"L. E. Modesitt - Recluce 09 - The Order War" - читать интересную книгу автора (Modesitt L E)

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THE ORDER WAR
by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Copyright © 1995
Cover art by Darrell K. Sweet
A Tor Book Published by Tom Doherty Associates, Inc.
175 Fifth Avenue New York. N.Y. 10010
Tor® Books on the World Wide Web: http://www.tor.com

To Jeff,
for being there and being a true brother,
even when I failed to understand.


Part I - CHAOS-BUILDING


I

Justen watched from the smooth stones of the oldest pier in Nylan as the Shierra pulled away
and out into the channel. The black iron plate of the deckhouse and single turret glistened in the
morning sunlight, and the four-span gun pointed forward like a black staff aimed at chaos.
A thin line of white water flowed aft from the newest warship of the Mighty Ten as she eased
out into the Gulf of Candar between the twin breakwaters that dated back to the building of Nylan
itself.
The young man in engineers' black brushed a hand through his short and light brown hair before
glancing at the three students. "Watch closely, with just your eyes, after she clears the
breakwater."
"Watch what?" asked the thin, redheaded boy.
"The ship, silly," answered the stocky girl.
"Why?" questioned Norah, a petite and big-eyed blonde girl.
"Watch," repeated Justen.
As heat pulsed from the Shierra's funnel, visible only as a wavering of the greenish-blue sky
to the west, white streaks seemed to flow back from the bow as the black warship built up speed.
Suddenly, both wake and ship vanished, leaving only the heat lines across the western sky.
"What happened?" asked Daskin, the redhead, a hand raised to scratch his thick, curly hair.
"The Brother raised his shields, of course, just like we're going to be taught to do." The
stocky girl, Jyll, did not quite snort her disgust, but flipped her hair away from Daskin.
Justen stepped back to avoid swallowing long, black, loose tresses. He did not contradict her
statement about being taught shielding, but it would be years before any of these three were ready-
at least from what he could tell, but that, thankfully, was not his decision.
"Let's go." He turned uphill, and the three students followed, Norah trailing, her eyes still
turning seaward toward the heat lines that were the only trace of the Shierra. A light breeze,
bearing a remnant of chill from the later winter, ruffled his black overtunic.
As they passed the armory, a lanky, red-haired woman in green emerged.
"Krytella!" Justen waved.
"Justen. I'll walk up to the classroom building, if you're headed that way." Krytella smiled.
"Do you know if Gunnar's anywhere around?"
"No. He's up at Land's End, studying the Founders' records of the Change." Justen tried to keep