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So we had three days to kill.
We sang songs and we told stories and we played Jikaida.
Kov Furtway was inordinately fond of Jikaida. This is the board game popular on Kregen involving an
elongated form of chessboard the actual number of squares may vary along with the numbers of men,
and the different sizes are dignified by different degrees which, together with chess, checkers, and
Halma-like moves for the men, combine to form an engrossing game of mock war. Genal the Ice and
Bibi had a board, for one is usually to be found in every house in Kregen, if sometimes a little rooting
about in cupboards is necessary, and we settled down to a tournament. The men were blue and yellow.
Blue, said Furtway, not giving me the opportunity to guess his closed fists. You take the damned
blue.
Jenbar chuckled, but the sound was such as I had heard Thelda utter or my many friends of
Pandahem. Blue, the color of the Opaz-forsaken Pandaheem cramphs! My uncle, Kr. Prescot, never
plays the blue.
As you wish. I thought of that great battle in Magdag. I, too, have a fondness for the yellow.
We played. Furtway was skilled, tough, ruthless, unscrupulous when he could thus win a point or a
piece. I reacted at first with vigor, and gradually the yellow pushed back the blue along the board, and I
was aligning my sights on his left-wing Chuktar, when I paused and considered. I came to the conclusion
it might be judicious to let this man win. After all, a board game can be turned into profit and advantage,
as I well knew; and there is to some men a superior form of winning in contriving their own defeat. So I
fumbled a Deldar s move, and with a flashing smile and a triumphant gesture, Furtway removed my
right-wing Chuktar.
Your concentration lapsed, Kr. Prescot. Always, at Jikaida, as in life, you must bend your mind to the
task in hand.
Yes, Kov Furtway. You are right, but I am most anxious to reach Vondium.
They had, of course, asked me my business in the capital. I had fobbed them off with a casual story of a
consignment of cortilindens coming into the port, and turned the conversation, managing to bring up the
subject of the Emperor and his wayward daughter. Both men did not attempt to hide their feelings.
The Emperor is the Emperor, and his will is law. But we sometimes have to take measures for his own
good. The Princess Majestrix, now, is willfully disobedient in refusing to marry.
I saw Jenbar nodding in agreement.
She is the most beautiful girl in all Vallia in all the world, I truly believe and she must marry some
day. Happy the man who claims her hand.
The man whom the Emperor wishes her to marry, I said, speaking with care, and yet seeming casual.
He is a good choice?
That fool! cried Furtway. Why, Vektor of Aduimbrev is totally unsuited, for all that he is wealthy and
powerful and has the Emperor s ear.
Vektor is a get onker! Jenbar spoke with passion. I knew of the passion my Delia could arouse in the
hearts of the men in her bodyguard and retinue; I had seen its results aboard the swifterSword of
Genodras, and I warmly applauded his defense of my beloved. If there was any degree of this kind of
feeling abroad in the country, then perhaps my task in persuading her father the Emperor that I was the
one Delia of the Blue Mountains should marry would not be as difficult as I had surmised. But I wanted
to know more narrowly where these men stood in the greatest enterprise of my life.
But the racters, they desire it, do they not?
Jenbar snorted. Furtway cunningly captured a zorca patrol led by a Hikdar and, with the blue pieces in
his hand, stared at me. The racters run the country, no one can deny that. But in this they are wrong.
Yes, said Jenbar. But where do you stand in this argument, Kr. Prescot?
I was merely a Koter, and therefore only a small step up from the great mass of the ordinary folk among
whom I truly belong, as I sometimes think; the question, however, was not patronizing, as might be
supposed, coming from the nephew of a Kov. Jenbar really wanted to know.
As for me, I said, attempting to forestall an imminent attack on my exposed right wing, I do not think
the Princess Majestrix should marry Vektor of Aduimbrev.
Ah! quoth Furtway, and demolished a Jiktar and two Hikdars. You have lost the game. Place the
pieces for another. As for Vektor when your business with the cortilindens is finished, call at my villa.
You will be welcome. You are a man of resource. I can find work for your hands, aye, and your brain.
Thank you, Kov Furtway. I shall look forward to that.
This might be very useful. A man as powerful as a Kov on my side would weigh heavily in the scales. I
played considerably better the next game, taking both his wing Chuktars, but eventually letting him push a
strong force through the center and so rout me. His passion for the game was unslaked, and I saw how
much of his life was reflected in the pieces on the board. Vallia, as I understood it, while being
preeminent on the outer oceans, maintained a minuscule army, mainly composed of honor guards and the
like, and employed mercenaries whenever land warfare was involved. The interior police, however, and
the aragorn, were prominent in the political affairs of the islands.
On the third day a shrill cry brought us to the door and we saw toiling up the slope toward us a shaggy
old quoffa dragging a cart on its runners, its wheels removed and slung on the sides. The quoffa looks like
a perambulating hearth-rug with bunchy shoulders and hindquarters it has six legs, but the Earthly
nomenclature trips from the tongue and a dogged old head from which the steam blew in great snorts
like one of Mr. Stevenson s new engines. The carter was a Relt, at which I was much surprised. But the
Relts, those less formidable cousins of the bird-headed Rapas, are often found in employment in many
countries. He shouted again and Bibi chuckled and bustled about, for this was her regular delivery of four
weeks supplies. Also, the Relt would take away a heaping load of ice on the downward run, and Genal
would give him orders for the number of carts he required for the main delivery.
After a great meal and a single glass of an excellent vintage from Procul, a full and rich red wine, we
bade Remberee to Genal the Ice and Bibi. They were given a handful of broad gold talens, with the head
of the Emperor on one side and the smaller head of Furtway on the reverse, charged with a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
So we had three days to kill.
