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.Or had he volunteered? He was a pretty enoughboy, at that or, at least, he would have been if he hadn't insisted on tryingto grow a beard that insisted on being thin and stringy, rather than manly.With one of the owners present, the conversation lagged.Complaining was thestaple of rear-deck talk, as usual, and also as usual, objection was much lessoften taken to complaints when the target of them was absent.Stavros just ate and drank, and let his body sag back against the rail'supright, and watched.He had a private bet with himself that Sir Niko would find an excuse to joinMilos Abdullah on the deck, and it wasn't long before he won.They didn't much like each other, that was certain, although Stavros didn'tknow what the source of the enmity was, and he would very much have liked to,if only because he didn't know much about theseOrder Knights, other than the legends and stories, most of which he didn'tbelieve.But they were important personages, certainly, and the fact that there werefour of them aboard was probably important, and so obviously so that it wouldhave been much more risky to pretend a lack of interest than it was to showone."Good evening, Milos," Niko said."And a good evening to you, Sir Niko." If Milos Abdullah's tone and posturewere just a touch too formal, Niko didn't take apparent notice or manifestoffense.The two boys didn't like each other very much, and while Stavrosdidn't know if that was significant, it was interesting like the Hellenessaid, all is sausage that comes to the butcher's back door.The story was that on the short trip from the Abdullah's island to the city,Milos had first-named the young knight, and had been quietly taken below to bebeaten by two of his uncles.Stavros wasn't sure whether or not he believedthat, but for a fact there were fading bruises on Milos's broad back.Not that such were uncommon; Stavros himself had several fresh injuries fromwhen his first attempt at setting the diagonals had collapsed on him.Lifewas, Stavros often thought, little more than a series of cuts and bruisesinterrupted by a few moments of ease and joy, only to be punctuated, finally,with death.Hmmm.now, that was interesting Niko didn't present the bowl in his handsto Milos to fill; he just dippered some stew into it himself, then tasted it.Page 164ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Does it suit you, Sir Niko?" Milos asked."It's fine, Milos." The smile could have been intended to be friendly orinsulting."But it's not for me.One of the knights one of the other knights seems to like yours and Arno'scooking.Even more than Ido.So I thought I'd get him some more; I'd thought perhaps it had too littlepepper in it, but it seems very good, and I'm sure that Sir Joshua will findit to his taste, as well.""I'm honored."Ah.So the junior of the knights was acting as food-taster for the others?That spoke of some suspicion, or perhaps simply a habitual caution.Probably the latter; if they thought there was somebody aboard who would lookto poison four knights of the Order, they would not be aboard, after all.Stavros certainly would have tried to poison them, if he'd had any suchorders.His training included the preparation and use of poisons, and while heknew of nothing aboard that would be particularlyuseful, he certainly could find something ashore, when they landed in Rodhos.No monkshood, of course he had never seen monkshood other than in illustration as Pironesia was toofar south, but stavesacre or hellebore wouldn't be difficult to come by,although the trick would be in the administration, even more than in theacquisition.His orders, of course, had given him no such instructions, but it wassomething to think on.He might just take a walk outside of the city when theymade landfall in Rodhos, and see what he could find.If anybody was going to search through his sea bag, they had already had ampleopportunity, and the a sealed bottle or packet could be concealed in the bilgeagainst possible need.Better to be prepared than to be found wanting.The young knight had walked away, and Milos Abdullah, unsurprisingly, didn'toffer to ladleStavros more soup, so he helped himself, and returned to where he had beensitting.Hmmm.it did taste better with more pepper, at that.Chapter 9:RodhosThe nice thing about service in His Own is how simple it is.The rules areplain, and straightforward, and irrelevant of all the machinations that go onaround the Court itself, and in Parliament, and anywhere else.The real problem with it is that once you've done a tour with His Own,others even those on the Council, who should know better think that means youshould be able to handle less important matters than protecting His Majesty.They're wrong in their major assumption as His Majesty himself has said, onmore than one occasion. GrayThe inn became very quiet.It had been anything but quiet before they walked inside.The noise trailedinto silence when they did.The chatter trailed off as though all had gone suddenly mute, and themusicians in the far corner ground to a clumsy halt, the tamboura playergiving a few tentative pats to on the drumhead, while the gaida gave out awheezing sound that sounded halfway between a whine and the passing of wind.Cully gave Niko a reassuring smile, but then just let his own gaze sweepacross the low-ceilinged room, resting for a moment on one man, and thenanother and yet another, all of whom avoided his gaze.Page 165ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]