[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
them out anyway, so you might as well come along."
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (130 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
"Them" turned out to be enclosed herds of great insects the likes of which I
had not really seen before on Lilith or anywhere else. Trained Supervisor-
grade personnel scurried about when Artur approached, so by the time we
entered the huge compound they were all set and waiting for him. Lines of
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
them, rows and rows of them, in tight quarters but nonetheless mighty
impressive.
They sat there in formation, huge wuks, as they were called, their bodies a
bright green with a whitish underbelly; they were fully three or four meters
long on six thick, powerful bent legs, their heads dominated by great luminous
ovoid eyes flanking a curled, whiplike proboscis that concealed a nasty,
beaklike mouth. Their skins were perfectly smooth, but I got the impression of
a strong skeleton just beneath that made them far less fragile than they
looked.
Each had a saddle tied to it between the first and second pair of legs; it was
an elaborate seat with a hard back and an X-shaped restraint to cover their
riders and hold them in. The riders, in black pants and boots, were both male
and female, but all looked tough, hard, and well-disciplined. There was an
array of what I could only guess were weapons, from pikes and staffs to what
might very well have been blow-guns. They were situated so that the restrained
rider could get at them easily and quickly.
"I am impressed," I told Artur (and I wasn't kidding). "But this looks like an
army to me-mounted cavalry. I wouldn't think you'd need an army here."
Artur chuckled. "Oh, yes, indeed we do," he responded. "You see, basically in
order to move up in this society you have to kill somebody-be stronger than
they were. Now, you tell me-it you were Sir Tiel, would you keep going day
after day in challenges against everybody who thinks he can knock you off? Of
course not. And neither do any of the other knights. And what do you get for
it? A lot of bowing and scraping, of course, but mostly a
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (131 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass shitload of administrative headaches. There are
probably hundreds of masters stronger than most of the knights, maybe even
stronger than the
Duke himself, but they just don't want the job. A lot do, though. So I'm
charged with seeing that it's a bit more difficult to challenge the Knight of
the Keep-a policeman, you might say. And if one knight wants something another
knight has, well, they can challenge knight to knight-but they'd probably end
up either dead or in a draw, so there's no profit in it. So we fight a little.
Anybody who wants anything from this Keep has to either bargain for it in a
nice way or fight for it-and that's where these troops come in."
I nodded, my view of Lilith changing a bit once more. At first I couldn't see
why they'd have fighting on a local scale, but then I realized that it was the
safety valve, you might say. These squabbles tended to keep the most dangerous
of people on Lilith-the psychopaths, war-lovers, violence-prone troublemakers,
that sort-occupied. If they liked to beat one another's brains in, give them a
forum for doing so, an outlet for their violence that didn't mess up the nice,
neat system. I could see an astute administrator, particularly one with a lot
of troublesome, violence-prone people, actually starting a war with a neighbor
now and again just to relieve the tension-and perhaps the boredom.
"The wuks," Artur was saying, "use those big hind legs of theirs to leap high
into the air, if they want to, with the soldier aboard. That's why the people
are strapped in, hut have their arms free. They can jump behind static ground
lines with ease, making fixed fortifications useless. Up on the hill,
there-you can see all those holes, almost like a honeycomb-are my besils,
swift flyers. They are, so to speak, my air force. Combine them with ground
troops and you have a force that, properly employed, is almost invincible."
He said that last not in a bragging tone but with the ring of truth and
conviction about it. The key phrase was "properly employed." I had no doubt
that Artur was one hell of a good field general.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (132 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
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Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
A neat system, I had to admit. The knights, fat and comfortable, didn't want
to challenge each other. The lack of any kind of instant communication meant
that the acquisition of large areas, the consolidation of Keeps under one
rule, would be difficult and profitless to maintain. And any challenger to the
knight would first have to get past the Castle and its defenses-no mean feat.
No matter what power anybody had, an arrow or spear would still kill him if it
landed properly, would kill even Marek Kreegan himself.
I could just see knights sitting around at parties given by one or another of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl karpacz24.htw.pl
them out anyway, so you might as well come along."
