Five Hundred Years After by Steven Brust

Author:Steven Brust [Brust, Steven]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9780765319661
Publisher: Tor
Published: 1993-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter the Nineteenth

Which Treats of a General and a Gentleman,

Or a Dragon and a Lyorn,

And the Interaction Between Them;

Comparing and Contrasting It

To the Interaction Between

Two Less Savory Characters.

SINCE KHAAVREN IS, JUST AT the moment, unavailable, and it will be some time before any of those looking for our brave Captain manage to find him, we will take the opportunity to look in on Aerich and Adron, at the Duke’s encampment outside of Dragaera. Following the departure of the messenger, whose errand Adron knew perfectly well and Aerich guessed, time had passed very slowly, though neither of these gentlemen gave any indication of impatience. Adron busied himself with dispatches and the seemingly endless paperwork of his battalion, occasionally breaking off to study his mosaic of purple stones, while Aerich worked with his crochet hook, creating a stylized Lyorn which he intended to put on a table in his library.

After some hours, a fine meal arrived in Adron’s tent—a meal which combined the most advanced studies of the culinary arts as practiced by the military with the sensibilities of Lord Adron, who had always believed in keeping a proud table. They were served by a young subaltern, who herself selected the wine and brought forth the dishes as they were required by her general and his guest, yet contrived to remain out of their way, and nearly out of their sight.

The two gentlemen set to work on the comestibles in their particular fashions: Adron attacked his food as if it were the enemy, and disposed his knife and his teeth as if they were the forces with which he intended to rout the roasted duck, drive back the hard-crusted bread, scatter the long-bean and rice, and force the confection of apple, cream, and plum wine to surrender unconditionally. Aerich, meanwhile, treated these same dishes as if each were an honored guest, and he did not so much devour them as hold conversation with them, treating each with the courtesy and respect he thought it deserved. It is difficult to say which of them enjoyed his meal the more, yet certainly Adron enjoyed his more quickly—he was sipping strong wine and wandering contentedly about the tent (if we may be permitted such unfortunate euphony) while the Lyorn was contemplating the whipped, frothy confection we have already mentioned, and wondering at the best way to address it with the sweet biscuits at hand.

“A most laudable repast,” he remarked and looked upon the dishes, full and empty, and recalled their contents.

Adron bowed, and gave the subaltern an approving look that she would in due course take back to the chief of Adron’s kitchen. When she had at last gathered up the dishes, napkins, and wine bottles, Aerich sat back contentedly, sighed, and said, “Will Your Highness entertain a question?”

“Gladly, my dear Lyorn,” said Adron, looking up from the patterns of purple stones upon which he had, perhaps as an aid to digestion, begun working once more.

“I must apologize that this question is not related to

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