"Sara Douglass - Redemption 1 - Sinner" - читать интересную книгу автора (Douglass Sara)

"Things have never been the same since Priam died," said a fine-metal
worker.
"Not the same since Axis SunSoar proclaimed Tencendor on the shores of our
lake," said another.
"Now, now," Goldman demurred. "The SunSoars have done us proud. Have
you ever known life to be better? More peaceful? Who dislikes trading with the
beauty-loving and generous-spirited Icarü? Or even the Avar?"
There was a small silence, then Hurst spoke up again. "Our quarrel is not
with Tencendor as such, nor with the Icarü or the Avar. I, for one, admire the
SunSoars greatly for what they have done for our land."
"Oh, aye!" a dozen voices echoed fervently.
"Aye," Hurst repeated. "I voice no wish to resurrect the hatreds of the past."
"Nay!" came the resounding cry. "Nay," Hurst echoed again, then looked
about and licked his lips. "But these taxes… I cannot believe them! It never
would have happened under King Priam, or even King Karel, from what I have
heard of the man! Askam will destroy the West in his attempts to solve his
debts!"
No-one missed the emphasis.
"Of course, Askam was not bred for such responsibility," said a merchant
named Bransom Heavorand. He was one of Goldman's closest friends, and he
knew the way the Master of the Guilds' mind was travelling. "He has not the
blood for it. No wonder he missteps so badly."
"Yet his father, Belial, base-born as he was, was a kind and effective prince,"
Goldman said, working as closely with Heavorand as two voices in a duet. "And
he was Axis SunSoar's right-hand man. Surely he deserved the reward of
Princedom of the West?"
"Askam is not the man his father was," Heavorand said. "Unlike Belial, he's
lived a life of ease. He's not had to fight for his life, nor the life of his country.
He's not been tempered by the sacrifice and loss Belial endured. Nor has he
inherited his father's courage and fairness." Men nodded about the room.
"Given an estate to run, no doubt he would prove capable enough,"
Heavorand finished. "But so large a responsibility as the Princedom of the West
has Askam flummoxed."
"And us bankrupt," someone muttered, and the room broke into subdued
laughter.
"Yet the North prospers," Goldman said. "Zared, as his parents before him,
has built steadily on solid foundations. He is generous but firm, courageous but
conservative in the risks he takes - or exposes his people to. His people love
him."
"Many among our people love him, too," said one of the men.
"And there's the nub of the matter," said Heavorand, speaking only at the
slight nod of Goldman's head. "Zared was born of the blood of kings, Askam was
not. Thus the North prospers while the West strangles."
Silence.
"Born of the blood of kings," said a voice far back in a darkened corner. "Are
you saying what I think you say? Zared was born to rule?"
"What I say is only fact," Heavorand replied. "Zared is born of Rivkah, last
princess of Achar, and Magariz, one of the highest-ranking nobles Achar had ever
seen. They were legally married. Borneheld, Rivkah's eldest, was illegitimate, and
thus his attempts to claim the throne of Achar met with disaster. Axis, may he