Читаем Conan Of The Isles полностью

After the events described in the volume Conan of Aquilonia (to be published later) Conan's rule is for several years relatively peaceful. His old foes Thoth-Amon and King Yezdigerd are no more, and turbulent Zingara has been reduced to a quiet client kingdom under the rule of Conan's docile puppet. The savage Picts resent and resist the constant pressure against their forest fastness, but that is to be expected.

The event of these years that most affects Conan is the death of his queen, Zenobia, in childbirth. Thereafter, Conan finds the routine of a peaceful reign increasingly irksome. He haunts the royal library, finding in dusty scrolls and crumbling codices strange accounts of lands beyond the Western Ocean. He spends time with his children, but the yawning gap in age - he is in his sixties, while they are still infants and adolescents - makes it hard for him to reach any true intimacy with them. And then a sudden catastrophe shatters his mood of vague, half-resigned discontent...

CHAPTER ONE

RED SHADOWS

From gulfs profound wherein yet dwell age-old,

forgotten, nameless things, The Shadows came on silent wings as crimson

as the heart of Hell.

— The Visions of Epemitreus

King Conan sat on the judgment throne in the Hall of Justice in his palace at Tarantia, the royal capital of Aquilonia. Beyond windows of stained glass, blue skies curved over green gardens bright and fragrant with blossoms. And beyond the gardens, square towers of white stone thrust into the sky, and domes of green copper, and the shapes of houses, temples, and palaces roofed with red tiles. For this was the most princely city of the world's West in these ancient days of the Hyborian Age.

And beyond the gardens, too, the well-scrubbed streets of Tarantia swarmed with traffic; men and women afoot, on the backs of horses, mules, and asses, in litters and chariots and oxcarts and carriages. Along the waterfront, river boats plied the Khorotas like swarms of water insects. For two decades of the firm but tolerant rule of Conan the Great had made Aquilonia not only the most powerful but also the most prosperous land which that dawn world had ever seen.

Within the pillared hall richly clad nobles, silken courtiers, and. stout burghers in plain cloth, with the medallions of the guilds on silver chains about their necks, stood in clusters while the king dispensed justice. Since the docket carried some cases of exceptional importance, half the high-born of Aquilonia were here. They included young Gonzalvio, Viscount of Poitain, and his father, old Trocero, slim and elegant as ever in scarlet velvet, with the golden leopard of his province broidered in stiff, silver-gilt wire on the breast of his jupon. Here, too, were Count Monargo of Couthen, Baron Guilaime of Imirus. and -a lean, snowy-bearded ancient - the wise and learned Dexitheus, snowy-bearded ancient - the wise and learned Dexitheus, Archpriest of Mitra.

Grim-faced warriors of the king's black-mailed legions stood at arched door and portico, the sunlight flashing from their dragon-crested helms and glittering spear points. All eyes were fixed upon the central dais, where two thrones loomed above the throng; and upon the fat, bejeweled merchant who stood, fidgeting nervously, as his advocate in robes of dusty black glibly argued on his behalf before the taller of the two thrones.

On the throne, Conan glowered down upon the quivering litigant. From the depths of his soul he loathed these tiresome, wordy, labyrinthine tax cases, with their plausible lies and their mathematical calculations of skull-cracking complexity. How he would have liked to hurl his crown at the fat face of the greedy fool before him, stride from the hall, clamp his legs about a stallion's barrel, and ride off for a day's hunting in the forests of the North!

Перейти на страницу:

Похожие книги

Неудержимый. Книга I
Неудержимый. Книга I

Несколько часов назад я был одним из лучших убийц на планете. Мой рейтинг среди коллег был на недосягаемом для простых смертных уровне, а силы практически безграничны. Мировая элита стояла в очереди за моими услугами и замирала в страхе, когда я выбирал чужой заказ. Они правильно делали, ведь в этом заказе мог оказаться любой из них.Чёрт! Поверить не могу, что я так нелепо сдох! Что же случилось? В моей памяти не нашлось ничего, что бы могло объяснить мою смерть. Благо судьба подарила мне второй шанс в теле юного барона. Я должен восстановить свою силу и вернуться назад! Вот только есть одна небольшая проблемка… как это сделать? Если я самый слабый ученик в интернате для одарённых детей?Примечания автора:Друзья, ваши лайки и комментарии придают мне заряд бодрости на весь день. Спасибо!ОСТОРОЖНО! В КНИГЕ ПРИСУТСТВУЮТ АРТЫ!ВТОРАЯ КНИГА ЗДЕСЬ — https://author.today/reader/279048

Андрей Боярский

Попаданцы / Фэнтези / Бояръ-Аниме