"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 3 - Sword Of Bheleu" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

far; we need this trade with Skelleth."
"No, we don't. We can trade anywhere we please. The Racial Wars are
over, Galt, whatever we may have believed while isolated in the Northern
Waste, and regardless of what the Baron of Skelleth may have told us. I have
just returned from a city called Dûsarra, where overmen are an everyday sight.
The humans have forgotten their fear and hatred; remember how short their
lives are! To them, three centuries are a dozen generations, almost five
lifetimes."
"How can overmen be a common sight anywhere outside the Northern Waste?"
"Ah, this is the best news of all! There are overmen living on the
Yprian Coast. We are not the only survivors."
"The Yprian Coast? That barren wasteland?"
"Is the Northern Waste any better?"
Galt did not answer that. Instead, he asked, "Are you sure we could
trade elsewhere?"
"At the very least, we could trade with the Yprians and with Dûsarra. I
think we could probably go anywhere we pleased without interference; humans
care more for gold than for ancient hatreds."
"Still, any overland trade route would have to go through the Barony of
Skelleth; it extends from the Yprian Gulf to the Sea of Mori."
"What of it? Do you think the Baron's thirty-odd guardsmen can patrol
the entire border?"
"It would still be preferable to have the Baron's permission."
"Yes, it would be preferable, but it is not necessary, and it would also
be preferable to make plain to all that overmen are not to be treated with the
disrespect the Baron of Skelleth has displayed."
While Galt digested this, Kyrith scribbled on her tablet, then handed it
to Garth. It read, "What disrespect? Why not go home?"
He handed it back. "No, Kyrith, I can't go home yet. I can't go back to
Ordunin until the Baron releases me from my oath."
She made a questioning gesture.
Garth said, "What are you asking?"
She wrote and handed him the tablet. It read: "What oath?"
"Galt should have told you," Garth replied. "He was there. I swore an
oath to the Baron of Skelleth when last I saw him. He proposed that in order
to remove all legal impediments to trade between Skelleth and the Waste and to
put a formal end to the war with Eramma, I, as Prince of Ordunin, should
surrender and swear fealty to him, thereby making Ordunin and its
territory-which is to say, the entire eastern half of the Northern Waste part
of the Barony of Skelleth. He called this a simple and reasonable thing, but
we both knew he devised it to humiliate me, as I had humiliated him once
before. He insisted that I swear to present this proposal to the City Council
as soon as I returned to Ordunin. I was unarmed, on a peaceful trading
mission, and caught off-guard; I swore the oath he demanded. I will not
present any such disgraceful scheme to the City Council, however. Therefore,
if I am not to break my sworn word, I cannot return to Ordunin until the Baron
releases me from my vow. This is one reason we must confront him, quite aside
from trading concessions or my exile from Skelleth; he must release me. He
will release me. He will release me, or I will kill him."
Garth's voice had gone flat and toneless during this speech, which was a