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

He had a curious feeling, however, that he was being watched.
Garth had lived with that feeling almost constantly for more than a
fortnight and no longer noticed it, but he, too, was slightly troubled. He
seemed to sense mingled amusement and triumph without actually feeling either
emotion himself.


CHAPTER SIX

Herrenmer, captain of the guard, had wasted no time; within five minutes of
hearing from the scout that an overman had ridden openly out of Skelleth to
the encampment on the Wasteland Road, he had summoned his five lieutenants and
told them to put every man on active duty immediately. He didn't know exactly
what was going on, but he intended to take as few chances as possible. He was
sure that the overman was Garth. Earlier, Shallen had reported that the
self-proclaimed Prince of Ordunin had turned up at the King's Inn, and no
other overman had been seen inside the walls since the whole company had been
turned away the preceding morning.
When he had heard that, Herrenmer had immediately sent someone to see if
the Baron was able to take charge of affairs once again. The report had been
negative; he was stirring, but not yet coherent.
Herrenmer had not dared to take action against Garth on his own
authority; he was nervous about the overman's claims to nobility, since he
didn't understand just what that might entail. Therefore he had just waited.
Now, however, Garth had gone to join his fellows. With their leader
back, it was unclear just what action the overmen might take, but it seemed
likely that they would do something. Garth's absence had been one of the
things that had been mentioned by the leaders of the main group when Herrenmer
had spoken with them yesterday.
They might be satisfied now that he was back and just go home
peacefully-but Herrenmer didn't expect it. He thought that they would now
probably march back into town and cause more trouble.
He intended to see that it was not that simple.
Once his lieutenants had gone to find and bring back all the men, he
gave orders to those men who were already available that they were to proceed
immediately to the north wall, with crossbows, moving under cover of the ruins
and staying out of sight of the overmen. This time, the overmen would not be
able just to walk in unhindered.
When reports began arriving that the ring of sentries that the overmen
had set up around the town was being removed, he was sure that something was
planned, and soon. It was still possible that they were simply going home, but
he would be shirking his duty if he took no action because he made that
assumption.
When he had sent twenty men northward, he gave orders that the rest of
the guards were to serve as a second line of defense here in the village, in
case the overmen did march in despite his efforts. That done, he himself
headed toward the North Gate.
He had not yet reached it when the overmen began moving south.
When Garth had announced his intentions to the gathered volunteers,
there had been no dissent; all present seemed to take it for granted that he