"Julian May - Boreal Moon 01 - Conqueror's Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (May Julian)

He noted stout Count Munlow Ramscrest and his allies Bogshaw, Cloudfell, and Catclaw. And there were Tanaby’s sons, Swanwick, Hawkhurst, and Grimstane. The wealthy
mountain barons Kimbolton and Conistone, with estates bordering those of Beorbrook, were holding close conversation with their powerful overlord. At the far end of the table on
the left sat Viscount Hartrig Skellhaven and his cousin Baron Ingo Holmrangel. Their seaside castles and fleets of armed cutters defended Cathra’s far northeastern coast, and they
were themselves rumored to be little better than pirates.


file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruiswijk/Mijn%20document...aar/Julian%20May%20-%20Boreal%20Moon%2001%20-%20Conqueror's%20Moon.html (14 of 243)20-2-2006 21:47:26
Julian, May - Boreal Moon 01 - Conqueror's Moon

“So all of those invited did come after all,” said a soft voice behind Prince Conrig.

He felt the hairs at the back of his neck prickle as a draft of chill air brought a familiar, green-fen scent of vetiver.

“It bodes well for the enterprise,” the voice continued, almost purring with satisfaction. “For you know that not even I could compel their alliance. Of course, they haven’t accepted
your proposal yet, but I believe that the odds are strongly in your favor—and your plan for taking care of any nay-sayers is most ingenious.”

Still crouched low, Conrig dared not turn around. Suppressed fury tightened his throat. A Sending here? Now, at this critical juncture? Was the woman mad?

“If you’re seen,” he hissed, “I’m ruined! My brother Vra-Stergos is hidden away with my other Companions in the repository tower, and your Sending could only be attributed to
me!”

“No one will see or hear me, my prince.” She spoke with a hint of mockery. “Your accession to the throne is safe, untainted by any whiff of magical talent.”

He craned about and saw a cloaked and hooded figure standing in a dark niche. The face was invisible, and the glowing moonstone sigil that enabled the Sending was out of sight.
Slowly he withdrew from the railing and climbed to his feet, keeping well out of view of those below, and went to her. “Why are you here?” His whisper was brusque, to hide the
fact that he had been badly startled.

“I come with good news, as well as some of less happy portent.” Her hand reached out and caressed his cheek. “Affairs in Didion have fallen into place just as we hoped, and you
may so inform your council of war. King Achardus will remain at the palace in Holt Mallburn during the crucial time. He has scant motive for traipsing abroad among the
faminelands listening to the wails of hungry peasants or the mutterings of mutinous vassals. His sons Honigalus and Somarus are another matter, however. Both have taken ship to
the south, probably to seek help from Stippen or another Continental nation in countering your blockade in the Dolphin Channel. Beynor and three senior members of the Glaumerie
Guild are accompanying the Didionite princes. My dear brother is playing some game of his own, and he’s probably being well paid for it. He has used a sigil to cast a strong spell of
couverture over their vessel, and I cannot penetrate it.”

Conrig muttered a quiet oath. “But you will be able to find out what they’re up to?”

“Eventually. It may become necessary for me to empower another of my own Great Stones in order to learn his plans, but I hope I can use alternate means. The most powerful sigils
are activated only through atrocious suffering, and their conjuring puts the user deep in debt to the Lights.”

He felt the familiar thrill of dread at her mention of the awful Beaconfolk. “Lady, must you invoke those dire creatures? Is there no other manner of sorcery that will serve our
purposes?”

“None so effective. I call upon the Coldlight Army as rarely as possible, since they’re notorious for twisting petitions and conjurations to unwelcome outcomes. But we must find our
what Honigalus and Somarus intend. They are the real power behind Achardus’s throne, and they have powerful friends on the Continent. It would do you small good to triumph in
the north while disaster strikes the southern underbelly of your unborn Sovereignty.“

“No,” Conrig admitted reluctantly. Most of the Cathran navy was at sea, enforcing the blockade against Didion, and the capital city of Cala on the south coast would be vulnerable to
a lightning assault from mainland ports.