"Elrod, P N - I, Strahd 1 - Memoirs of a Vampire e-txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Elrod P N)

I raised one eyebrow when his eyes briefly shifted my way.
"I think he will try to kill you," he added, in the same lazy tone.
"There are always traitors in every camp. They have to kill somebody."
"You should worry about this one, Strahd. You really should."
Having been my fighting comrade for fifteen years, he was more than entitled to
use my given name in private. This time, however, it irritated me, perhaps
because he managed to work in a slight, patronizing tone as he spoke. I was
expected to ask him why I should worry more about this one than any others, but
remained silent. Sooner or later, he would tell me. Alek always seemed to know
all the gossip worth knowing in the ranks and, despite his coolly amused manner,
found it physically impossible to keep anything really interesting to himself.
He reached for the wine and carefully poured some into a gold chalice he'd
acquired on a long-ago campaign. The heavy red fumes drifted over to tantalize
my own senses. The flavor, I knew, would be ambrosial, but unless I drank it
with food I'd have a headache before finishing my second cup.
With eyes closed, Alek sipped slowly, holding a few drops on his tongue to take
in all the subtleties of flavor. When the last of it was gone, he opened his
eyes again and shot me a chagrined smile. "Anyone else would be demanding
explanations from me at sword point, but there you sit like a cat before a mouse
hole, waiting for the inevitable to happen."
I said nothing.
The need to share his news finally overcame him. He put his cup on the table and
leaned forward, though there was no one within earshot who could have heard him.
"The traitor is a Ba'al Verzi assassin, Strahd," he whispered.
The time for games ended with the utterance of that name. I straightened in my
chair, fighting down the burst of rage that wanted to rush out. "Who? Who would
dare?'
He shook his head. "If I knew, he would be dead by now."
"How did you learn of this?"
"From one of our wounded. He thought he could buy special treatment with the
information. Unfortunately, he waited too long and died."
"Lady Ilona can still find a way to speak with him."
"I've already seen to that. She found out no more than what I've been able to
tell you now."
"Have him raised."
"That's been tried as well. Once she was aware of the threat to you, she made
the preparations and performed the spell." He lifted one hand, palm up.
"Nothing."
"Why not?"
"The very question I put to her. She said he was simply not strong enough to
survive the attempt."
Other alternatives came to me, each to be dismissed. Between them, Ilona and
Alek would have done everything possible to learn all that they could. "Who else
knows of this?"
"No one. Others are being questioned. So far none of them knows anything about
an assassin."
"Unless you're the assassin."
"An excellent point, my lord," he said evenly. "And the first one I thought you
would consider. But I decided to take the chance and warn you anyway."
A wise thing to do, especially since Ilona would have also told me.