"John Maddox Roberts - Stormlands 02- The Black Shield" - читать интересную книгу автора (Roberts John Maddox)

the shrill sobbing of the children. He found these pleasing as well.

King Gasam was a tall, handsome man in his middle thirties. His long, bronze-colored hair flowed free
down his back in the fashion of a Shasinn senior warrior. He eschewed the paint, feathers and furs
favored by most Shasinn. His waist was girded with a belt which supported a shortsword and a loincloth
of plain red

leather. Among the color-loving Shasinn warriors, this set him apart as clearly as any royal finery.

"My lord."

He turned to see his woman emerge from the temple. Queen Larissa was acknowledged as the most
beautiful woman among the Shasinn, whom all considered to be the comeliest people in the world. She
was aware of the fact and wanted all to know it. She wore a great deal of fine jewelry and little else. It
pleased the king that his woman could flaunt herself thus and no man dared respond. Today she had
added something new. Her nipples were covered by delicately worked caps of gold, connected by a thin
golden chain. She pressed herself to her husband and he gave the chain a tug, causing her to wince.

"What holds them on?" he said, grinning.

"That is my secret. Rest assured it is painful."

"Good," he said. His tastes and hers were not those of ordinary people. "Shall we inspect my new
conquest?"

At the bottom of the steps his shield-bearer handed him his spear. The beautiful, slender weapon was
made entirely of steel except for a short, wooden grip. He had had the steel edges stripped from the
weapons of slain chiefs and smithed into this extravagant spear to symbolize his kingship and his
difference from other men. The bearer fell in behind them, carrying the king's long, black shield. The
warriors cheered in an ecstasy of hero-worship as their king and queen walked among them. The true
Shasinn retained their proud bearing, but war-

riors of lesser peoples fell to their knees, some chanting hymns in a dozen languages.
Bronze weapons glittered in the bright sunlight.
First the king and queen examined the heaps of precious metals, jewels and cloth, beautifully crafted
vessels and plate. There were bulk goods: ingots of metal, stacks of glass in wooden crates packed in
sawdust, bales of fiber to be woven and dyed.

"The mainlanders are rich," Larissa said. "There is too much here to send back to the Islands until you
capture some larger ships."

"Nothing goes back to the Islands," the king said.
She looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"
"It is time I had a mainland base. This town has a decent harbor and its look pleases
me. How would you like to have a palace here, my queen? No more arduous
voyages back to the Islands at the end of each raiding season, no more picking
through the loot for small items that will pack well?"
She smiled and threw her arms around him. "At last! When can we start building?"
"At once," he said. "Since we won't be sailing home, I can raid to the south for
another two months. Find craftsmen and laborers and put them to work. They are all