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

She, of course, was Sterren of Ethshar's grandmother. And since her
brother never did get around to marrying or producing children, that made
Sterren the Ninth Warlord.
The next-closest heir was Nerra the Cheerful, a granddaughter of the
Fourth Warlord's eldest daughter, not exactly an obvious choice.
Lady Kalira put aside the sketchy genealogy after that and continued her
explanation without further prompting. Sterren listened politely, following
the unfamiliar words as best he could.
When it had become clear that old Sterren was finally dying, the royal
genealogist, unaware of Tanissa's son and grandson, had needed over an hour
simply to determine who the heir should be.
He had noticed the notation in the records of Tanissa's elopement and had
reported it, along with his conclusions, to the king and his advisors. After
considerable debate Agor, the castle theurgist, had been called in; he in turn
had called up Unniel the Discerning, a minor goddess, who after much coaxing
had, in her turn, called upon Aibem, a more powerful god, who had, finally,
informed everybody that although Tanissa was dead, her grandson was still
alive and well.
After that, of course. Lady Kalira and her little entourage had been sent
to find Sterren and bring him back to Semma and they had done just that. Lady
Kalira, who was not anywhere in the line of succession for warlord, had gotten
the job because she was the heir presumptive to her cousin Inria, Seventh
Trader. Inria, eighty years old, could not have made the trip herself.
When Lady Kalira had finished, Sterren nodded. "And here I am," he
agreed. "Now what do I do?"
"I would think that would be obvious, you're to take command of the army
and defend Semma."
"Defend Semma?"
"Protect it from its enemies," she explained.
"What enemies?"
"All enemies."
"Semma has enemies?"
"Of course it does, idiot! Ksinallion, for one, and Ophkar, for another."
Up until that moment, Sterren had entertained a vague hope that his
unwanted new job would turn out to be a sinecure, with a title and pay and no
duties. He suppressed a sigh of disappointment.
It came as especially bad news that both Semma's larger neighbors were
considered enemies, but at least, he told himself, he hadn't arrived in the
middle of a war.
"Do you think that... that a war may come soon?"
Lady Kalira grimaced. "Much too soon," she said, "from the look of you,
and what I've seen in the barracks of late."
Had his knowledge of Semmat been good enough for the job, Sterren would
have made a retort about being glad to relinquish his position as warlord,
which he hadn't asked for in the first place, if she thought someone else
could do better.
Instead, he asked, "What do I do now? Today?"
"Well," Lady Kalira said, looking about the chamber, "I suppose you'll
want to settle in here, maybe clean up a little. I'll have Dogal fetch water
and something to eat; I don't suppose that you'll want to come down for lunch.