"Steve White - The Disinherited 03 - Debt of Ages" - читать интересную книгу автора (White Steve)

person of the Augustus, has been uncovered. I must ask that you
accompany us to a place of safety."

" 'Uncovered' by whom?" Ecdicius inquired as he unobtrusively twirled
his cloak around his left forearm. He did not draw his weaponтАФnone of
the strangers hadтАФ but he stood in a fighting stance that was as
relaxed-seeming as his voice, and measured distances with his eyes. "Who
are you, and who sent you?"

"That is immaterial, Noblissimus. For the safety of the Empire and
Holy Church I'm afraid I must insist that you cooperate." He gestured to
his followers, and swords appeared with a scrape of metal.

Sheer, flabbergasted outrage brought Sidonius out of shock. He stepped
forward to stand beside Ecdicius. "How dare you?" he thunderedтАФor
intended to thunder, but it came out closer to a gasp. "As you hope for
salvation, I command you to let us pass!"

They evidently recognized him. Blades wavered, and one of the men
turned to the leader and muttered something. Sidonius couldn't
understand it, but he recognized the bastard Greek of Constantinople's
slums. The leader snarled back in a Greek that was educated enough for
Sidonius to follow. "You cowardly dung-eaters! Take both of them!"

Ecdicius exploded into action, shoving Sidonius back into the bushes
with one hand as he drew his spatha with the other. He was of only
average size, but his body had lost little of its whipcord toughness to
middle age. Positioning himself to shield Sidonius, he held the
three-and-a-half-foot cavalry sword at the ready as the six bravos closed in
with their shorter weapons. Two of them moved to flank him while two
others leapt in.

Ecdicius' response was too quick for Sidonius to follow, as he suspected
it would have been even in bright daylight. Almost simultaneously with a
quick clang of blades, one bravo was on the ground gurgling his life out
through a slashed throat and Ecdicius was grappling with another who
had gotten in under his long sword. With a vicious move, he dislocated the
bravos shoulder and sent him staggering sideways into his companion
who was moving in from the right. That was all the time it took the bravo
from the left to grab him from behind, as the remaining two moved in.

Sidonius had never encountered physical violence in his entire adult
life, and it was as though he moved through a world of unreality with the
rock he couldn't remember picking up. He brought it down on the head of
the bravo holding Ecdicius. At the same time, the latter kicked out with
both feet, sending the two new arrivals staggering backwards, then fell in
a heap with the unconscious man who had grasped him. He rolled free in
time to grab Sidonius, who was staring openmouthed at the
blood-smeared rock he still held, and haul him back against a thick shrub,
then turn to face their attackers once more.