"Robin Hobb - Soldier Son 01 - Shaman's Crossing" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

existence. Outside the fortified walls a little community had sprung
up around the riverboat docks. A lot of common soldiers retired
there, eking out their existence with hand-outs from their younger
comrades. Once, I suppose, the fort at Franner’s Bend had been of
strategic importance. Now it was little more than another back-
water on the river. The flags were still raised daily with military
precision and a great deal of ceremony and pomp. But, as my father
told me on the ride there, duty at Franner’s Bend was a ‘soft post’
now, a plum given to older or incapacitated officers who did not
wish to retire to their family homes yet.
Our sole reason for visiting was to determine if my father would
win the military contract for sheepskins to use as saddle padding.
My family was just venturing into sheep herding at that time, and he
wished to assess the market potential for them before investing too
heavily in the silly creatures. Much as he detested playing the
merchant, he told me, as a new noble he had to establish the
investments that would support his estate and allow it to grow. “I’ve
no wish to hand your brother an empty title when he comes of age.
The future Lord Burvelles of the East must have income to support
a noble lifestyle. You may think that has nothing to do with you,
young Nevare, since as a second son you will go to be a soldier. But
when you are an old man, and your soldiering days are through, you
will come home to your brother’s estate to retire. You will live out
your days at Widevale, and the income of the estate will determine
how well your daughters will marry, for it is the duty of a noble first
son to provide for his soldier brother’s daughters. It behooves you
to know about these things.”


file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...20Soldier%20Son%2001%20-%20Shaman's%20Crossing.html (11 of 761)23-2-2006 17:24:19
Shaman's Crossing - Robin Hobb - Soldier Son 01


I understood little, then, of what he was telling me. Of late, he
talked to me twice as much as he ever had, and I felt I understood
only half as much of what he said. He had only recently parted me
from my sisters’ company and their gentle play. I missed them
tremendously, as I did my mother’s attentions and coddling. The
separation had been abrupt, following my father’s discovery that I
spent most of my afternoons playing ‘tea-party’ in the garden with
Elisi and Yaril, and had even adopted a doll as my own to bring to
the nursery festivities. Such play alarmed my father for reasons my
eight year-old mind could not grasp. he had scolded my mother in a
muffled ‘discussion’ behind the closed doors of the parlour, and
instantly assumed total responsibility for my upbringing. My
schoolbook lessons were suspended, pending the arrival of a new
tutor he had hired. In the intervening days he kept me at his side for
all sorts of tedious errands and constantly lectured me on what my