"Nancy Holder - Highlander - Measure of a Man" - читать интересную книгу автора (Holder Nancy)

You charge the beach. There is nothing else you can do.

And while I have already sensed your presence, it did not dawn on me to
look for your sword. And so you surprise me, I give you that, as you
grab up your duster aDd extract your sword. So we are on a more even
footing, you and I, but I know my gods are with me today.

I know that I will kill you, Highlander.

You are fierce. You have always been fierce. Though you cast ;away
your watt ior's role, you have never cast away your warrior's heart. You
fly at me; you thrill and terrify me. Unclothed, you are more
vulnerable than I, and I take every advantage. I slice YOUT chest, I
pierce your shoulder socket; you stagger back, chancing a glance at your
sweet darling. You know she's not dead. You know that if you look at
her again, you will be.

For I am on you. I slash and slash, impressed by your lightning
parries, your riposte, your lunge. You are relentless. Everything they
say of you is true. I almost begin to doubt myself, but you have been
in the cold water, and you have worked harder thail I this day.

You cuff me with the hilt of your dragon blade. You hit me with your
fist, you knee me. You push me backward and leap on top of me. You are
a savage. You have never left the heather forest primeval.

You are hitting and punching and I hear the bones in my face crunch and
shatter. I see the sun on your blade as you raise it; I hear your grunt
as I throw sand in your eyes and slam you with the full force of my
upper body.

Mortals never fight like this. Their guns do the work. If they use
knives, they are cautious. Iley hold back. We do not. Every hit,
every thrust, produces noise and pain. Sweat flies; we heave with
effort. Mortals may battle to the death, but we battle to the Death.
We, who have fought for centuries, who have survived, do so because in
our ferocity we are fearless. It is as if we are possessed. There can
be only one. It is our kata, our mantra, the consuming drive that
controls our muscles and arteries and nerve endings: Survive, survive,
survive at any cost.

At any cost.

But you are weak: You want to protect your love. I love no one. You
want to maintain your honor. I have no honor.

I am stronger.

And I am winning.