"Tanya Huff - Death Rites" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)morning to perch between them and the fortress, the longer they had to mutter about rites denied, the
less like an army they were and the more like a mob. So far discipline had held, but it was becoming harder and harder for the officers to hold things together. If something didn't happen soon… "The gate opens tomorrow morning. My Imperial cousin tells me to ready the division without warning the sentries on the wall. Does he think I'm a complete idiot? This is my army!" Actually, it was the Emperor's army, but that was another thing the marshal didn't like to be reminded of. "Well, don't just stand there, Commander! Ready a company!" Lip curled, the marshal turned on her, arms spread sarcastically wide. "Didn't you hear: the Emperor has taken care of it." The easiest way to avoid being given orders by Marshal Arnon was to avoid Marshal Arnon—their orders had been quite clear about that. They'd been less clear about other aspects of the job. The original courier had known little about how the three dead assassins had gotten into the city. He knew there was a stream. It wasn't much, but since Orban, called from Third Division after the deaths of file:///K|/eMule/Incoming/Tanya%20%20Huff%20-%20Death%20Rites.html (8 of 18)23-12-2006 20:00:15 Default the other two assassins, had found it with the same .information, Vree and Bannon weren't concerned. They'd all survived the same training, and an access to a target that one of their peers could find, they could find faster. The stream was easy to find. As dusk turned to true darkness and the sky over the hills turned from sapphire to onyx, they reached the place where it poured out of the earth. Knee-deep in the icy water, Bannon ran a hand under the rock lip as far as he could. "If's doable," he said at last, stepping out. "But only just. If you had anything in the way of tits, sister-mine, you'd never make it." Vree snorted and began stripping off her uniform. "Then you'd better keep your sling on, I'd hate for you to scrape anything that dangled off against a rock." His smile flashed white in the darkness. "That water's so cold, it won't much matter." They kept their voices low, the essess softened, although they were too far from either camp or fortress to be heard. Caution had kept them alive for the last two years—unlike most seventeen- and eighteen- year-olds, they had a clear knowledge of their own mortality. Prepared for the stream and the sort of swim it had likely meant, they separated the necessities out of their kit and wrapped them in waxed linen, careful to keep the bundles compact. "Who goes first?" "If d better be me," Bannon sighed stepping back into the water wearing his sling and a throwing knife strapped to his left forearm. "I'm bigger. If get stuck, I want you behind me where you can shove." "Makes sense." Wearing only an identical throwing knife, Vree followed him, sucking air through her teeth at the first icy caress against her thighs. At the rock, she tied a silk rope around Bannon's waist. |
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