"04.Prince of the Blood" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

parapets of the barbican of my father's castle. I would
look down over the town of Crydee and the harbor
beyond. Such a small place, but so large in my mem-
ory."

He glanced at Borric and Eriand. "Your grandfather
did much the same when he was a boy, or so our old
Swordmaster, Fannon, once told me." Arutha spent a
moment lost in memory. "I was about your age when
command of the garrison fell to me, boys." Both sons
had heard tales of the Riftwar and their father's part in

Accusation 27

it, but this wasn't the same sort of old stories they had
heard swapped by their father and their uncle, Laurie,
or Admiral Trask over dinner.

Arutha turned and sat in one of the merlons and said,
"I never wanted to be Prince of Krondor, Borric." Er-
iand moved to sit in the merlon next to his father, as he
sensed that Arutha's words were more for his older
brother than himself. They had both heard often
enough that their father had no wish to rule. "When I
was a boy," Arutha continued, "I had no larger desire
than to serve as a soldier, perhaps with the border
lords."

"It wasn't until I met the old Baron Highcastle that I
realized that boyhood dreams are often with us as
adults. They are difficult to be shed of, and yet, to see
things as they really are, we must lose that child's eye
view of things."

He scanned the horizon. Their father had always
been a direct man, given to direct speech and never at a
loss for words to express himself. But he was obviously
having difficulty saying what was on his mind. "Borric,
when you were much younger, what did you think your
life would be like now?"

Borric glanced over at Eriand, then back at his father.
A light breeze sprang up and his thick, ill-cut mane of
reddish brown hair blew about his face. "I never gave it
much thought. Father."

Arutha sighed. "I think I have made a terrible mis-
take in the manner in which you were raised. When you
were both very tiny you were very mischievous and
upon one occasion upset me—it was a little thing, a