David Drake - The Gods Return
Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «David Drake - The Gods Return» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Жанр: Фэнтези, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.
- Название:The Gods Return
- Автор:
- Жанр:
- Год:неизвестен
- ISBN:нет данных
- Рейтинг книги:3 / 5. Голосов: 1
-
Избранное:Добавить в избранное
- Отзывы:
-
Ваша оценка:
- 60
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
The Gods Return: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация
Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «The Gods Return»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.
The Gods Return — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком
Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «The Gods Return», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.
Интервал:
Закладка:
They took her to Milady in the castle, and you'll never get her away again." "Where is the-" Cashel started to ask. He looked up, following the line of the sprite's eyes. A tower and a crumbling wall stood against the sky. The ruin can't have been as much as a bowshot away.
Maybe it was the angle so that Cashel now saw through a notch between the tops of the funny trees; but maybe it really hadn't been there before. "Why don't you come with me, handsome?" the sprite said. "Just for a little while, if you like." Figures moved on top of the tower.
Two were hulking apes. Between them- Haze shrouding the moon drifted away. The apes were holding Liane. "Cashel!" she called. He was already striding toward the ruin, his quarterstaff slanted across his body. Rasile was beside him. *** Leaves brushed Sharina's cheek. She sat upright and flailed mentally for an instant, trying to remember where she was. She'd been sleeping on the bench in the roof arbor, a soldier's cloak rolled under her head for a pillow. It was near dawn; the eastern stars had faded, though the sun was still below the horizon. The grape leaf had tickled her because- "Hey, what's that!" a Blood Eagle said. "Belt up, bonehead!" said Trooper Lires. "That's the princess's pet rat, don't you see?" Burne, squatting on a wrist-thick vine on the back of trellis, lowered the scorpion he'd just trimmed to harmlessness. "I prefer to think of myself as her colleague," he said, then finished his meal with two more clicking bites. He disposed of the remains over the porch railing. "Was it about to sting me?" Sharina said. She kept her voice calm, but that was an effort of will. She recalled the chitinous mass writhing on Platt. Burne squirmed onto her side of the trellis. Sharina's slender hand wouldn't have fit through the diamond-shaped openings, but the rat had no difficulty. "Oh, no," he said. "He was listening, spying. They all were. There were three of them when I came back, so I disposed of them before I told you what I'd learned." The guards were watching in all directions, including the pair at opposite ends of the trellis. They hadn't noticed the-three, apparently-scorpions creeping along the brickwork, but Sharina didn't imagine any human being would have. Except for the Blood Eagles, no one else was present. Sharina had taken off the Pewle knife when she stretched out to sleep. Now she stood and wrapped the belt around her waist again. She still wore her sleeping tunic as an undergarment, but Diora had brought up a pair of sandals and an outer tunic. "Tell me," she said quietly. "The cult's headquarters is the temple of Our Lady of the Grove," Burne said. He sounded. "Clever, weren't they? All the priests used to worship the Shepherd, but the leaders are in the oldest temple of the Lady here in Pandah." "Oh, they're clever," Sharina said grimly. She fitted the tongue of the sealskin belt through its loop. "But thanks to you, Master Burne, not clever enough." "If you send troops quickly, you may catch them inside," the rat said. "But every scorpion is a spy, and they share each others' minds." "I'm notsending anybody," Sharina said. "Captain Ascor, a company of Ornifal infantry was with us on last night's raid.
Where are they billeted?" "Right here in the palace, your highness,"
Ascor said. "What with the riots, Lord Tadai thought there ought to be more than just the usual guards on duty here. I think, ah… it might've been the regiment's camp marshals who suggested that to him."
"Yes," said Sharina. "I rather think it may have been also. Well, Captain, let's go find Prester and Pont. They already know the route."
Prester and Pont often said that they'd become old soldiers by not taking chances, but they weren't men who'd hide if it looked like there was a prospect of action. The fact they'd chosen to be on duty here meant either that they'd thought somebody was likely to attack the palace, or that they'd expected something like what was happening.
They'd seen the Princess Sharina use her big knife, and they probably figured that she'd use it again given half a chance. They were right about that. Three aides stood at attention outside the first landing.
The sound of voices on the roof had brought them to alertness, but the courier hadn't buckled the lid of his sabertache; a dice cup poked out of it. To him Sharina called as she went past, "Tell Lord Tadai I'm going out with the ready company!" That was as much information as she was willing to give openly. She doubted it would be of much value to Tadai, but at least she would have something to point to when the city prefect complained bitterly that she'd disappeared without warning.
The notion that a princess could do anything she pleased was only true for epic characters who didn't live in a real human society. "No, left!" Lires shouted from the back of the guard detachment as the leading squad turned right at the ground floor hallway. "They're in the west garden!" The little entourage changed direction with a degree of stamping and confusion. Sharina herself was in the lead for a moment before Ascor ran to the front, snarling a litany of curses.
Burne rode on Sharina's left shoulder with a tumbler's grace; he laughed, but she thought as much from excitement as for the humor of it. This was exhilarating, especially coming after the formless threat of riots. The loud scramble provided a useful warning to the Ornifal company. "Stand to!" bellowed a voice through the shuttered windows lining the hallway. Sharina was sure it was Pont speaking. The door at the end of the hall slammed open before the leading guard reached it.
Prester looked down the hallway with a lantern held high, then stepped back out of the way. "It's the princess, boys!" he shouted to his men.
"By the Lady, if you're not on your toes, you better hope you're killed! I'll ride you harder than the Sister will if you screw up now!" The troops were shouldering their shields, donning their helmets, and falling into ranks. They were already wearing body armor; they'd been ready to react at a moment's notice, which was just what was happening now… "Marshal Prester," Sharina said. The squat veteran carried a good deal of fat, but he carried it over more muscle than most men could claim. "We're heading for the graveyard where we caught the priest last evening. We'll be following the same route as we did then." "Things being as they are tonight, princess…,"
Prester said. He gave Burne, still perched on her shoulder, a funny look but didn't say anything about him. "We'd likely get there faster going widdershins along the new Boundary Road." "We're going straight through town," said Sharina, not raising her voice but holding the veteran with her eyes. "Right you are, Princess," said Prester. He turned to the company, some sixty men drawn up in four ranks. "Your highness, I don't think you understand," said an eighteen-year-old ensign. He was a hereditary nobleman who reasonably expected in five or six years to command a regiment. "There've been widespread riots tonight, and the route through the city center may be-" Pont lifted the ensign's helmet off. The boy jerked his head around and shrieked,
"What are you playing at, you fool?" Prester slapped the back of the ensign's skull with fingers hard enough to drive tent stakes. The boy yelped and staggered forward. Pont caught him and said, "Listen, you puppy! The next time you want to talk to the princess, you wait till she asks you!" He dropped the helmet back on the ensign's head.
Prester turned him around and bellowed in turn, "And then you ask us, so we can tell you if she really wants you do open your mouth-which I doubt she does." "Face left…," Pont said, rattling the palace windows. "Face!" The company crashed around to the left.
"Forward… march!" Sharina had seen troops in motion many times now. It thrilled and amazed her every time. She always compared them in her mind to a herd of sheep, since nothing in her life while growing up involved so many human beings doing any single thing. Sheep were never so organized. Not even bees or ants were organized, compared to what soldiers did daily by rote. "Double time, march!"
Читать дальшеИнтервал:
Закладка:
Похожие книги на «The Gods Return»
Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «The Gods Return» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.
Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «The Gods Return» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.