"Douglas Hill - The Last Legionary 04 - Planet Of The Warlord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hill Douglas)

The black man hurtled backwards, an arm and a leg numbed, breath driven from his lungs,
muscles turned to jelly. He struck the ground heavily, landing in a foolish half-seated position тАУ leaving
Keill standing with the two-headed weapon in his grasp.
 The crowd shrieked with ecstasy, and then fell silent again as Keill shifted his grip on the weapon.
Careful of the poisoned spikes, he slid his hands along the thick rod so that he was gripping it near each
club-head, holding it before him. For an instant he was still, focusing his power. Then slabs of hard
muscle leaped into corded, sculptured relief on his arms and upper body. Slowly, steadily, as he exerted
pressure, the heavy steel rod bent double, until it was a perfect inverted U.

The crowd's thunderous rapture reached new heights, and then rose even higher when Keill
turned and casually, as if with distaste, tossed the bent weapon aside. But it had been a studied throw тАУ
and the U-shape of metal looped through the air towards the still half-seated form of its owner. The
club-heads missed his head, but the inner curve of the U caught him neatly across the throat, so that he
toppled backwards wearing his own weapon like an ungainly collar.

And a hundred thousand people were on their feet, howling the name of the man standing alone
in the centre of the arena.

'Ran-dor! Ran-dor! RAN-DOR!'

Feeling slightly foolish. Keill did what was called for тАУ raising one hand in a sweeping gesture of
acknowledgement. And the entire stadium seemed in danger of collapse as the crowd stamped and
shrieked its tumultuous applause.

Glr is right about showing off, Keill thought ruefully. But there's no point in making yourself bait, if
the fish doesn't notice you.

If that thought was directed at me, mudhead,Glr's inner voice said sharply,kindly form it
again, more dearly.

'Itwasnothing,' Keill replied, as he began to walk towards the combatants' exit from the arena,
stepping round the medics who were coming out to gather up the losers.'What about that rifleman?

As yet...Glr began. But then her silent voice rose into an urgent shout.Keill тАУ MOVE!

With a legionary's unhesitating reflexes, Keill hurled himself into a shallow sideways dive while
Glr's warning cry was still forming in his mind.

As he did so, the unmistakable crackling hiss of an energy beam sliced through the air above him.




CHAPTER TWO



Keill's swift dive ended in an athletic shoulder roll, that brought him smoothly to his feet. At once he was
up and running, as Glr's voice sounded again in his mind.