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (130 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
"Them" turned out to be enclosed herds of great insects the likes of which I
had not really seen before on Lilith or anywhere else. Trained Supervisor-
grade personnel scurried about when Artur approached, so by the time we
entered the huge compound they were all set and waiting for him. Lines of
Page 68
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
them, rows and rows of them, in tight quarters but nonetheless mighty
impressive.
They sat there in formation, huge wuks, as they were called, their bodies a
bright green with a whitish underbelly; they were fully three or four meters
long on six thick, powerful bent legs, their heads dominated by great luminous
ovoid eyes flanking a curled, whiplike proboscis that concealed a nasty,
beaklike mouth. Their skins were perfectly smooth, but I got the impression of
a strong skeleton just beneath that made them far less fragile than they
looked.
Each had a saddle tied to it between the first and second pair of legs; it was
an elaborate seat with a hard back and an X-shaped restraint to cover their
riders and hold them in. The riders, in black pants and boots, were both male
and female, but all looked tough, hard, and well-disciplined. There was an
array of what I could only guess were weapons, from pikes and staffs to what
might very well have been blow-guns. They were situated so that the restrained
rider could get at them easily and quickly.
"I am impressed," I told Artur (and I wasn't kidding). "But this looks like an
army to me-mounted cavalry. I wouldn't think you'd need an army here."
Artur chuckled. "Oh, yes, indeed we do," he responded. "You see, basically in
order to move up in this society you have to kill somebody-be stronger than
they were. Now, you tell me-it you were Sir Tiel, would you keep going day
after day in challenges against everybody who thinks he can knock you off? Of
course not. And neither do any of the other knights. And what do you get for
it? A lot of bowing and scraping, of course, but mostly a
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (131 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass shitload of administrative headaches. There are
probably hundreds of masters stronger than most of the knights, maybe even
stronger than the
Duke himself, but they just don't want the job. A lot do, though. So I'm
charged with seeing that it's a bit more difficult to challenge the Knight of
the Keep-a policeman, you might say. And if one knight wants something another
knight has, well, they can challenge knight to knight-but they'd probably end
up either dead or in a draw, so there's no profit in it. So we fight a little.
Anybody who wants anything from this Keep has to either bargain for it in a
nice way or fight for it-and that's where these troops come in."
I nodded, my view of Lilith changing a bit once more. At first I couldn't see
why they'd have fighting on a local scale, but then I realized that it was the
safety valve, you might say. These squabbles tended to keep the most dangerous
of people on Lilith-the psychopaths, war-lovers, violence-prone troublemakers,
that sort-occupied. If they liked to beat one another's brains in, give them a
forum for doing so, an outlet for their violence that didn't mess up the nice,
neat system. I could see an astute administrator, particularly one with a lot
of troublesome, violence-prone people, actually starting a war with a neighbor
now and again just to relieve the tension-and perhaps the boredom.
"The wuks," Artur was saying, "use those big hind legs of theirs to leap high
into the air, if they want to, with the soldier aboard. That's why the people
are strapped in, hut have their arms free. They can jump behind static ground
lines with ease, making fixed fortifications useless. Up on the hill,
there-you can see all those holes, almost like a honeycomb-are my besils,
swift flyers. They are, so to speak, my air force. Combine them with ground
troops and you have a force that, properly employed, is almost invincible."
He said that last not in a bragging tone but with the ring of truth and
conviction about it. The key phrase was "properly employed." I had no doubt
that Artur was one hell of a good field general.
file:///F|/rah/Jack%20L.%20Chalker/Chalker,%20...rds%20of%20the%20Diamond%201%
20-%20Lilith.html (132 of 277) [1/17/03 4:28:28 AM]
Page 69
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass
A neat system, I had to admit. The knights, fat and comfortable, didn't want
to challenge each other. The lack of any kind of instant communication meant
that the acquisition of large areas, the consolidation of Keeps under one
rule, would be difficult and profitless to maintain. And any challenger to the
knight would first have to get past the Castle and its defenses-no mean feat.
No matter what power anybody had, an arrow or spear would still kill him if it
landed properly, would kill even Marek Kreegan himself.
I could just see knights sitting around at parties given by one or another of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]