"Anderson, Poul - Guardians Of Time V1 0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

THE KING! THE KING!
The Immortals attacked. Everard's ax clanged against metal, darted in and smashed a knuckle. A blow whistled toward his head. He ducked behind a column; chips flew. An opening. . . sword and ax rattled together. Everard tried to close in ... a clinch with the Chiliarch would keep the Persians from throwing their weapons, but they were circling to get at his rear. Judas, this might be the end of one more Patrolman ....
"Halt! The King comes! Fall on your faces! The King! The King!" the herald bellowed.
Cyrus the Great's voice rang through the sudden silence. "What is this? Where is the stranger who called on me?"
Everard stood up and murmured: "Hi, Keith."

To Kenny CrayЧ who'll tell me that 1 did wrongЧ
and to Gloria, who knows better

Poul Anderson
The Guardians
of Time
With an Afterword by Sandra Miesel

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK Distributed by Pinnacle Books, New York

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 й 1981 by Poul Anderson
A shorter version of this work, published under the same title, is copyright й 1960 by Poul Anderson
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.
A TOR Book
First printing, October 1981
ISBN: 0-523-48510-7
Cover Art by Tom Kidd
Printed in the United States of America
PINNACLE BOOKS, INC. 1430 Broadway New York, NY 10018

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The following stories composed the earlier edition of The Guardians of Time: "Time Patrol," "Brave to Be a King," "The Only Came in Town," and "Delenda Est." All appeared originally in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and are copyright by The Mercury Press respectively й1955, й7959, й7960, and й7955. This is the first book publication of "Cibralter Falls," which appeared originally in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, copyright й 7975 by the Mercury Press. "Of Time and the Rover," by Sandra Miesel, is original to this edition and is copyright й 7987 by Sandra Miesel.




TABLE OF CONTENTS
I TIME PATROL. . . 9
II BRAVE TO BE A KING 65
III GIBRALTAR FALLS 125
IV THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN 141
V DELENDA EST 187
OF TIME AND THE ROVER 245
(Afterword by Sandra Miesel)

TIME PATROL
1
MEN WANTED-21-40, pref. single, mil. or tech. exp., good physique, for high-pay work with foreign travel. Engineering Studies Co., 305 г. 45, 9-12 & 2-6.
"The work is, you understand, somewhat unusual," said Mr. Gordon. "And confidential. I trust you can keep a secret?"
"Normally," said Manse Everard. "Depends on what the secret is, of course."
Mr. Gordon smiled. It was a curious smile, a closed curve of his lips which was not quite like any Everard had seen before. He spoke easy colloquial General American, and wore an undistinguished business suit, but there was a foreign-ness over him which was more than dark complexion beardless cheeks, and the incongruity of Mongolian eyes above a thin Caucasian nose. It was hard to place.
"We're not spies, if that's what you're thinking," he said.
Everard grinned. "Sorry. Please don't think I've gone as hysterical as the rest of the country. I've never had access to confidential data anyway. But your ad mentioned overseas operations, and the