"Huff, Tanya - Wizard 1 - Child Of The Grove 1.1 Txt" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

CHILD OF THE GROVE 71
danger had given Raen a sleepless night. "Did they surrender?"
"Not quite. " Rael leaned forward and propped a pillow behind his father's head. "We torched their camp, destroyed half their army, and still had to knock a tent down on the commanders to get them to quit. "
"Prisoners. "
"Besides the seven commanders, about eight hundred; at least half of them wounded. "
Raen brought up a skeletal hand to stroke his beard. "Hmmm, not many. " His eyes unfocused as he considered the best course of action. "The men are rabble without the leaders. Strip them of their arms and have them taken back across the border. "
"But, Father, the pass is blocked. "
"Oh, " Raen looked momentarily confused. Had he known that? Memories of the last few days were soft edged and smoke-filled; he remembered pain clearly but not much else.
"And they don't want to go back. "
"Are you sure. "
"Very sure. " Rael shrugged wearily. "But I don't know why. "
"Well, I've a pretty good idea, " Raen snorted, suddenly more energetic as he came across something he thought he understood. "They lost. Melac and that idiot who advises him aren't likely to be very welcoming. "
"Father, about that counselor... "
"An ambitious upstart, " the king dismissed their unknown enemy with a choppy wave of his hand. "I'm not surprised someone like him showed up to grab power. Melac was always weak. We'll keep the border guarded and have nothing more to do with either of them. "
Rael was not convinced. From things he'd overheard in the last few hours, he suspected Melac's counselor would remain a threat. But that was for the future to deal with, here and now he had other worries. "So what do we do with the prisoners?"

72 Tanya Huff
"Divide them up and scatter them amongst the dukes. " The crease between the king's eyes deepened as he remembered the mass graves that held the flower of Ardhan's youth. "We'll all be a little shorthanded for a while. I'm sure they can find ways to put them to use. If they truly don't want to go home, they can begin to work off the lives they owe us. "
"And the battle commander and his officers?"
The king sighed. "Well, they can't go home. Melac can always get more spear-carriers and crow-fodder, but returning his officers would be asking to do this all over again. Have them take the standard oath about laying down arms and ever after cleaving to the soil of the land they invaded. "
"They won't. " Rael sighed as well, and rubbed a grimy hand across the bridge of his nose. "They say they've taken blood oaths to fight for Melac and the Empire until death. "
"Empire!" Raen snarled and tried to sit up. "What Empire?"
Rael pushed him gently back. "The one we were supposed to be the first part of. They're fanatics, Father. When we took away their weapons they attacked with bare hands. We practically had to bury them in chains before they stopped. They fought like men possessed. " He paused and his eyes narrowed in memory. "Or men in mortal terror. "
"They'll have to die. "
"Father!"
"How many men did you kill last night?" Raen asked gently.
"1 told you, we torched the camp. It's likely hundreds died. "
Raen held his son's eyes with his own. "No. How many did you kill? Yourself?"
Rael yanked his gaze away and stared at the carpet. "I don't know. Eighteen. Twenty maybe. 1 lost count. "
"And Rutgar's still dead. "
The terror; the reaching hand; his name screamed.

CHILD OF THE GROVE 73
"Yes. "
"It didn't bring him back, so the killing is over. " Rael lifted his head and green embers stirred. He'd fought last night blinded by anger and pain and with every life he sent to Lord Death the anger bled away until there was only the pain. "Yes, " he said. "There's been enough. "
"Unless those seven die, the war isn't over and we've won nothing. Rutgar died for nothing. The men you killed last night died for nothing. " Raen lifted a hand and touched his son's arm. "A king has no conscience, lad, he gives it to his people. "
"That's garbage, Father, and you know it. The people do what you say. "
Raen let his hand fall back onto the blanket. "Then do as I say, Rael, and carry out my command. "
Rael searched the stern, closed face on the pillow
for his father but saw only the king. He stood so
quickly his chair tipped and fell and he almost kicked
it out of the way as he spun and headed for the door.
"Rael. "
He paused but didn't turn.
"Last night you let your anger define the thin line between justice and murder; a king never has that luxury. "
"A lesson, Father?"
"If you wish, and here's another. You'd rather I gave this task to one of the dukes, but the king must be willing to carry out the king's justice. As I am not able, you must stand in for me. "
"I don't think I'm ready to be king. " Raen's teeth flashed white amid the dusky gray of his beard and the lines of his face lifted with the smile. "Good. "
Doan was waiting when Rael left the king's tent. The night's work had added a limp and several new scars to the Elite Captain's inelegant appearance. He fell into step beside the younger man. "You were right, " Rael said at last.