"Edmond Hamilton - Captain Future 23 - The Harpers of Titan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

a kind of lime and painted with ocher
and crimson.
HE air was full of smells - of
food and the smoke of Cooking
fires, acrid-sweet, of dust, of human
bodies oiled and fragrant and musky,
of old brick crumbling in the sun, of
beasts in pens, of unknown spices.
Simon breathed them deeply, and
listened to the echo of his footsteps
ring hollow from the walls. He felt the
rising breeze cold on his face that was
damp with sweat. And again the
excitement shook him, and with it
came a sort of awe at the
magnificence of human sensation.
I had forgotten so much, he
thought. And how was it possible ever
to forget?
He walked down the streets of
Moneb, striding as a tall man strides,
his head erect, a proud fire in his eyes.
The dark-haired folk with skins of
golden copper watched him from the
doorways and sent the name of Keogh
whispering up the lanes and the
twisting alleys.
It came to Simon that there was yet
another thing in the air of Moneb - a
thing called fear.
They came to the gates in the inner
wall. Here Harker dropped helplessly
back with the other men, and Simon -
and the son of Keogh went on alone.
Temple and palace rose above him,
impressive and strong, bearing in
heroic frescoes the history of the kings
of Moneb. Simon hardly saw them.
There was a tightness in him now, a
gathering of nerves.
This was the test - now, before he
was ready for it. This was the time
when he must not falter, or the thing
he had done would be for nothing, and
the Harpers would be brought into the
valley of Moneb.
Two round towers of brick, a low
and massive doorway. Dimness,
lighted by torches, red light flaring on
coppery flesh, on the ceremonial robes