Eric Flint & David Drake - The Tyrant, Angielskie [EN](4)(2)
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The Tyrant
Table of Contents
Maps
PART I:
THE TRIUMVIR Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
PART II:
THE CONQUEROR
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
PART III:
THE INVADER
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
PART IV:
THE DICTATOR
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
PART V:
THE MAN ALONE
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Afterword
Page 1
How It All Came About
The Tyrant
by Eric Flint & David Drake
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any
resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2002 by Eric Flint & David Drake
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-7434-3521-4
Cover art by Gary Ruddell
Map by Randy Asplund
First printing, April 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flint, Eric.
The tyrant / by Eric Flint & Dave Drake.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7434-3521-4
1. Life on other planets—Fiction. I. Drake, David. II. Title.
PS3556.L548 T97 2002
813'.54—dc21 2001056094
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
To Torgny, and to Frieda's memory
Page 2
Also in this series, by David Drake & S.M. Stirling:
The General:
The Forge
The Chosen
The Reformer
Also by David Drake & Eric Flint:
The Belisarius series:
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory
Maps
Page 3
Page 4
PART I:
THE TRIUMVIR
Chapter 1
When Verice Demansk had been six years old, his grandfather had taken him one day on a tour of the
statuary in the gardens of the family's estate. The tour had finished in front of the statue of the All-Father.
"Whatever else you do," the old man had told him sternly, "make sure it will meet the approval of this
god. The others—gods of love and war, the harvest, whatever—must always be respected also, of
course. But, in the end, this god will be the judge."
Demansk was now a middle-aged man himself, with his own august presence, beard turning gray, long
string of honors to his name, and bearing the title of Justiciar of the Confederation. His grandfather had
died many years earlier. But, staring up again at the statue on a summer day, he could remember that
moment perfectly. And he understood, finally, why his feet seemed to have brought him, without his even
being aware of where he was walking, before this statue in the gardens.
He stared up at the painted marble face of the god for perhaps three minutes. Then, sighing softly, made
his final decision.
Treason
.
* * *
Another man would have called it something else. "The good of the nation," "the needs of the hour,"
whatever. Some wormy turn of phrase. But Verice Demansk would not. First, because he had never
been given to euphemisms, nor to lying. Secondly—more important—because if he didn't think he was
honest he wouldn't have made the decision to become a traitor in the first place.
"In this, as in many things," he said softly to himself, "evil is wasted on the wicked. Only the virtuous can
truly plumb its depths, because only they have the necessary strength of conviction."
He recognized the thought as a modification of one of Prithney's
Dialogues
. And he found himself
wondering, for a moment, what comment the father of his own grandchild might make about it. All
Emeralds were prone to flights of philosophic fancy anyway, but Adrian Gellert was even a graduate of
the Grove. A genuine Emerald scholar—a breed which Demansk had always thought was about as far
removed as possible from the hard-headed practical way of thinking of such men as himself.
Page 5
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The Tyrant
Table of Contents
Maps
PART I:
THE TRIUMVIR Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
PART II:
THE CONQUEROR
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
PART III:
THE INVADER
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
PART IV:
THE DICTATOR
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
PART V:
THE MAN ALONE
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
Afterword
Page 1
How It All Came About
The Tyrant
by Eric Flint & David Drake
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any
resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2002 by Eric Flint & David Drake
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A Baen Books Original
Baen Publishing Enterprises
P.O. Box 1403
Riverdale, NY 10471
www.baen.com
ISBN: 0-7434-3521-4
Cover art by Gary Ruddell
Map by Randy Asplund
First printing, April 2002
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Flint, Eric.
The tyrant / by Eric Flint & Dave Drake.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-7434-3521-4
1. Life on other planets—Fiction. I. Drake, David. II. Title.
PS3556.L548 T97 2002
813'.54—dc21 2001056094
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Production by Windhaven Press, Auburn, NH
Printed in the United States of America
To Torgny, and to Frieda's memory
Page 2
Also in this series, by David Drake & S.M. Stirling:
The General:
The Forge
The Chosen
The Reformer
Also by David Drake & Eric Flint:
The Belisarius series:
An Oblique Approach
In the Heart of Darkness
Destiny's Shield
Fortune's Stroke
The Tide of Victory
Maps
Page 3
Page 4
PART I:
THE TRIUMVIR
Chapter 1
When Verice Demansk had been six years old, his grandfather had taken him one day on a tour of the
statuary in the gardens of the family's estate. The tour had finished in front of the statue of the All-Father.
"Whatever else you do," the old man had told him sternly, "make sure it will meet the approval of this
god. The others—gods of love and war, the harvest, whatever—must always be respected also, of
course. But, in the end, this god will be the judge."
Demansk was now a middle-aged man himself, with his own august presence, beard turning gray, long
string of honors to his name, and bearing the title of Justiciar of the Confederation. His grandfather had
died many years earlier. But, staring up again at the statue on a summer day, he could remember that
moment perfectly. And he understood, finally, why his feet seemed to have brought him, without his even
being aware of where he was walking, before this statue in the gardens.
He stared up at the painted marble face of the god for perhaps three minutes. Then, sighing softly, made
his final decision.
Treason
.
* * *
Another man would have called it something else. "The good of the nation," "the needs of the hour,"
whatever. Some wormy turn of phrase. But Verice Demansk would not. First, because he had never
been given to euphemisms, nor to lying. Secondly—more important—because if he didn't think he was
honest he wouldn't have made the decision to become a traitor in the first place.
"In this, as in many things," he said softly to himself, "evil is wasted on the wicked. Only the virtuous can
truly plumb its depths, because only they have the necessary strength of conviction."
He recognized the thought as a modification of one of Prithney's
Dialogues
. And he found himself
wondering, for a moment, what comment the father of his own grandchild might make about it. All
Emeralds were prone to flights of philosophic fancy anyway, but Adrian Gellert was even a graduate of
the Grove. A genuine Emerald scholar—a breed which Demansk had always thought was about as far
removed as possible from the hard-headed practical way of thinking of such men as himself.
Page 5
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