribain holding
reverting to Prince Velden and being bestowed at his pleasure to someone else?
Tilal sent no emissary; nor had he come to Stronghold from Dragon's Rest,
where he and his wife Gemma lingered to see their daughter Sioneva settled in
for a long visit. Tilal had merely conveyed to Sioned through Pol that
whatever was decided would be fine with him. Rohan thanked the Goddess for
providing him with at least one prince who trusted him completely. Of course,
Tilal was Sioned's nephew and had been Rohan's squire. His faith in the High
Prince was a very personal thing, not to be confused with the sometimes wary
acquiescence of others.
Fifty years ago, the two princedoms would have mustered armies by now and
tested each other's commitment through a few skirmishes, consulting the High
Prince only if neither force left the fieldтАФand the holdingтАФto the other.
Roelstra would have been called on to stop a war already half begun. This time
no one had even considered battle. Rohan was being asked to settle a