We sang songs and we told stories and we played Jikaida.
Kov Furtway was inordinately fond of Jikaida. This is the board game popular on Kregen involving an
elongated form of chessboard the actual number of squares may vary along with the numbers of men,
and the different sizes are dignified by different degrees which, together with chess, checkers, and
Halma-like moves for the men, combine to form an engrossing game of mock war. Genal the Ice and
Bibi had a board, for one is usually to be found in every house in Kregen, if sometimes a little rooting
about in cupboards is necessary, and we settled down to a tournament. The men were blue and yellow.
Blue, said Furtway, not giving me the opportunity to guess his closed fists. You take the damned
blue.
Jenbar chuckled, but the sound was such as I had heard Thelda utter or my many friends of
Pandahem. Blue, the color of the Opaz-forsaken Pandaheem cramphs! My uncle, Kr. Prescot, never
plays the blue.
As you wish. I thought of that great battle in Magdag. I, too, have a fondness for the yellow.
We played. Furtway was skilled, tough, ruthless, unscrupulous when he could thus win a point or a
piece. I reacted at first with vigor, and gradually the yellow pushed back the blue along the board, and I
was aligning my sights on his left-wing Chuktar, when I paused and considered. I came to the conclusion
it might be judicious to let this man win. After all, a board game can be turned into profit and advantage,
as I well knew; and there is to some men a superior form of winning in contriving their own defeat. So I
fumbled a Deldar s move, and with a flashing smile and a triumphant gesture, Furtway removed my
right-wing Chuktar.
Your concentration lapsed, Kr. Prescot. Always, at Jikaida, as in life, you must bend your mind to the
task in hand.
Yes, Kov Furtway. You are right, but I am most anxious to reach Vondium.
They had, of course, asked me my business in the capital. I had fobbed them off with a casual story of a
consignment of cortilindens coming into the port, and turned the conversation, managing to bring up the
subject of the Emperor and his wayward daughter. Both men did not attempt to hide their feelings.
The Emperor is the Emperor, and his will is law. But we sometimes have to take measures for his own
good. The Princess Majestrix, now, is willfully disobedient in refusing to marry.
I saw Jenbar nodding in agreement.
She is the most beautiful girl in all Vallia in all the world, I truly believe and she must marry some
day. Happy the man who claims her hand.
The man whom the Emperor wishes her to marry, I said, speaking with care, and yet seeming casual.
He is a good choice?
That fool! cried Furtway. Why, Vektor of Aduimbrev is totally unsuited, for all that he is wealthy and
powerful and has the Emperor s ear.
Vektor is a get onker! Jenbar spoke with passion. I knew of the passion my Delia could arouse in the
hearts of the men in her bodyguard and retinue; I had seen its results aboard the swifterSword of
Genodras, and I warmly applauded his defense of my beloved. If there was any degree of this kind of
feeling abroad in the country, then perhaps my task in persuading her father the Emperor that I was the
one Delia of the Blue Mountains should marry would not be as difficult as I had surmised. But I wanted
to know more narrowly where these men stood in the greatest enterprise of my life.
But the racters, they desire it, do they not?
Jenbar snorted. Furtway cunningly captured a zorca patrol led by a Hikdar and, with the blue pieces in
his hand, stared at me. The racters run the country, no one can deny that. But in this they are wrong.
Yes, said Jenbar. But where do you stand in this argument, Kr. Prescot?
I was merely a Koter, and therefore only a small step up from the great mass of the ordinary folk among
whom I truly belong, as I sometimes think; the question, however, was not patronizing, as might be
supposed, coming from the nephew of a Kov. Jenbar really wanted to know.
As for me, I said, attempting to forestall an imminent attack on my exposed right wing, I do not think
the Princess Majestrix should marry Vektor of Aduimbrev.
Ah! quoth Furtway, and demolished a Jiktar and two Hikdars. You have lost the game. Place the
pieces for another. As for Vektor when your business with the cortilindens is finished, call at my villa.
You will be welcome. You are a man of resource. I can find work for your hands, aye, and your brain.
Thank you, Kov Furtway. I shall look forward to that.
This might be very useful. A man as powerful as a Kov on my side would weigh heavily in the scales. I
played considerably better the next game, taking both his wing Chuktars, but eventually letting him push a
strong force through the center and so rout me. His passion for the game was unslaked, and I saw how
much of his life was reflected in the pieces on the board. Vallia, as I understood it, while being
preeminent on the outer oceans, maintained a minuscule army, mainly composed of honor guards and the
like, and employed mercenaries whenever land warfare was involved. The interior police, however, and
the aragorn, were prominent in the political affairs of the islands.
On the third day a shrill cry brought us to the door and we saw toiling up the slope toward us a shaggy
old quoffa dragging a cart on its runners, its wheels removed and slung on the sides. The quoffa looks like
a perambulating hearth-rug with bunchy shoulders and hindquarters it has six legs, but the Earthly
nomenclature trips from the tongue and a dogged old head from which the steam blew in great snorts
like one of Mr. Stevenson s new engines. The carter was a Relt, at which I was much surprised. But the
Relts, those less formidable cousins of the bird-headed Rapas, are often found in employment in many
countries. He shouted again and Bibi chuckled and bustled about, for this was her regular delivery of four
weeks supplies. Also, the Relt would take away a heaping load of ice on the downward run, and Genal
would give him orders for the number of carts he required for the main delivery.
After a great meal and a single glass of an excellent vintage from Procul, a full and rich red wine, we
bade Remberee to Genal the Ice and Bibi. They were given a handful of broad gold talens, with the head
of the Emperor on one side and the smaller head of Furtway on the reverse, charged with a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]