"Dave Duncan - A Man of His Word 3 - Perilous Seas" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

Sounds of smashing shrubbery heralded the approach of Kani.
"You're taking this very well," Ogi said uneasily. Rap smiled, humorlessly.
"It'll be a pleasure."
"Oh?" Ogi was dumbfounded.
The kid stepped closer, eyes glinting in the firelight. "What Wulli told me
about Grindrog was something different. I'd have been tempted anyway, if I'd
thought I had any chance at all. Now you say I have, and you've trapped me, so I
have no choice. Fine! Friend Grindrog deserves to have his head kicked a few



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more times. And other things."
Ogi opened his mouth and then closed it again.
"But we've got time to kill, haven't we?" Rap said gently. "Id like to borrow
some heavier boots from someone, and we must let Grindrog do his drinking and
meditate on his troubles ... mustn't we?"
Suddenly, somehow, the faun had hold of Ogi's shirt and was twisting it, hauling
him right up off his seat and higher, up on tiptoe. And smiling. The first big
smile all night. Not a cheerful smile, all teeth and much too close to Ogi's
nose.
"How much?" Rap demanded. "How much are you going to make if the faun mule beats
the blind champion? Or is the blindness just a worm to hook me?"
"No, Rap. I really think he's almost blind. And I was just about to talk about
your share of my ... our winnings ... and-"
"And I may have time for a practice bout or two first!" Rap, of course, was half
jotunn. It just didn't show, usually. It showed now.
Ogi should have thought of that sooner.
The fist at his throat was choking him. His knees began to quiver. He could
smell that jotunnish anger. Imps fought best when they had numbers on their
side, and he was no great bruiser. He'd brawled a little when he first arrived,
because he'd had to, and he was hefty enough, but usually he just groveled. Few
jotnar in Durthing would even bother to jostle an imp.
"You and Kani and who else in this?"
Hefty or not, now Ogi had been lifted right into the air. The faun was holding
him up one-handed, holding him close enough to stare right into those big faun
eyes, and they were full of jotunn madness. He should certainly have thought of
this possibility.
"You and Kani and who else?"
"Verg," Ogi said with some difficulty.
"I'll start with you, then-practice the jelly thing." Ogi muttered a silent
prayer to every God in the lists.
Kani burst into the circle of firelight, so breathless he could hardly speak.
Obviously he had more on his mind than the proposed Rap-Grindrog contest, for he
did not seem to notice the confrontation in progress. He gasped, pointed back
over his shoulder, gasped again.
He said, "Orca! "
"What? " Rap released Ogi, who dropped and staggered backward. By the time he