"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 07 - Pearl of Patmos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

PearlofPatmos
Blade Book 07


by Jeffrey Lord




CHAPTER 1
^┬╗
It was one of those perfect days which so rarely come toEngland . The first day of June. The sun was
golden, the Channel deepest sapphire, the air drowsy with bee hum and bird song. TheDorset littoral was
a rolling quilt of mustard and dun over which cuckoos wheeled and emitted their plaintive cries, searching
for foster nests.
Richard Blade, sunning himself in the skimpiest of breech cloths, lay on his hard flat belly and
squinted over the corundum waves that came lazily in, wearing flecks of lace at their throats. Far out,
under a canopy of brown smoke, a coaster was making for the Thames andLondon . Blade, who had
read poetry at Oxford and promptly forgotten most of it, found some of Masefield's popping unbidden
into his mind тАж dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stackтАж with a cargo of ivory, and apes
and peacocks, sandalwood and cedarwood and sweet white wineтАж
No matter that the poet had not written it soтАФBlade's version better fitted the day. He turned over
and closed his eyes, peering into the red lagoon at the dark shadow play. He drowsed, relaxing, watching
the sciomachy behind his eyelids, the amorphous and fluid Rorschach blots that melded and intersticed
andтАФand blotted out the sun? His face was in full shadow now although there were no clouds in the sky.
A trickle of sand, hourglass slow, bounced off his muscled belly like a miniature avalanche.
He had not heard her approach.
Blade's first impression, when he opened his eyes and stared up into hers, was of green glacial ice.
Not so much a coldness as a reserve, narrowed at him in a mix of curiosity and indifference. From a
small brown fist she continued to pour sand on his stomach. Blade said nothing.
"They told me in the village that this cove is usually deserted at this time. I came here because I
wanted to be alone. Now I find a huge creature like you taking up practically all of it."
 Her supply of sand ran out and she dusted her hands. Blade, whose training made such observation
automatic, noted that her hands were ordinarily well kept but now had crescents of dirt beneath the nails.
She was wearing a simple looking mini-dress which he guessed was expensive. Her feet were bare, as
were the long slim legs vanishing into brief black pants. He gave her a faint smile.
"Well-intentioned of the locals," he said. "And ordinarily they would be right. I don't usually come
here at this bane. TodayтАФwell, today is a little special."
J had called that morning. Lord Leighton had the master computer ready. The next day, Blade was
due to go through the machine for the seventh time. To explore another Dimension X.
For a moment she pouted, and the pursed small mouth spoiled her face. Then she smiled and was
beautiful again. The ice-green eyes watched him with a glint of private amusement.
"You're looking up my dress," she said.
Blade nodded. "So I am. Considering our relative positions it would be hard not to. Of course you
don't have to stand like that. I have an idea that you are what is commonly known as a lady. Ladies are
supposed to be fairly modest, are they not?"
She tilted her head to one side and stared down at him. She had a Grecian beauty, narrow-faced,
full-mouthed, straight high-bridged nose. Her arms were slim and well formed, rather muscular, and
Blade doubted that she was wearing a bra. Their glances locked and held for a long moment. She was
the first to laugh, displaying small even teeth that were white but did not dazzle.