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. You never trust anyone, Narvak.That s why you re only a Square Commander, whileI m your superior officer.It s all a matter of knowing how to judge people and being confidentabout your own judgment.But the one piece of this fellow s story I don t understand is why hewas running away in the first place.There s nobody at Bent Lake to run away from but a bunchof lesbos and outcasts. There s the Emperor, sir, Jon said in his most deferential manner. The Emperor? You never said anything about the Emperor, Narvak said angrily, fearing that hisreputation as an interrogator was threatened. What nonsense is this? the Commander asked.So now Jon told them the other part of his story the same that he d told Gavin andPercy about the Emperor s ruse and how he d managed to send an army to the South andeventually join them himself, while the Chosen had been fooled into thinking him dead.The Commander folded his arms and looked at him sternly. You re telling me that the Emperor is still alive and living on the other side of thatmountain and has an army with him? Yes, sir, that s what I m saying.And he expects everyone to serve him and his army.Heexpected me to cook and wash dishes for them, while they ate the food they d stolen from myfather s farm.We came to the valley years ago when I was a little boy because my father andmother wanted to get away from the Emperor s taxes.But now he s come and it s worse than itever was before.They beat my father when he tried to keep what was his own.The beat himright in the middle of the village where all his friends could see it happening.It was a terribledisgrace.That s when I knew I had to get away. The Commander turned to Narvak. I could credit the first part, but this business aboutthe Emperor is hard to believe. But it makes a kind of sense. Do you think so? You may be right.There s a way in which it makes sense it fitstogether and explains why the men might have deserted.But it doesn t make sense if you try toimagine the Emperor sending an army all the way down to this godforsaken place withoutanybody noticing it. There may be other ways to travel besides the River Road.The troops they wouldn t letinto Bridgetown last year found an old road on the other side of the river that none of us had everheard of.The fact is, nobody knows very much about the Southland.And we do know that therehave been a lot of people on the road recently. The Commander returned to questioning Jon. How large is this army of the Emperor s? This seemed a good time to exaggerate. It s hard to say.Two thousand, maybe three thousand men. And what are these two or maybe three thousand men doing? They re waiting for you to come into the valley.At least that s what I heard.They wantto trick you into coming into a place where they ll have you surrounded on all sides. The Commander began walking back and forth. I find what this fellow is telling us incredible, but at the same time, if it s the truth, thenit changes everything.If we go in, and he s right.I think I need to sleep on this news. He called out to a man who had been standing at the opening of his tent. Get word out to the other Square Commanders that the attack planned for tomorrow isput off a day, and that they should meet with me first thing tomorrow morning.And see that thisman is held in custody. The man at the opening disappeared.Then, a few moments later, two guards came andled Jon to another tent where one of them remained with him.When it grew dark, another manreplaced the first guard and a servant brought Jon a plate of food.After he d eaten, he lay downon a blanket, and thought through the events of the day.In time he became drowsy, but just as hewas about to fall asleep, the Commander appeared, along with another man, whom Jon hadn tseen before, and a third person, who was holding a lamp and stood behind the other two. I want to go over your story one more time, the Commander told Jon. Yes, sir.And it s all true, every word of it.I d never lie about something as important asthat not to the Commander of the Chosen. Jon told him the story and then answered a barrage of questions from the Commanderand the other man. What does the Emperor look like? they asked him on two separate occasions, and Jondescribed the Emperor in precise detail, giving his approximate age and even the way he had ofblinking when he was excited, and he stressed the Emperor s interest in books.He was sureneither of these men had ever seen the Emperor, but they could have heard rumors about himparticularly the part about his being a bookworm.Jon sensed very clearly their worry andconfusion.They had no idea whether he was telling the truth, but the only way they couldimagine extricating themselves from this quandary was by asking more and more questions.Healmost felt sorry for them.Naturally, they wanted to know everything he could tell them about the Emperor s armyand the plan to ambush them.Jon described the entrance to the valley in detail, but invented ahill where there wasn t one in order to make his story more plausible [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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. You never trust anyone, Narvak.That s why you re only a Square Commander, whileI m your superior officer.It s all a matter of knowing how to judge people and being confidentabout your own judgment.But the one piece of this fellow s story I don t understand is why hewas running away in the first place.There s nobody at Bent Lake to run away from but a bunchof lesbos and outcasts. There s the Emperor, sir, Jon said in his most deferential manner. The Emperor? You never said anything about the Emperor, Narvak said angrily, fearing that hisreputation as an interrogator was threatened. What nonsense is this? the Commander asked.So now Jon told them the other part of his story the same that he d told Gavin andPercy about the Emperor s ruse and how he d managed to send an army to the South andeventually join them himself, while the Chosen had been fooled into thinking him dead.The Commander folded his arms and looked at him sternly. You re telling me that the Emperor is still alive and living on the other side of thatmountain and has an army with him? Yes, sir, that s what I m saying.And he expects everyone to serve him and his army.Heexpected me to cook and wash dishes for them, while they ate the food they d stolen from myfather s farm.We came to the valley years ago when I was a little boy because my father andmother wanted to get away from the Emperor s taxes.But now he s come and it s worse than itever was before.They beat my father when he tried to keep what was his own.The beat himright in the middle of the village where all his friends could see it happening.It was a terribledisgrace.That s when I knew I had to get away. The Commander turned to Narvak. I could credit the first part, but this business aboutthe Emperor is hard to believe. But it makes a kind of sense. Do you think so? You may be right.There s a way in which it makes sense it fitstogether and explains why the men might have deserted.But it doesn t make sense if you try toimagine the Emperor sending an army all the way down to this godforsaken place withoutanybody noticing it. There may be other ways to travel besides the River Road.The troops they wouldn t letinto Bridgetown last year found an old road on the other side of the river that none of us had everheard of.The fact is, nobody knows very much about the Southland.And we do know that therehave been a lot of people on the road recently. The Commander returned to questioning Jon. How large is this army of the Emperor s? This seemed a good time to exaggerate. It s hard to say.Two thousand, maybe three thousand men. And what are these two or maybe three thousand men doing? They re waiting for you to come into the valley.At least that s what I heard.They wantto trick you into coming into a place where they ll have you surrounded on all sides. The Commander began walking back and forth. I find what this fellow is telling us incredible, but at the same time, if it s the truth, thenit changes everything.If we go in, and he s right.I think I need to sleep on this news. He called out to a man who had been standing at the opening of his tent. Get word out to the other Square Commanders that the attack planned for tomorrow isput off a day, and that they should meet with me first thing tomorrow morning.And see that thisman is held in custody. The man at the opening disappeared.Then, a few moments later, two guards came andled Jon to another tent where one of them remained with him.When it grew dark, another manreplaced the first guard and a servant brought Jon a plate of food.After he d eaten, he lay downon a blanket, and thought through the events of the day.In time he became drowsy, but just as hewas about to fall asleep, the Commander appeared, along with another man, whom Jon hadn tseen before, and a third person, who was holding a lamp and stood behind the other two. I want to go over your story one more time, the Commander told Jon. Yes, sir.And it s all true, every word of it.I d never lie about something as important asthat not to the Commander of the Chosen. Jon told him the story and then answered a barrage of questions from the Commanderand the other man. What does the Emperor look like? they asked him on two separate occasions, and Jondescribed the Emperor in precise detail, giving his approximate age and even the way he had ofblinking when he was excited, and he stressed the Emperor s interest in books.He was sureneither of these men had ever seen the Emperor, but they could have heard rumors about himparticularly the part about his being a bookworm.Jon sensed very clearly their worry andconfusion.They had no idea whether he was telling the truth, but the only way they couldimagine extricating themselves from this quandary was by asking more and more questions.Healmost felt sorry for them.Naturally, they wanted to know everything he could tell them about the Emperor s armyand the plan to ambush them.Jon described the entrance to the valley in detail, but invented ahill where there wasn t one in order to make his story more plausible [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]