"William Forstchen - Magic The Gathering - Arena" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

The raggedy man looked around nervously, his enthusiasm gone.

тАЬItтАЩs against the law, except in the arena,тАЭ the raggedy man hissed. тАЬWe could all be arrested if the
Grand Master finds out.тАЭ
тАЬGutter sweep, who are you to quote law to me? I demand death!тАЭ

тАЬThe fight is not over yet!тАЭ the gambler shouted. тАЬIf he withdraws, Orange still wins!тАЭ

тАЬThatтАЩs not true!тАЭ the raggedy man whined in reply. тАЬThe fight was finished. Those are the rules of the
circle.тАЭ

The Orange fighter turned and looked at the raggedy man. He fell to the ground, eyes rolling in his head,
hands clutching at his throat, a sickening gurgling sound gasping out of him.

The crowd fell silent, watching the agonized struggle as the raggedy man rolled in the mud.

Garth took his dagger out and tossed it so that it stuck in the ground next to OkmarkтАЩs.

тАЬTo the death then.тАЭ

Orange looked back at him. The raggedy man gasped out a rattling cough and he crawled out of the
circle.

Orange nodded grimly and, ignoring all ritual, he leaped into the circle. Staggered by a blast of fire,
Garth stepped back, holding up his arms to protect his face. A small circle appeared in the mud around
him and the fire was diverted. Around him he could hear the cries of the mob as they fell back, some of
them writhing in agony, their clothes afire. The side of the building behind Garth burst into flames.

Garth raised one of his hands up and a skeletal form appeared in the fire, stepping forward through the
flames, toward Okmark. OkmarkтАЩs eyes grew wide with fear as the skeleton continued to advance,
impervious to the flames, and Okmark stepped back, the fire abating. There was a crackling roar and
the ground beneath the skeleton opened up and, with a clattering of bones, the skeleton fell into the
fissure which now split the circle in half. Garth nodded and the skeleton rose into the air, hovering, and
continued its relentless advance.

Cursing, Okmark now raised his hand, pointing at the skeleton. An explosion rocked the streets and a
spray of powdery dust swirled outward. Garth seemed to blanch from the savage counterstrike.
Okmark, grinning now, raised his hand and pointed at Garth. A coiling shaft of light came straight at him.
An instant later a shimmering mirror appeared before Garth. The blast of light reflected back.

Orange barely had time to scream.

The flame engulfed him. Writhing in agony, Okmark spun around and around, trying to extinguish the fire
that would not die. Garth stood impassive, watching, his arms folded. The shrieking died away as
Okmark curled up into a blackened ball of smoking flesh and died. The fire winked out of existence, the
one who had conjured it having expired by his own spell.

A gasp of astonishment rose up from the crowd, which stood silent, ignoring the fact that the building
behind them was crackling, fire racing up its side, while on the street behind where Garth had stood, half
a dozen were dead and more than a score injured and crying out their lamentations.