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

the line continued on around the curve of the hall. Kickaha had been surprised, startled, and
shocked many times before. This time, he reacted more slowly than ever in His life. For several
seconds, he stood motionless while the ice-armor of shock thawed.
The knight in the lead, a tall man whose face was visible because of the opened visor of his
helmet, was the king of Eggesheim, Erich von Turbat.
He and his men had no business being on this level! They were Drachelanders of the level above
this, all natives of the inland plateau on top of the monolith which soared up from this level.
Kickaha, who was known as Baron Horst von Horstmann in Dracheland, had visited the king, von
TUrbat, several times and once had knocked him off a horse in a joust.
To see him and his men on this level was startling enough, since they would have had to climb down
a hundred thousand feet of monolith cliff to get to it. But their presence within the city was
incomprehensible. Nobody had ever penetrated the peculiar defences of the city, except for Kickaha
on one occasion, and he had been alone.
Unfreezing, Kickaha turned and ran. He was thinking that the Teutoniacs must have used one of the
"gates" which permitted instantaneous transportation from one place to another. However, the
Tishquetmoac did not know where the three "gates" were or even guessed that they existed. Only
Wolff, who was the Lord of this universe, his
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A PRIVATE COSMOS
mate Chryseis, and Kickaha had ever used them; or, theoretically, they were the only ones who knew
how to use them.
Despite this, the Teutoniacs were here. How they had found the gates and why they had come through
them to this palace were questions to be answered laterтАФif ever.
Kickaha felt a surge of panic which he rammed back down. This could only mean that an alien Lord
had successfully invaded this universe. That he could send men after Kickaha meant that Wolff and


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Chryseis were unable to prevent him. And that might mean they were dead. It did mean that, if they
were alive, they were powerless and therefore needed his help. Ha! His help! He was running for
his life again!
There were three hidden gates. Two were in the Temple of Ollimaml on top of the city, next to the
emperor's palace. One gate was a large one and must have been used by von Turbat's men if they had
entered in any force. And they must have great force, otherwise they would never have been able to
overcome the large and fanatical bodyguard of the emperor and the garrison.
Unless, Kickaha thought, unless the invaders had somehow been able to capture the emperor
immediately. The Tishquetmoac would obey the commands of their ruler, even if they knew they
originated from his captors. This would last for a time, anyway. The people of Talanac were, after
all, human beings, not ants, and they would eventually revolt. They regarded their emperor as a
god incarnate, second only to the all-powerful creator Ollimaml, but they loved their jade city,
too, and they had a history of twice committing deicide.
In the meantime ... in the meantime, Kickaha
A PRIVATE COSMOS
21
was running toward the archway opposite the one through which the invaders must be stepping just
now. A shout spurred him on, then many were yelling. Some of the priests were crying out, but
several of the cries were in the debased Middle High German of the Drachelanders. A clash of
armors and of swords formed a base beneath the vocal uproar.