"Eric van Lustbader - Sunset Warrior 1 - The Sunset Warrior" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lustbader Eric van)

to me of what
troubles you.' His hands came together again. 'You will leave here and go and
talk to Nirren' -
his voice had acquired a hard edge - 'your friend. Ha! He is a Chondrin,
Estrille's Chondrin, and
what is his first concern? You are without affiliation - you have no Saardin
to order you or protect
you. He is without feelings, that one. He pretends friendship, for
information. That is after all one of his
functions.'
Ronin put down his cup. Another time he might have been angry with Stahlig.
But, he thought, he
truly likes me, watches out for me, he does not realize - yet I must remember
that he fears many
things, some justly, others not. He is wrong about Nirren.
'No one knows better than I the deviousness of Chondrin,' he said. 'You know
this. If Nirren seeks
information from me, he is welcome to it.'
'Ach!' Stahlig's fingers flailed the air. 'You are not a political animal.'
Ronin laughed. 'True,' he said. 'Oh, how very true.'
The Medicine Man frowned. 'I do not believe you realize the precariousness of
the situation.
Politics is what rules the Freehold. There has been much friction among the
Saardin recently, and it
becomes worse daily. There are elements within the Freehold - very powerful
elements - who, I
believe, want a war.'
Ronin shrugged. 'I could think of worse things happening.' He sipped his wine.
'At least the
boredom will be relieved.'
Stahlig was shocked. 'You do not mean that, I know you better. Perhaps you
think you will be
unaffected.'
'Perhaps I will be.'
Stahlig shook his head slowly, sadly. 'You talk without thinking because there
is little for
you to do. But you know as well as I that none shall remain unscathed by an
internal war.
Within this confined space such a foolhardy action can only have disastrous
consequences.'
'Yet I am uninvolved.'
'You are without a Saardin, yes. But you are a Bladesman, and when the time
comes you
cannot be uninvolved.'
There was a small silence. Within it, Ronin took another swallow of wine. He
said, finally: 'I
shall tell you what occurred today.'
Stahlig listened to Ronin through half-closed eyes, his blunt thumbs again
idly tapping his
upper lip. He could have been falling asleep.