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

raiders who had, only a few tendays before, hit a caravan only a day's ride from Pandathaway.

And despite the blatant provocation of Cullinane's letter, they didn't understand.

Well, he thought, then I will make them understand. "We must kill Karl Cullinane, Guildmaster. He is
too dangerous."

"He is too dangerous," Lucindyl put in. "And that is precisely the guildmaster's point, Ahrmin." He was
the only elven master slaver present, and tended to fawn over the guildmaster; he was far too willing to
support Yryn, no matter what the right of the situation. "He is too dangerous. You have crossed swords
with the emperorтАФ"

Ahrmin started to slam his fist down on the table, but caught himself. Be calm, be calm. He raised his
hand up before his eyes and examined it, as though for the first time.

"That dog," he said quietly, his voice barely louder than a whisper, "has no more right to the title of
emperor than a Salke peasant has." He lowered his hands to his lap and folded them together with
exquisite gentleness as he looked away, shrugging away the half-hood of his robes and bringing the
horror of the right side of his face into view.

Even Yryn shuddered.



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Ahrmin didn't, not after all these years, not even when he looked at himself in a mirror. For years, he had
forced himself to stare at what Cullinane had left of him: the puckered scars where the fire had burned
away flesh and seared the bone beneath; the tattered ridge of callus that was all that remained of the ear;
the raw-looking welts that were the right side of his lips.

"No." Yryn swallowed, twice. "He has the right, my friend." Yryn shook his head and settled himself
more firmly back in his chair. "He holds Holtun-Bieme by force of arms, and by force of lawтАФ"

"His law."

"тАФand by popular support, it seems. At least among the commoners and 'freemen,'" Yryn finished,
pronouncing the Englits word like a curse. 'Though I understand that some of his barons are not so
pleased." He shrugged, dismissing the subject.

"But some are, no? And he is well liked among the lower classesтАФfor an emperor," Lucindyl added,
raising an eyebrow. "A very popular man, this Karl Cullinane."

Wencius, a young man whose dark slimness was almost effeminate, toyed with his glass of wine, dipping
a manicured finger into the purple liquid, running his fingertip along the rim of the glass until a bell-like
note momentarily sounded. "He is very popular, Ahrmin. Or were you too... distracted to notice?"

"And as I was saying, Master Ahrmin," Yryn said, glaring Wencius and the elf to silence, "each time the
guild has come up against Karl Cullinane, we've emerged the worse for it. First, it was your father losing