"Philip Jose Farmer - WOT 3 - A Private Cosmos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Farmer Phillip Jose)

Kickaha did not contradict him. At one time, the capital city of Atlantis, the country occupying
the inner part of the next-to-highest level, had been four times as large and populous as Talanac.
But it had been destroyed by the Lord then in power, and now the ruins housed only bats, birds,
and lizards, great and small.
"But," the priest said, "where the world has five levels, Talanac has thrice three times three
levels, or streets."
The priest put the tips of the excessively long , fingernails of his hands together, and, half-
closing his slightly slanted eyes, intoned a sermon on the magical and theological properties of
the numbers three, seven, nine, and twelve. Kickaha did not interrupt him, even though he did not


file:///F|/rah/Philip%20Jose%20Farmer/Farmer,%2...rld%20of%20Tiers%203%20A%20Private%20Cosmos.txt (7 of 92) [1/19/03 7:23:56 PM]
 file:///F|/rah/Philip%20Jose%20Farmer/Farmer,%20Philip%20Jose%20-%20World%20of%20Tiers%203%20A%20Private%20Cosmos.txt

understand some of the technical terms.
He had heard, just once, a strange clinking in the next room. Just once was enough for him, who
had survived because he did not have to be warned twice. Moreover, the price he paid for still
living was a certain uncomfortable amount of anxiety. Always, he maintained a minimum amount of
tension even in moments of recreation and lovemak-ing. Thus, he never entered a place, not even in
the supposedly safe palace of the Lord, without first finding the possible hiding places for
ambushers, avenues of escape, and hiding places for himself.
He had no reason to think that there was any danger for him in this city and especially in the
sacrosanct temple-library. But there had been many times when he had had no reason to fear danger
and yet the danger was there.
The clinking was weakly repeated. Kickaha,
18
A PRIVATE COSMOS
without an "Excuse me!" ran to the archway through which the unidentified, hence sinister, noise
had come. Many of the black-robed priests looked up from their slant-topped desks where they were
painting cartographs on skin or looked aside from the books hanging before them. Kick-aha was
dressed like a well-to-do Tishquetmoac, since his custom was to look as much like a native as
possible wherever he was, but his skin was two shades paler than the lightest of theirs. Besides,
he wore two knives, and that alone marked him off. He was the first, aside from the emperor, to
enter this room armed.
Takoacol called out to him, asking if anything was wrong. Kickaha turned and put a finger to his
lips, but the priest continued to call. Kickaha shrugged. The chances were that he would end up by
seeming foolish or overly apprehensive to the onlookers, as had happened many times in other
places. He did not care.
As he neared the archway, he heard more clink-ings and then some slight creakings. These sounded
to him as if men in armor were slowlyтАФ perhaps cautiouslyтАФcoming down the hallway. The men could
not be Tishquetmoac because their soldiers wore quilted-cloth armor. They had steel weapons, but
these would not make the sounds he had heard.
Kickaha thought of retreating across the library and disappearing into one of the exits he had
chosen; in the shadows of an archway, he could observe the newcomers as they entered the library.
But he could not resist the desire to know immediately who the intruders were. He risked one fast
peek around the corner.
A PRIVATE COSMOS
19
Twenty feet away walked a man in a complete suit of steel armor. Close behind him, by twos, came
four knights, then at least thirty soldiers, swordsmen and archers. There might be more because