"Edmond Hamilton - The Monsters of Juntonheim" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

Wait! Freya cried.


The hammer was checked in mid-air. No ordinary man could have halted its downward rush so
effortlessly.


Is he not one of the Jotun skrellings who attacked you? rumbled Thor.


He cannot be, Freya said. For they tried even harder to kill him than me, and he fought valiantly
against them.

Frey hurriedly dismounted. His handsome face was drawn with worry as he ran to the woman and
caught her shoulders.


You're not harmed, Freya? he asked anxiously.


No, by the help of this outlander, she said. Jarl Keith is his name, and he says he came from beyond
Niffleheim.

It's true, I panted. I came in that flying ship.

I pointed to the beach far below, where my rocket plane rested between boulders. They stared down at
it.
 So you outlanders can build flying ships, Frey said wonderingly. Your civilization must be far different
from ours. Odin will wish to question this outlander. We'll take him to Asgard with us.

Odin, chief of the old Norse gods, king of the mythical Aesir? I shook my head and gave up the fight
against disbelief.


Very well, growled Thor reluctantly. I still think he looks like a Jotun.

Frey brought me the horse of a dead Jotun. By now, the troop that had hurried after Frey and Thor
reached us. They were all big, fair-haired men, armored in mail brynjas and helmets, obviously
disappointed at missing the fight.


I mounted, unable to lose the dreamlike quality of the experiences. With the troop of horsemen
following. I rode beside Freya, Thor and Frey. I heard the clatter of hoofs, the rumble of voices, felt the
saddle beneath me, and the motion of the horse. But nothing seemed real. My body grasped the
actuality, yet my tired, harried brain refused to accept it. My eyes were so puzzled and shot with blood
that Freya looked at me sympathetically.