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

"None?"
"None. We've had no need of any for forty years, after all; archers
aren't particularly impressive in parades or display, and bowwood is
expensive. Old Sterren, that is, your esteemed predecessor, the Eighth
Warlord, allowed all the old archers to retire and left it to me, or my father
before me, to replace them, and we didn't trouble to do so. If we need
archers, I'm sure we can find and train them quickly."
"Ah." Sterren tried to look wise and understanding, although he had
missed several words and was fairly certain that training a competent archer
took a good deal more time and effort than Lord Anduron thought, especially if
there were no trained archers around to serve as teachers. "What about the
castle... garrison? Is that the word?"
"My lord speaks Semmat like a native, of course," Lord Anduron said.
Shemder interrupted him with a quickly suppressed burst of derisive laughter.
Lord Anduron cast him a cold glance, then went on, "The castle garrison, my
lord, is composed of whoever happens to be inside the castle at the time of an
attack."
"I see, you mean the nobles, and the servants, and so on?"
"Why, no, Lord Sterren, of course not. One could hardly expect the
nobility to soil their hands with the hauling about of gates and bars, or
hurling-stones, and the servants will have their normal duties to perform. No,
I mean whatever villagers reach the shelter of the castle walls in time."
Sterren stared at Lord Anduron for a moment, then decided argument would
do no good, most particularly in his limited Semmat. He turned his head and
asked, "Captain Shemder, how many men and horses do you have?"
"Twenty men, my lord, and twelve horses," Shemder replied promptly and
proudly.
Sterren realized with a shock that his escort into the castle had been
most of the cavalrymen in the entire kingdom, and all the cavalry's horses.
"Captain Arl?"
"At present, Lord Sterren, I have sixty-five men and boys, all fully
armed, well trained; and ready for anything."
Sterren somehow doubted that the Semman infantry was ready for anything.
What, he wondered, would they do in the face of an attack by the overlord of
Ethshar of the Spices? Azrad VII had ten thousand men in his city guard alone.
He could overwhelm Semma completely with a tenth of his soldiery, without
calling on any of his more important resources, the militia, the navy, his
magicians, the other two-thirds of the Ethsharitic triumvirate, and so on.
But these were the Small Kingdoms, and things were obviously different
here.
 The three officers all seemed very confident, certainly, and they surely
knew more of the situation than he, a foreigner, did.
Even so, eighty-five men and a few frightened refugees did not seem like
a very large force for a castle the size of Semma's.
"Lord Anduron," he asked, "what about magic?"
The young nobleman looked puzzled. "What about magic, my lord?"
"What magicians do you command?"
"None, my lord; what would I have to do with magicians?"
"Are they infantry or cavalry, then?"
"No," Arl said, as Shemder shook his head.