"Jack Vance - Demon Prince 04 - The Face" - читать интересную книгу автора (Vance Jack)

bore his name, thus: Cardinal Marcy's Land, Cardinal Bod-
ant's Land, Cardinal Dimpey's Land, and so forth. The ap-
pellative has fallen into disuse and is rarely heard.

Through a policy of low taxes and favorable regulations,
both Pontefract and New Wexford have long functioned as
important financial centers, with influence reaching every-
where across the Oikumene. Many important publishing
houses also make their headquarters at these places, includ-
ing the prestigious Cosmopolis magazine.
Religions, sects, creeds, movements, countermove-
ments, orthodoxies, heresies, inquisitions: this is the stuff of
early Vegan history; emphatically so on Aloysius, which de-
rives its name from the patron samt of the Aloysian Order.
The Ambrosians, who preceded the Aloysians, founded the
city Rath Eileann beside Lake Feamish, at the center of
Linliffet's Land. The conflicts between these nominally de-
votional brotherhoods make a fascinating chronicle.

Indigenous flora and fauna are not particularly note-
worthy. Through intensive effort by the original settlers,
terrestrial trees and shrubs are widespread, the conifers es-
pecially finding a hospitable environment, and the seas are
stocked with selected terrestrial fish.

Jehan Addels, after his meticulous habit, arrived ten minutes early
to the place of rendezvous. Before alighting from his car he took
pains to scrutinize the surroundings. The scenery was dramatic but
apparently devoid of menace; Addels found nothing to excite his
misgivings. To the right stood Phruster's Inn, with timbers black-
ened by centuries of wind and rain, and the Dunveary Crags be-
yond, rising crag upon buttress, finally to disappear behind high
mist. To the left Phruster's Prospect confronted three-quarters of
a full circle and several thousand square miles of territory, varying
with whims of the weather.

Addels alighted from his car, cast a single skeptical glance up
the awesome Dunveary slopes, and walked out upon the observation
platform. Leaning against the parapet he hunched his shoulders

THE FACE

against the wind and waited: a thin man with parchment-colored
skin and a high balding forehead.

The time was close upon midmorning; halfway up the sky Vega
glowed pale through the mist. A dozen other folk stood along the
parapet. Addels subjected each to a careful inspection. Their
flounced and tasseled garments in muted reds, browns, and dark
green marked them for country folk; residents of the town dressed