"David Weber - Empire of Man 02 - March to the Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weber David)

Pahner would have cared to bet any money on, of course. And he more than suspected that he and the
rest of Bravo Company owed a sizable debt of gratitude to D'Nal Cord. Roger's Mardukan asi
тАФtechnically a slave, although anyone who made the mistake of confusing Cord with a menial probably
wouldn't live long enough to realize he'd stopped breathing for some odd reasonтАФwas a deadly warrior
who had become the prince's mentor, and not just where weapons were concerned. The native shaman
was almost certainly the first individual ever to take Roger seriously as both prince and prot├йg├й, and the
imprint of his personality was clear to see in the new Roger.
All of that was good. But it never would have occurred to the old, whiny Roger even to consider that
such a thing as a debt of honor might exist between him and a troop of barbarian beast drovers on a
backwoods planet of mud, swamp, and rain. Which, much as Pahner hated to admit it, would have been
a far more convenient attitude on his part at this particular moment.
"Sir," he said tightly, "those funds will be needed for our expenses on the other side of the mountains.
When we get out of here, we'll need to immediately resupply. That is if we don't run out on the way. Or
have to turn back."
 "Captain," Roger said steadily, sounding uncannily like his mother in deadly reasonable mode, "we
have to have the flar-ta, and we will not take them from mahouts who have stood by us through thick
and thin. You yourself said that we're not brigands, and shouldn't act like them. So, what's the answer?"
"We can improve things for them," Gunny Jin said. "Wrap them in cloths so that they don't lose so
much moisture. Put them in a tent with a warming stove at night. That sort of thing."
D'Len clapped his hands in regret. "I do not think I can convince my people to continue on. It is too
terrible up here."
"If you think we can continue," Cord said, "my nephews will do so. I, of course, am asi. I shall follow
Roger wherever it leads."
"Let's put it to a vote," Roger said to Pahner. "I won't say that we'll go with it either way, but I'd like
to see what everyone thinks."
"All right," the captain agreed reluctantly. "I think, though, that we're going to need all of our funds on
the far side of the mountain. Desperately. Still," he added with a shrug. "Despreaux?"
The junior NCO cleared her throat. "It was my idea."
"So noted," Pahner said with a smile. "I won't hold it against you. I take it that was a 'buy the beasts'
vote?"
"Yes, Sir, but D'Len Pah hasn't said he'll sell."
"Good point," Roger said. "D'Len? Can we buy them from you?"
The old Mardukan hesitated, drawing his circles on the stony ground.
"We must have at least one to make it back to the forests," he temporized.
"Granted," Roger said promptly.
"And . . . they aren't cheap," the mahout added.
"Would you rather bargain with Captain Pahner or Poertena?" the prince asked.
"Poertena?" The mahout looked around wildly. "Not Poertena!"
"We'll strike a fair bargain," Pahner said severely. "If we decide to buy them." He thought about it for
a moment. "Oh, hell. When. There isn't a choice, is there?"
"Not really, Captain," Roger said. "Not if we're going to make it over the mountains."
"So," the commander said to the mahout. "Are you willing to bargain for them? In gems, gold, and
dianda?"
The mahout clapped his lower hands in resignation.
"Yes. Yes, we will. The flar-ta are like children to us. But you have been good masters; you will
treat our children well. We will bargain for their worth." He lowered his head and continued, firmly. "But
not with Poertena."
***
"Good t'ing they didn't know I was coaching you over tee pocтАФtee radio, Sir," Poertena said as they
waved to the mahouts, slowly making their way back downslope.