"Stephen Goldin - Storyteller" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goldin Stephen)

excess in everything, and Shammara was a firm believer in using minimal effort to achieve maximum
effect. She was now in a position where few people in the city could seriously threaten her; she could
afford to wait and let events develop at their own pace.

For most of the citizens, life went on as before. They had little contact with the people who ruled over
them, and a change of wazirs and emirs had little effect on the price of food in the bazaars. This sort of
thing happened all the time, and aside from some gossip there was little reaction to the purge.
 Those people who traveled in court circles, however, took greater note of the changes. Such people
kept tallies of individual loyalties, and it wasn't hard to spot the change in direction that was coming
about. Among these elite members of society, reaction was highly mixed. Those whose loyalties toward
Prince Ahmad were more a matter of convenience than conviction quickly began composing messages
both subtle and blatant to Shammara, expressing their desire, in this time of upheaval, to work more
closely with her for the good of Ravan. Thus did Shammara acquire more converts without having to
court them.

Those officials who were dedicated to Prince Ahmad, who could not bring themselves to work with
Shammara under any conditions, found themselves in awkward circumstances. They too could see the
way the wind was shifting, and they guessed that their lives had been spared in the purge only because
they did not occupy important enough positions to make their elimination urgent. That, however, did not
mean they would always be spared. If Shammara ever considered them a threat in the future, they knew
she'd deal with them as ruthlessly as she'd dealt with the others.

These people found several ways of coping with their situation. Some of them abruptly decided to move
to another land where their wealth and wisdom would gain them respect instead of a dagger in the throat.
Others decided to resign their offices, hoping that would be sufficient to remove them from Shammara's
consideration. Yet others decided to become inconspicuous and inoffensive so they would not come to
Shammara's attention. All these people decided to wait for Prince Ahmad's return, hoping that his
presence in Ravan would counterbalance Shammara's evil maneuvers.

Thus it was that most of Shammara's work was done for her without the need for further bloodshed. As
she'd hoped, one dramatic gesture at the beginning of her coup had so frightened her opposition that
additional gestures were unnecessary. One lesson for the wise sufficed.

With that much accomplished, Shammara waited. Soon, word would come from King Basir about
Prince Ahmad's death upon the road at the hands of brigands, and then Shammara could put the
remainder of her plan into operation. Once the prince was officially dead, not even his most loyal
supporters could deny her son Haroun the throne, for his inheritance had been specified by King Shunnar
on his deathbed. Thus would her triumph become complete and her mastery over Ravan become
absolute.

Shammara waited patiently for a week, for it would take at least that long for messengers from the
“brigands” to bring the news to King Basir and for him to dispatch an official envoy to relay the news to
Ravan.

After a week, though, the silence from Marakh continued. As each day passed without the desired
news, Shammara's impatience grew and her anger flamed. Her servants hid in corners when possible.
Many felt the lash of her tongue and the side of her hand in these fearsome days.

She'd known King Basir was weak and generally incompetent, but she'd felt she could at least trust him
with a simple ambush. His army, despite his inconsistent leadership, was still one of the best in Parsina;