"L. Sprague De Camp - Conan 26 - The Castle of Terror" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Camp L Sprague)

The lions were now almost at his heels. He could smell the strong reek of their lithe bodies and hear
their panting breath. Any moment, now, they would, close in upon him, and he would be making his last
furious fight for life before they pulled him down.
He expected his pursuers to follow their age-old tactics. The oldest maleтАФthe chief of the prideтАФwould
follow directly behind him, with the younger males on either flank. The swifter lionesses would range
ahead on either side in a crescent formation until they were far enough ahead of him to close the circle
and trap him. Then they would all rush in upon him at once, making any effective defense impossible.
Suddenly, the land was flooded with light. The round, silver eye of the rising moon glared down upon
the broad plains, bathing the racing figure of the giant barbarian with her gaze and drawing lines of pale
silver fire along the rippling sinews of the lions as they loped at his heels, washing their short, silken fur
with her ghostly radiance.
Coan's wary eye caught the moonfire on rippling fur ahead to his left, and he knew that the encirclement
was nearly complete. As he braced himself to meet the charge, however, he was astounded to see the
same lioness veer off and halt. In two strides he was past her. As he went, he saw that the young lioness
on his right had also stopped short. She squatted motionless on the grass with tail twitching and lashing.
A curious sound, half roar and half wail, came from her fanged jaws. |
Conan dared to slow his run and glance bad. To his utter astonishment, he saw that the entire pride had
halted as if at some invisible barrier. They stood in a snarling line with fangs gleaming like silver in the
moonlight. Earth shaking roars of baffled rage came from their throats.
Conan's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, and his scowling brows knotted in puzzlement. What had halted
the pride at the very moment when they had made sure of their prey? What unseen force had annulled
the fury of the chase? He stood for a moment facing them, sword in hand, wondering if they would
resume their charge. But the lions stayed where they were, growling and roaring
from foam-dripping jaws.
Then Conan observed a curious thing. The place where the lions had halted seemed to mark a line of
demarcation across the plain. On the further side grew thick, long, lush grasses. At the invisible
boundary, however, the grass became thin, stubby, and ill nourished, with broad patches of bare earth.
Although Conan could not clearly distinguish colors by moonlight alone, it seemed to him that the
grasses on the hither side of the line lacked the normal green color of growing things. Instead, the
grasses around his feet seemed dry and gray, as if leached of all vitality.

To either side, in the bright moonlight, he could see the region of dead grasses curve away into the
distance, as if he stood alone in a vast circle of death.
3. The Black Citadel
Although he still ached with weariness, the brief pause had given Conan the strength to continue his
progress. Since he did not know the nature of the invisible line that had halted the lions, he could not tell
how long this mysterious influence would continue to hold them at bay. Therefore he preferred to put as
much distance between the pride and himself as possible.
Soon he saw a dark mass take form out of the dimness ahead of him. He went forward even more warily
than before, sword in hand and eyes searching the hazy immensities of this domain. The moonlight was
still brilliant, but its radiance became obscure with distance as if veiled by some thickening haze. So, at

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first, Conan could make nothing of the black, featureless mass that lifted out of the plain before him,
save for its size and its stillness. Like some colossal idol of primitive devil worship, hewn from a
mountain of black stone by some unknown beings in time's dawn, the dark mass squatted motionless
amid the dead gray grass. As Conan came nearer, details emerged from the dark, featureless blur. He
saw that it was a tremendous edifice, which lay partly in ruins on the plains of KushтАФa colossal