The shining ones by David Eddings

Author:David Eddings [Eddings, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fairy tales, Fantasy fiction, Fantastic fiction, Fiction, Fantasy, General, Fantasy fiction; American, Epic
ISBN: 9780345388667
Publisher: New York : Ballantine Books, 1994, c1993.
Published: 1994-07-02T04:00:00+00:00

thing?'

Caalador nodded. 'That part wasn't very difficult. Scarpa was

fairly well known in some circles before he joined the conspiracy.' Caalador made a face. "I wish there were some other

word. "Conspiracy" sounds so melodramatic.' He shrugged. 'Anyway, Scarpa's

a bastard.'

'Calador.' Bevier said sharply. 'There are ladies present!'

"It wasn't intended as an obscenity, Sir Bevier, merely as a

legal definition. Scarpa's the result of a dalliance between a militantly promiscuous Arjuni tavern-wench and a renegade Styric.

It was an odd sort of pairing-off, and it produced a very odd

sort of fellow. '

'Don't pursue this too far, Caalador,' Stragen said ominously.

'Grow up, Stragen. You're not the only one with irregular

parentage. When you get right down to it, I'm not entirely sure

who my father was either. Bastardy's no great inconvenience

for a man with brains and talent.'

'Milord Stragen's oversensitive about his origins,' Baroness

Melidere explained lightly. 'I've spoken with him time and again

about it, but he still has feelings of inadequacy. It might not be

a bad thing, though. He's so generally stupendous otherwise

that a little bit of insecurity keeps him from being absolutely unbearable. '

Stragen rose and bowed flamboyantly. 'Oh, sit down, Stragen,' she said. 'Where was I?' Caalador said. 'Oh, yes, now I recollect. This yore Scarpa feller, he growed up in a shack-nasty sorta roadside tavern down that in Ar-juna - an' he done all the sorta thangs which it iz oz bastards does in then formative years in a place 'thout no real moral restraints on 'em.'

'Please, Caalador,' Stragen sighed. 'Just entertaining the queen, old boy,' Caalador shrugged. 'She pines away without periodic doses of down-home folksiness. ' 'What does "shack-nasty" mean, Caalador?' Ehlana interrupted

him. 'Why, gist whut it sez, yet Queenship. A shack's a kinda th'owed-together hovel built outten ole boards an' scraps, an' "nasty" means putty much whut it sez. I knowed a feller oz went by that name when I wuz a pup. He lived in th' messiest place y' ever did see, an' he warn't none too clean his ownself, neither. "I think I can survive for several hours now without any more mangled language, Master Caalador,' she smiled. "I want to thank you for your concern, though.' 'Always glad to be of service, your Majesty.' He grinned. 'Scarpa grew up in a situation that sort of skirted the edges of crime. He was what you might call a gifted amateur. He never really settled down into one given trade.' He made a face. 'Dabblers.

I absolutely detest dabblers. He pandered for his mother just as every good boy should - and also for his numerous half-sisters, who, if we're to believe the common gossip, were all whores from the cradle. He was a moderately competent pick-pocket and cut-purse, and a fairly gifted swindler. Unlike many of his mother's one-time paramours, Scarpa's Styric father stayed around for a time, and he used to drop back to visit his son from time to time, so Scarpa got a smattering of a Styric education. Eventually, however, he made the kind of mistake we expect amateurs to make.

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