"Chalker, Jack L - Demons of the Dancing GodsUC - #2DG" - читать интересную книгу автора (Chalker Jack L)

"TheseЧKauri. What are they like?"

"An ancient folk of great power over mortal flesh, which
is needed to safeguard their fragility. Their nature is quite
elemental and is best experienced firsthand. Don't worry. Thou
wilt find peace and confidence as one of them."

CHAPTER 3

A NICE LITTLE BUSINESS TRIP

For a barbarian, image is the most important thing.

ЧRules, LXXXII, 306(b)

THE MAN WALKINо ACROSS THE CASTLE'S INNER COURTYARD

would have stood out in any crowd. He was a huge man, well
over six feet and so totally muscled that those looking at him
generally expected him to crash through stone walls rather than
be bothered to walk around them. His face, which he himself
described as vaguely OrientalЧa meaningless term in Husa-
quahr but not back in his native PhiladelphiaЧwas handsome




14

JACK L. CHALKER

DEMONS OF THE DANCING GODS

15

and strong, with piercing eyes that seemed almost jet-black,
the whole thing set off by a thick crop of truly jet-black hair
that hung halfway between his shoulders and waist. His skin
was tanned a magnificent bronze and looked tough enough to
deflect spears. He wore only a flimsy white loincloth, hung
from an ornate hand-tooled leather belt, and a hat, made to his
specifications by the milliner in the nearby town of Terdiera.
It was a cowboy hat, brim sides turning up in starched salute,
and on the front was a strange symbol and the word, in English:

"Peterbilt." The hat, which had shown great utility in deflecting
the elements, had been widely imitated in the land around Castle

Terindell.