"Dave Duncan - Tales of King's Blades 5 - The Jaguar Knights" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

At the dice table, eyebrows rose even higher. The Pirate’s Son was King Athelgar. It was common
knowledge that Vicious preferred to keep Sir Wolf out of the King’s sight, so if Wolf was wanted now, it
was because the King had called for him by name.
 Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html




Wolf was the King’s Killer.

Ignoring the rabble’s surprise, Wolf strode across to the mirror and looked himself over with care. Like
all Blades he was of middle height, slim and athletic, but he was invariably the best-turned-out man in the
Guard—boots and sword belt gleaming like glass, not a wrinkle in hishose nor speck of dust marring his
jerkin. He adjusted the feather in his bonnet an imperceptible amount and turned away. He did not
examine his face. No one looked at that horror unless they must.

Exchanging nods with a lip-chewingLyon , he strode out into the corridor, and Damon fell into step
beside him. Together they marched along marble corridors, past statuary and tapestries. Courtiers stared
with interest at two senior members of the Royal Guard moving at an urgent clip. Word that the King had
sent for the infamous Sir Wolf would spread like fire in dry grass.

So what was up? The last time Wolf had been summoned to the royal presence, Athelgar had named
him—over Leader’s objections—to lead the Elboro mission, which had required him to kill two brother
Blades. It had not been the first such filthy job the Pirate’s Son had given him, either, and Wolf’s written
report afterwards had let Athelgar Radgaring know exactly what he thought of his liege lord. Moreover,
since Leader had not ordered him to rewrite it, it had warned His Majesty that others shared those
opinions. The Guard had been short-handed back then, else Wolf might have been thrown in a dungeon
for some of the comments in that report. In the two years since,Vicious had kept him well away from the
King.

What had changed? Well, the Guard was up to strength now, so one possibility was that Athelgar was
going to award him the Order of the Royal Boot. That was highly unlikely. Knowing how Wolf felt about
him, Athelgar was more likely to keep the King’s Killer bound to ab-solute loyalty forever—safer that
way.

Another possibility was that the Pirate’s Son wanted someone mur-dered. Blades were bound by oath
and conjuration to defend their ward from his enemies, not to commit crimes on royal whims, but defense
could cover a multitude of nasty situations.

Wolf saw anger in Damon’s tightly clenched jaw. Damon was a de-cent man, not one of those who
carried grudges against the King’s Killer.

“Any hints, brother?”

“Dunno anything. Huntley andFlint rode in about four hours ago.”

“Ah! And Leader wakened the Pirate’s Son?”

3