"Christopher Stasheff - Rogue Wizard 06 - A Wizard in Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stasheff Christopher)

foot of the hill on which his castle stood, hungover and staggering with
headaches, but nonetheless in a perfect position to besiege him. If they did, he
knew the siege wouldn't last long. He wasn't fool enough to think that his
twenty-three armored bruisers and their ragtag collections of plowboys would
stand a chance against a thousand hardened professionals. So he paid-eight times
eight times eight gold marks, and an extra eight into the bargain as a token of
the boss's goodwill. Two lieutenants counted the pieces out on a checkerboard,
stacking the coins four high on each square, then sweeping them into a sack and
stacking the next set.
Cort watched, feeling only awe, not greed. There was a certain beauty to the
metal as it flashed in the sunlight. He didn't believe the alchemists who
claimed it was the purest metal in the universetoo much blood was spilled for
it-but it was pretty. Five hundred twelve pieces of gold, each worth twenty
silver coins! Eight pieces of silver for each trooper, ten for each lieutenant,
one hundred forty for the captain, and two thousand plus eight extra for the
Company treasury! But they had fought long and hard for that money, and the pay
of those who had died wouldn't be shared out among the living-it would go to the
families they had left behind, though it wouldn't last long and couldn't
possibly make up for the loss.
So the boss and the captain parted with mutual expressions of gratitude and
respect, both knowing that the Blue Company might be hired to fight against
Zutaine within the year, and Captain Devers turned his troops to march away.
"Two thousand for the company!" grumbled a soldier who had just survived his
first battle. "That's a funny way of saying `for the captain!"'
"Don't let your tongue wag to make a fool of you," Cort told him. "That treasury
makes sure we won't starve if there's no work."
"Aye," said the sergeant, "and it's out of that hoard that Captain Devers sends
a silver coin every other month, to each of the families of his troopers who
have died."
The young fool stared. "I've never heard of a mercenary captain doing that!"
"They don't," the sergeant growled. "Devers does. That's why I stay with his
Blue Company." The captain paid the lieutenants, and each of them paid their
men. Then they marched off on leave, each platoon bent on visiting a different
village-the whole company together would have destroyed any town-each roaring to
begin celebrating, eager to infest the inns, make the brewers and harlots rich,
pester the decent women, and pick fights with the civilian men.
Cort had other plans, though. He had dropped a hint in each sergeant's ear, and
each sergeant had mentioned the town of Bozzeratle as his men were discussing
possible destinations-so it wasn't quite by accident that Cort's platoon was
marching toward the town in which his fiancee lived.


CHAPTER 2


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Gar rode out of the forest onto the road, and the merchant shouted, "Bandits!"
The spear he used for a staff snapped down, leveled at Gar's stomach. One of his