"Joel Rosenberg - 04 - The Heir Apparent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rosenberg Joel C)

"Maybe the trouble, Baron, is that you're thinking of me as your prince."

"Which you are, sire, in law and in fact. As well as my emperor."

"What I mainly am, Baron, is a usurper; I wasn't born to inherit the throne, but I do intend to keep on
ruling. And I do intend to be obeyed. Kapish?" he said, immediately switching back to Erendra and
correcting himself to "Understood?"

"Of course."

Karl nodded. "Good. Officially, our explanationтАФwhat you'll tell your peopleтАФis that you were
concerned about the readiness of your guard, asked that I have them tested, and, as a sign of my great
respect for you and love for your people, I've honored you and them by doing it personally. Agreed?"

"Yes, sire." Arondael didn't smile at the absurdity of it. Despite the fact that Karl had publicly suggested
that Castle Arondael was in rebellion, Arondael didn't see anything strange in agreeing to a cover story
that everyone in the castle would know to be false.

I guess he doesn't think that, say, a twelve-year-old boy might point out that the baron's story leaves his
butt uncovered.

*You mean that the emperтАФmake that baronтАФisn't wearing any clothes?*

Something like that.

*Then again, maybe the baron felt that a twelve-year-old calling out that the baron's cover story left him
bare-ass naked might be the reason that they invented the gibbet,* Ellegon suggested.

That could be part of it, too. "You're sure that's acceptable, Baron?"

"Yes, sire."

This is starting to feel like a Platonic dialogue.

*What do you mean? I don't see a whole lot of wisdom flowing around.*

No, no, not the wisdom part. I'm not that egotistical.

*Nah. Not you. But you were saying?*

In the Dialogues, Socrates has all the good lines; the rest just get to say "Yes, Socrates" and "It would

file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%2...g%20-%2004%20-%20The%20Heir%20Apparent.txt (12 of 252) [12/29/2004 12:59:24 AM]
 file:///C|/2590%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%20E-books/Joel%20Rosenberg%20-%2004%20-%20The%20Heir%20Apparent.txt

surely seem so, Socrates" and "How true, Socrates."

"So we do have an understanding?"

"Of course, sire."