"Raymond E. Feist - Empire Saga 1 - Daughter Of The Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

handful of healthy warriors as we maintain the illusion of sufficiency. Our distant holdings are stripped
bare, held by a ruse - old men and untrained boys parading in armour. We live like gazen, holding our
breath and hoping the haruith will not trample us! But that hope is false. Any day now our act will be
discovered. Then the Lords who seek our ruin will strike with brute force.'

Keyoke set his helm on his head, fingers slowly and deliberately fastening the strap beneath his chin.
'Your soldiers will die defending you, my Lady.'

'My point, Keyoke.' Once started, Mara could not stifle the hopeless, trapped feelings that welled up
within her. 'They will all die. As will you and Pape, and even old Nacoya. Then the enemies who
murdered my father and brother will take my head and the Acoma natami to the Lord of the Minwanabi
and . . . the Acoma will be no more.'

The old soldier lowered his hands in silence. He could not refute his mistress's word or offer her any
sort of comfort. Gently he ordered the bearers forward, towards the estate house, and lights, and the
solace of beauty and art that was the heart of Acoma heritage.

The litter rocked as the slaves stepped from the rough meadow onto the raked gravel path. Shamed
by her outburst, Mara loosed the ties, and the gauze curtains fluttered down, enclosing her from view.
Sensitive to the possibility she might be weeping, Keyoke walked with his head turned correctly forward.
Survival with honour seemed an unattainable hope sinoe the death of Lord Sezu and his son. Yet for the
sake of the mistress whose life he guarded, he resisted the belief held by the warriors who still lived: that
the gods' displeasure rested upon this house, and the Acoma fortune was irretrievably on the wane.

Mara spoke, jarring the Force Commander from thought with an unexpected tone of resolve.
'Keyoke, were I to die, and you survive me, what then?'

Keyoke gestured backwards, towards the hills where the raiders had retired with their booty.
'Without your leave to take my own life, I would be as those, mistress. A wanderer, masterless and
alone, without purpose and identity, a grey warrior with no house colour to wear.'

Mara pushed a hand through the curtain, forming a small crack to peer through. 'The bandits are all
like this?'

'Some. Others are petty criminals, some thieves and robbers, a few murderers, but many are soldiers
who have lived longer than their masters.'

The litter drew near the dooryard of the estate house, where Nacoya awaited with a small flock of
servants. Mara pressed on quickly. 'Honourable men, Keyoke?'

The Force Commander regarded his mistress with no hint of reproof. 'A soldier without a house can
have no honour, mistress. Before their masters fell? I assume grey warriors were good men once, but to
outlive one's master is a mark of the gods' displeasure.'

The litter swept into the dooryard, and the bearers settled it to the ground with a barely perceptible
bump. Mara pushed aside the curtains and accepted Keyoke's assistance. 'Force Commander, come to
my quarters tonight, after your scouts return from the hills. I have a plan to discuss while the rest of the
household sleeps.'

'As you will, mistress.' Keyoke bowed, fist pressed to his heart in formal salute. But as servants