"David Eddings - The Dreamers 02 - The Treasured One" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eddings David)

‘As closely as I was able to determine, they were Trogites, and they wanted to talk
to your people about their gods. How much were you able to discover about
somebody called Amar?’

‘Not too much, big brother,’ Veltan replied. ‘Narasan has nothing but contempt for
the clergy of the Amarite faith.’

‘He’s not alone there, Veltan,’ Keselo said. ‘Anyone in the Trogite Empire with
the least bit of decency or intelligence despises the Amarite church. The clergy is
corrupt, greedy beyond belief, and totally without honor. It’s common knowledge that
the “church” is nothing more than an invention of the priesthood designed to swindle
the ordinary people of the empire out of just about everything they own.’

‘That has a familiar ring, doesn’t it?’ Zelana observed. ‘Our dear sister has a
priesthood that behaves in much the same way’

I shrugged. ‘It makes her happy, I suppose.’ I looked at Veltan. ‘Where’s the rest
of Narasan’s army?’ I asked. ‘If I understood correctly, the men he brought to Lattash
were just an advance force.’

‘The bulk of Narasan’s army’s still in the port of Castano on the north shore of the
Empire. Why do you ask, big brother?’

‘The second invasion in Ashad’s dream almost bad to involve Trogites, since this
“Amar” is a Trogite invention.’

‘That’s true, I suppose,’ Veltan conceded. ‘Where are we going with this,
Dahlaine?’

I looked inquiringly at Keselo. ‘I gather that most of the men in Narasan’s army
share your feelings about this so-called religion,’ I suggested. ‘Is it at all possible that
some of them feel differently, but they’re keeping it to themselves?’

‘Not after what happened in the southern part of the empire last year,’ he replied.
‘We lost twelve cohorts as a direct result of a deception that we tracked back to a
high-ranking clergyman in the Amarite church. That’s why Commander Narasan
threw his sword away and went into business as a beggar. If any man in the army
even suggested that the Amarite church had anything even remotely resembling
decency, his comrades would kick the living daylights out of him.’

‘Let’s not dismiss the possibility entirely, Keselo,’ Veltan said with a troubled
look on his face. ‘From what I’ve heard, the word “gold” sends the Amarite church
into a feeding frenzy, and if I remember correctly, there was some extended
discussion of gold in the army compound back in Kaldacin. Just for the sake of
argument, let’s say that some soldier in your army happened to visit a tavern in
Castano, and the word “gold” came up during a casual conversation, and somebody
affiliated with the Amarite Church happened to overhear the conversation. Wouldn’t
that sort of explain the second invasion in Ashad’s dream?’