"Elizabeth Moon - Paksenarrion 2 - Divided Allegiance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moon Elizabeth)

DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE 5
and went on. "Anyway, one of the prisoners was a mage—or said he was. He started calling to
Alured, telling him he should be a prince by rights."
"I'd have thought Alured wouldn't listen to prisoners' yells," said Stammel. "He doesn't look the
type.
"No," agreed Vossik. "He doesn't. But it seems he'd had some sort of tale from his father—about
being born of good blood, or whatever. So he had the man brought to him, and the mage told him a
long tale about his ancestors. How he was really heir to a vast kingdom, and was wasting his time
as a pirate."
"He believed that?" Haben snorted and reached his own mug into the sib. "I'd heard pirates were
superstitious, but—"
"Well, the man offered proof. Said he'd seen scrolls in old Aare that proved it. Offered to take
Alured there, and prove his right to the kingdom."
"To Aare? That heap of sand?"
^How do you know, Devlin? You haven't been there."
"No, but I've heard. No one's ever said anything was left in Aare but ruins."
"That's what the mage told Alured—that he'd been in the ruins, and could find the proof of
Alured's ancestry."
"It seems to me," said Erial, "that it's extra trouble to hunt up ancestors like that. What
difference does it make anyway? Our Duke's got his steading without dragging in hundreds of
fathers and fathers' fathers."
"Or mothers," muttered Barra.
"You know they're different here in Aarenis," said Stammel. "Think of Andressat."
"That stuffed owl," said Barra.
"No—don't be that way, Barra. He's a good fighter, and a damn good count for Andressat. Most other
men would have lost Andressat to Siniava years ago. He's proud of his ancestors—true—but he's
someone they could be proud of as well."
"But go on about Alured, Voss," said Stammel. "What happened?"
"As I said, he already had some idea that he was nobly bred. So he listened to this fellow, and


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sailed back to old
6 Elizabeth Moon
Aare with him. Then—now remember, I got this from the Fallo troops; I don't say it's true—then the
mage showed him the proof. They say that Alured believed it—an old scroll, showing the marriages,
and such, and proving that he was in direct descent from that Duke of Immer who was called back to
Aare in the troubles."
"But Vossik, it wouldn't take much—any decent mage could fake something like that!" Erial looked
around at the others; some of them nodded.
"I didn't say I believed it, Erial. But Alured did. It fitted what he wanted, let's say. If Aare
had been worth anything, it would have meant the throne of Aare—if it was true. It certainly meant
the lands of Immer."
"And so he left the sea, and settled into the forest to be a land pirate? How was that being a
duke?"
"Well—again—this is hearsay. Seems he came to the Immer ports first, and tried to get mem to swear
allegiance—"
"But he'd been a pirate!"