"Vance, Jack - Elder Isles 03 - Madouc" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

УCome, Pymfyd, be quick! Surely you value my good opinion! Run to the gibbet and fetch the rope.Ф

A step grated on the stony ground; the two jerked around to find a ponderous silhouette looming against the gray overcast. Pymfyd sucked in his breath; MadoucТs jaw sagged.

The dark shape stepped forward; Madouc recognized Zerling the Chief Executioner. He halted, to stand heavy legs apart, arms behind his back.

Madouc previously had seen Zerling only from a distance, and the sight had always brought her a morbid little shiver. Now he stood looking down at her, and Madouc stared back in awe; ZerlingТs semblance was not the more lightsome for proximity. He was massive and muscular, so that he seemed almost squat. His face was heavy, with skin of a curious brownish-red color, and fringed all around with a tangle of black hair and black beard. He wore pantaloons of sour black leather and a black canvas doublet; a round leather cap was pulled low over his ears. He looked back and forth between Madouc and Pymfyd. УWhy do you come here, where we do our grim deeds? It is no place for your games.Ф

Madouc responded in a clear treble voice: УI am not here for games.Ф

УHa!Ф said Zerling. УWhatever the case, Princess, I suggest that you leave at once.Ф

УNot yet! I came here for a purpose.Ф

УAnd what might that be?Ф

УI want to know what happened to my father.Ф

ZerlingТs features compressed into a frown of perplexity. УWho was he? I have no recollection.Ф

УSurely you remember. He loved my mother, the Princess Suldrun. For punishment, the king ordered him dropped into this very hole. If he still lives, I want to know, so that I might beg His Majesty for mercy.Ф

From the depths of Zerling Сs chest came a mournful chuckle. УCall down the hole as you like, by day or by night! You will hear never a whisper, or even a sigh.Ф

УHe is dead?Ф

УHe went below long ago,Ф said Zerling. УDown in the dark folk do not hold hard to life. It is cold and damp, and there is nothing to do but regret oneТs crimes.Ф

Madouc looked at the oubliette, mouth drooping wistfully. УWhat was he like? Do you remember?Ф

Zerling glanced over his shoulder. УIt is not my place to notice, nor to ask, nor to remember. I lop heads and heave at the windlass; still, when I go home of nights I am a different man and cannot so much as kill a chicken for the pot.Ф

УAll very well, but what of my father?Ф

Zerling glanced once more over his shoulder. УThis perhaps should not be said, and your father committed an atrocious act-Ф

Madouc spoke plaintively: УI cannot think it so, since I would not be here otherwise.Ф

Zerling blinked. УThese questions are beyond my competence; I confine my energies to drawing entrails and working the gibbet. Royal justice, by its very nature, is at all times correct. I must say that in this case I wondered at its severity, when a mere cropping of ears and nose, with perhaps a taste or two of the snake, would seem to have sufficed.Ф

УSo it seems to me,Ф said Madouc. УDid you speak with my father?Ф

УI remember no conversation.Ф

УWhat of his name?Ф

УNo one troubled to ask. Put the subject out of your mind: that is my best advice.Ф

УBut! want to learn my pedigree. Everyone has one but me.Ф