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.""Nevertheless, that is what we were promised," hesaid stiffly. "Well," I said in as matter of fact a tone as I couldunder the circumstances, "if any of you have a desire tobecome the consort of a queen, rather than a princesswho's been taken prisoner, you might consider helpingher regain her throne."This was an aspect of the situation which had obvi-ously not occurred to any of them.Perhaps it was a goodthing Zealon had come to recruit them herself, thoughshe seemed awfully young to be choosing consorts.Shehandled it well, however, showing more poise than Iwould have at that age.Perhaps growing up as a prin-cess made you mature faster and suddenly becomingQueen when your mother was assassinated would tendto have a sobering effect on anyone.In the end, the men swore an oath of loyalty toZealon, which probably wasn't as believable and bind-ing as one coming from men who were not behindbars, but circumstances can't always be as perfect asone would wish.Zealon then conferred with Dragus onwhether we should release the prisoners or keep themwhere they were until we were ready to leave for thepalace.Not surprisingly, he wanted Wazak's input be-fore releasing anyone."In his capacity as the Chief of Security, you under-stand, Princess," Dragus added courteously."His advicein this instance would be beneficial."I'd always known Dragus to be a smooth talker, andperhaps the men of Dobraton's army weren't the onlyones interested in becoming Zealon's consort.Thereseemed to be some competition going on here, but itwas subtle, and I wondered just who she would choose.Given that the females of this world considered their males to be too rowdy, I had no idea what they mighthave valued in a man.Scalia had seemed to value hon-esty as much as a cooperative attitude, but there was noasking her about it now.I also wondered just how much courting any of theother palace guards had done with Zealon even beforethis with the attitude that if they were good to herwhile she was Princess, they would have a better shotat becoming her consort.This train of thought led meto Scalia and Wazak, which must have been a veryinteresting courtship! The fact that Scalia hadn't beenwhat you'd call exclusive at least, not lately meantthat if Wazak truly was the father of all of her children,she'd obviously been quite taken with him.Funny howshe'd never let on.When Dragus and Zealon left to confer with Wazak,I opted to stay behind to talk with the prisoners to hearmore about their side of the story.The man I had beentalking with introduced himself as Falah, and he seemedquite willing to enlighten me."So, did you really intend to fight a battle here?" Iasked."What I mean is, what were your orders?""We were to take over the mines," Falah replied."Any way we could.""And since these miners were ready for you, you hadto fight," I said with a nod."What would you have doneif they hadn't been warned?""That would depend on how reasonable they werewilling to be," he replied."Hmm," I said reflectively."And Lerotan soldDobraton the weapons you carried?""I believe so," he said. "Tell me something, Falah, if you were to choosethat bit about getting Zealon notwithstanding whichside would you be on?""Whoever paid the highest price," was hisprompt reply."Well, that certainly sounds like an honest answer,"I said with a chuckle."You didn't really believe whatDobraton was selling, did you?"Several of them exchanged meaningful looks."Wedid not know what she intended.""You just took the money and didn't ask questions?"Falah nodded."Were you that hungry?""No," he replied."Well then, why do it?"They looked at each other again and shrugged."Honest to God, this world is as bad as any other!"I said, stomping my foot in sudden anger."I've neverunderstood why men are so willing to go to war! I'veoften wondered just what would happen if a governmentdecided to wage a war and the soldiers on both sidessimply refused to fight it!"There was a bit more foot-shuffling, but noone commented."Nothing was so bad here," I went on."Oh, it couldbe argued that getting a McDonald's might raise yourcholesterol levels a bit but really, what's so wrongwith visitors from other worlds? Granted, some ofthem and I think we can include Lerotan in thisgroup aren't the most peace-loving, law-abidingcitizens in the galaxy, but most people are! You justhave to be careful who you let land
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Tematy
IndexLumley.Brian. .[Psychomech.03]. .Psychoamok
Jeffries Sabrina Lord 03 Niebezpieczny lord
Coulter Catherine Gwiazda 03 Gwiazda z nefrytu
Łajkowska Anna Wrzosowisko 03 Cienie na wrzosowisku
Coulter Catherine Baron 03 Szalony baron
Fiora 03 Fiora i papież Benzoni Juliette
Marlowe Mia Dotyk 03 Dotyk oszustaS303
Antonia Fraser SzeÂść żon Henryka VIII
Jennifer Weiner Siostry
Dziewczyny ktore zabily Chloe Alex Marwood