Indomitus Vivat (The Fovean Chronicles) Read Online Free PDF

healer.
         “He will live,” the healer, a white-hair Uman in a yellow robe, said.  “You were wise to bind his head – his neck had snapped.  We have repaired it.”
         “I owe you another debt, your Grace,” Tartan said. 
         “I am at your service,” I said, inclining my head to him, “and to your family’s service, your Highness.”
         “Actually, it is you who are ‘Highness,’ your Grace,” Tartan said.  “If I am correct on the rules of etiquette, then highness falls below majesty, and you are the heir.”
         “Correct as ever, Prince Tartan,” the third Oligarch said. “You are my brightest pupil.”
         He nodded.
         I squared off on Tartan, so I could gage him.  “We need to get your father well,” I said to him.  “Do you agree?”
         He didn’t look into my eyes, which I didn’t like.  He looked at his father, then the Oligarch’s past me, then at me, but at my face, not my eyes.  “I do.”
         “And if we can get him to give you the power to rule in his place, until he is well, would you work with us, and be guided by us?” I asked
         He looked in my eyes for a moment, and then looked away.  “Would I do as you say, and would I give power back to my father when he felt well?” he asked.
         I nodded.
         He thought about it.
         That answered it for me right there.  He would agree, but he didn’t know for sure that he meant it.
         I’d have to get myself out of this one.   I smiled to Tartan and I took his shoulder in my hand for a second, but I excused myself and found where my Wolf Soldiers were bedded down, and joined them.
         It had been a hell of a day.
     
         Later in the royal Eldadorian court, I sat alone on the throne atop the dais, at the end of the long, royal gallery.
         One day it would be imperial, I knew.  Royal was good enough for now.
         “And you can see, your Grace,” the Earl informed me, “the implicit growth of the project affects not only my own earldom, but the Eldadorian nation.”
         Blah, blah, blah – the man had been droning on for thirty minutes.  The Rule of Fifteens came to mind again, as it often did in such circumstances.
         Any meeting that took more than fifteen minutes had a second agenda.  Anything that took longer than fifteen seconds to say was probably a lie.
         “I humbly add that this nation’s prosperity has astounded the world under your sage leadership…”
         Damn , I thought to myself.  He is sucking up to me.  That is another ten minutes at least .
         Eventually they would learn that I didn’t respond well to it, and they wouldn’t do it anymore.  The political animal is still an animal.  It hunts to survive.  It learns its prey’s strengths and weaknesses, or it dies.
         I had been in Eldador the port for two days.  Glennen had roused this morning for a while, then gone back to sleep.  His neck throbbed, and the first thing that he wanted was mead.  I had talked him into breakfast tea, but I could smell that they had put something in it when it came.  He had ordered me to sit for him at court, then rolled over and gone back to sleep.
         I think the Earl wanted to build a granary or something.  I missed that part of the dissertation.  Really didn’t matter because I planned on telling him, “No,” regardless.
         I wished I were with Shela.  It looked like I would be sending for her.
         “You munificent opulence has changed Fovea for all time…”
         I wondered what ‘munificent’ meant.
         Having or showing great generosity .
         I started on the throne.  The Earl either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
         You need to know these ‘three dollar words’ if you want to rule these people .
     I had a feeling that War hadn’t asserted Himself to correct my grammar.
         You