"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Ethshar 3 - The Unwilling Warlord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

permanent structures of any sort, to allow for the deployment of troops and
military equipment in the event of siege or assault; in times of peace, such
as the past two centuries, this area filled up with the city's criminals and
homeless. Semma Castle had no equivalent of this infamous Hundred-Foot Field.
He had little time to look at the gardens, though. As soon as the last of
the company had passed the outer-most gate, the trumpet fanfare ended with a
final flourish, waiting guards slammed the outermost pair of the heavy doors,
and servants in red and yellow garb leaped forward to take charge of the
horses. Sterren was quickly lifted from the saddle and lowered to the ground
by half a dozen of the men in his escort, as his mount was led to the stables
beside the castle's inner gate.
This assistance was welcome, since he suspected he would be too stiff,
after so long in the saddle, to have dismounted under his own power.
He was whisked past the stables and into the castle proper. The main door
was, like the outer gate, equipped with a full range of defenses, but on foot,
and alerted by the intervening greenery, he looked a little more closely this
time and saw signs of disuse, dust on the hinges, a spider web across one of
the overhead openings. Forty years of peace, he guessed, had naturally had an
effect.
He had expected the party to stop and disband once they were all inside,
perhaps leaving him in the charge of servants, or a guard or two, but instead
the whole contingent marched on down a broad, marble-floored central corridor.
The soldiery kept him carefully centered in the group.
"Where are we going?" Sterren demanded in Semmat.
Lady Kalira glanced toward the commander of the honor guard and whispered
a question Sterren could not catch. The soldier nodded in reply, and Lady
Kalira called back to Sterren, "The king is waiting to meet you."
"The king?" Sterren wasn't certain he had heard the word correctly; he
did know its meaning, as it had come up in discussions with Alder.
"Yes, the king, his Majesty Phenvel, third of that name, by right of
succession King of Semma and lord of the southern deserts."
"Oh." Sterren had never met a king before and was unsure how to react.
A pair of heavy, gold-trimmed doors swung open, and Sterren found himself
swept into what he immediately identified, despite a complete lack of previous
experience with such things, as a throne room. A broad red carpet stretched
from the door to the base of a dais and up three steps to the feet of a portly
man in scarlet robes, seated on a large black chair. To either side of the
carpet stood a small crowd of people, all well dressed, of all shapes and
sizes.
Lady Kalira stopped at the foot of the dais; the soldiers stopped at the
same instant she did and gracefully stepped away to either side, with the
exception of Alder and Dogal, bringing up the rear, who remained on the
carpet.
Sterren, not having known what was coming, took a step or two forward
before he stopped himself, coming uncomfortably close to walking into Lady
Kalira's back.
Kalira bowed deeply, going down on one knee before her sovereign.
Hesitantly, and awkwardly, since he had never made such an obeisance before,
Sterren copied her actions.
Lady Kalira rose, and Sterren stood again.