The Complete Tamuli Trilogy: Domes of Fire, The Shining Ones, The Hidden City. David Eddings

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СКАЧАТЬ It doesn’t even particularly insult me, because in my case it happens to be true.’ He looked around, his expression urbane and just slightly superior. ‘I’m also a thief and a murderer, and I have a large number of unsavoury habits. I’ve committed crimes for which there aren’t even names, and you think your pallid, petty denunciations could distress me in any way? Does anyone have a meaningful accusation before I examine your failings?’

      ‘You’ve enslaved us!’ someone bellowed.

      ‘Not me, old boy,’ Stragen drawled. ‘You couldn’t give me a slave. You have to feed them, you know – even when they’re not working. Now then, let’s step right along here. We’ve established the fact that I’m a thief and a murderer and a bastard, but what are you? Would the word “snivellers” startle you? You Styrics whine a great deal. You’ve carefully stored up an inventory of the abuses you’ve suffered in the past several thousand years and you take a perverted pleasure in sitting in dark, smelly corners regurgitating them all, chewing them over and over like mouthfuls of stale vomit. You try to blame Elenes for all your troubles. Does it surprise you to discover that I feel no guilt about the plight of the Styrics? I have more than enough guilt for things I have done without beating my breast about things that happened a thousand years before I was born. Frankly, my friends, all these martyred expressions bore me. Don’t you ever get tired of feeling sorry for yourselves? I’m now going to offend you even more by getting right to the point. If you want to snivel, do it in your own time. We’re offering you the opportunity to join with us in facing a common enemy. It’s just a courtesy, you understand, because we don’t really need you. Keep that firmly in view. We don’t need you. Actually, you’ll encumber us. I’ve heard a few intellectual cripples here suggest an alliance with our enemy. What makes you think he’d want you as allies? The Elene peasantry would probably be overjoyed if you tried, though, because that would give them an excuse to slaughter Styrics from here to the straits of Thalesia. Joining with us won’t ensure a lessening of Elene prejudice, but joining with our enemies will almost guarantee that ten years from now there won’t be a live Styric in any Elene kingdom in the world.’

      He scratched thoughtfully at his chin and looked around. ‘I guess that more or less covers everything,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you talk it over amongst yourselves? My friends and I will be leaving for Matherion tomorrow. You might want to let us know what you’ve decided before we go. That’s entirely up to you, of course. Words couldn’t begin to express our indifference to the decisions of such an insignificant people.’ He turned and offered his arm to Ehlana. ‘Shall we leave, your Majesty?’ he suggested.

      ‘What did you say to them, Stragen?’

      ‘I insulted them,’ he shrugged, ‘on as many levels as I possibly could. Then I threatened them with racial extinction and then invited them to sign on as allies.’

      ‘All in one speech?’

      ‘He was brilliant, your Majesty,’ Oscagne said enthusiastically. ‘He said some things to the Styrics that have needed saying for a long, long time.’

      ‘I have certain advantages, your Excellency,’ Stragen smiled. ‘My character’s so questionable that nobody expects me to be polite.’

      ‘Actually, you’re exquisitely courteous,’ Bevier disagreed.

      ‘I know, Sir Bevier, but people don’t expect it of me, so they can’t bring themselves to believe it.’

      Both Sephrenia and Zalasta had icy, offended expressions on their faces that evening.

      ‘I wasn’t trying to be personally insulting,’ Stragen assured them. ‘I’ve heard any number of enlightened people say exactly the same thing. We sympathise with Styrics, but we find these interminable seizures of self-pity tedious.’

      ‘You said many things that simply aren’t true, you know,’ Sephrenia accused him.

      ‘Of course I did. It was a political speech, little mother. Nobody expects a politician to tell the truth.’

      ‘You were really gambling, Milord Stragen,’ Zalasta said critically. ‘I nearly swallowed my tongue when you told them that the Elenes and the Tamuls were offering an alliance simply out of courtesy. When you told them that you didn’t really need them, they might very well have decided to sit the whole affair out.’

      ‘Not when he was holding all the rest of Styricum hostage, learned one,’ Oscagne disagreed. ‘It was a brilliant political speech. That not-so-subtle hint of the possibility of a new wave of Elene atrocities didn’t really leave the Thousand any choice in the matter. What was the general reaction?’

      ‘About what you’d expect, your Excellency,’ Zalasta replied. ‘Milord Stragen cut the ground out from under the Styric tradition of self-pity. It’s very hard to play the martyr when you’ve just been told that it makes you look like a silly ass. There’s a fit of towering resentment brewing among the Thousand. We Styrics are terribly fond of feeling sorry for ourselves, and that’s been ruined now. No one ever really considered joining with the enemy – even if we knew who he was – but Stragen effectively bludgeoned us into going even further. Neutrality’s out of the question now, since the Elene peasants would come to view neutrality as very nearly the same thing as actually joining with our unknown opponent. The Thousand will assist you, your Excellency. They’ll do all they can do – if only to protect our brothers and sisters in Eosia.’

      ‘You’ve put in a full day’s work, Stragen,’ Kalten said admiringly. ‘We could have been here for a month trying to persuade the Styrics that it was in their best interests to join us.’

      ‘My day isn’t finished yet,’ Stragen told him, ‘and the next group I have to try to persuade is much more hard-headed.’

      ‘Might I be of some assistance?’ Zalasta offered.

      ‘I really rather doubt it, learned one. As soon as it gets dark, Talen and I have to pay a visit to the thieves of Sarsos.’

      ‘There are no thieves in Sarsos, Stragen!’

      Stragen and Talen looked at each other, and then they burst out with howls of cynical laughter.

      ‘I just don’t trust him, Sparhawk,’ Ehlana said later that night when they were in bed. ‘There’s something about him that just doesn’t ring true.’

      ‘I think it’s his accent, love. I felt the same way until I realised that while his Elene is perfect, his accent puts emphasis on the wrong words. Styric and Elene flow differently. Don’t worry, though, Sephrenia would know if Zalasta weren’t to be trusted. She’s known him for a long, long time.’

      ‘I still don’t like him,’ she insisted. ‘He’s so oily he gleams when the light hits him just right.’ She raised one hand. ‘And don’t try to shrug it off as prejudice. I’m looking at Zalasta as a human being, not as a Styric. I just don’t trust him.’

      ‘That should pass after we get to know him better.’

      There was a knock at the door. ‘Are you busy?’ Mirtai called. ‘What would we be doing at this hour?’ Ehlana called back impishly.

      ‘Do you really want me to tell you, Ehlana? Talen’s here. He has something you might want to know.’

      ‘Send him in,’ Sparhawk told her.

      The door opened, and Talen came into the circle СКАЧАТЬ