（外文电子版资料）Richard Paul Russo - The Dread And Fear of Kings.pdf

The Dread And Fear of Kings by Richard Paul Russo We enter the splendid cities at dawn. Always at dawn, when the rising sun lights up the skyscrapers and towers with orange and gold flames like the fires that are to come. Isengol was the first, many months ago; Kazakh-Ir is to be the next—tomorrow morning. It will not be the last. We enter the splendid cities at dawn, and when we leave, they are no longer splendid at all. · · · · · I am the First Ministers scribe. My name is unimportant, but my words carry the weight of his station, his power. This manuscript, however, is not an official document. He has charged me with the task of preparing an alternative account, one which will, at the very least, question our objectives, perhaps even challenge the kings design. Doing so, we both risk treason. We both risk execution. Grave doubts have begun to plague the First Minister. He sleeps poorly, disturbed by nightmares, disoriented by hallucinatory episodes that attack as he wanders the halls at night, unable or unwilling to return to sleep. His stomach and bowels trouble him. Yet this evening, as we prepared for tomorrows incursion into Kazakh-Ir, he stood alert and assured before the assembled host, the vast plain alight with a thousand campfires. His breath was like plumed smoke in the icy air, but his voice—strong and confident— issued forcefully from the towered loudspeakers and carried across the night to the thousands of men and women standing before him, perhaps even to some of the residents of Kazakh-Ir who might have been watching the fires from the upper levels of their homes. Tomorrow we enter Kazakh-Ir. As you know, the citizens of Kazakh-Ir are renowned for their stained glass—both for the production of the glass itself, and for their design and craftsmanship, especially the many majestic windows. The city is ours to take, and take it we will. But tomorrow, we take it with as litt