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

'I find it incredible that I should be attacked in such a manner - and by
Bladesmen. If I were
Downshaft in the Middle Levels - you know the Code as well as I. Fistfights
are not for
Bladesmen. Any grievances are settled by Combat; it cannot be otherwise. For
centuries it has
been so. And today I am attacked by Bladesmen led by a Chondrin - as if they
were urchins who
did not know any better.'
Stahlig sat back now. 'It is as I have said. Tension, and something more, is
in the air. A war is
certainly coming, and with it a breakdown of all the traditions that have
allowed this Freehold,
among all other Freeholds, to survive.' He shuddered, just once, a pathetic
gesture. 'The victors,
whoever they may be, will change the Freehold.
Nothing will remain the same.' He gulped his wine, poured more. 'Black and
gold, you said. That
would be - Dharsit's people. He is one of the relatively new Saardin. A new
Order they want; new
ideas, new Traditions, so they say. Their ideas, / say.' He was suddenly
vehement, slamming his cup
down so hard that the contents flew across his desk, staining the tablets. 'It
is power they want!' He
jumped up in exasperation, flinging the wet tablets away from him, heedless of
where they fell.
'Oh, Chill take it! Ask your friend Nirren,' he said darkly. 'He will know.'
'We do not normally talk of politics.'
'No, of course not,' Stahlig said contemptuously. 'He would not divulge the
strategies Estrille
thinks upon. But I will wager he gathers Corridor gossip from you.'
'Perhaps.'
'Ah!' Stahlig paused, sitting down once again, and then rushed on as if
surprised at having elicited
this from Ronin. 'As for this incident today, I trust you are not
contemplating a precipitous action.'
'If by that you mean that you are worried I will use this' - he partially
withdrew his blade from its
scabbard and slammed it home with a whack -'rest assured I am not interested
in being drawn into
the world of the Saardin.'
The Medicine Man sighed. 'Good, because I doubt if Security would believe
you.'
'What about the Students who witnessed the attack?'
'And jeopardize their chances to be Bladesmen?'
Ronin nodded. 'Yes, of course. Well, it is no matter to me. And who knows,
sometime I may
run into Dharsit's Chondrin at practice.' He grinned. 'He will have cause to
remember me then.'
Stahlig laughed then. 'I daresay he will.'