"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 14 - The Temples of Ayocan" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

except his mannerтАФbut when he gave orders, they were obeyed. Blade could not make out what the
man was saying, but he could once again recognize the tone. Crisp and angry, but well controlled, the
priest was telling the warriors not to be such children as to let one man frighten them off. As the priest
went on, Blade saw some of the warriors begin to edge in toward him. No doubt those were the ones
who wanted whatever glory lay in being the first to obey the priest's orders. Well and good, thought
Blade. Let them win all the glory they want. And he stepped forward to meet them.
He was up with the first man while the other's eyes were still widening in surprise. Then the eyes went
blank and closed forever as Blade's sword slashed down through a pitifully clumsy guard, deep into the
man's neck. His head dangling on one side, he fell. Blade sprang forward, over the spreading pool of
blood, feinted with his sword at the second man, then chopped his left arm off with the axe. The man
screamed and reeled back, raising his spouting arm high. Several of his fellows found the sound and sight
too much for their fragile new courage, and backed away. The priest's angry shouts rose higher still, and
Blade could now make out his words.
"You are picked warriors sworn to serve Ayocan, sworn to obey his priests. But one man stands
against you. One man, who has polluted the sacred shores and broken the trees of life and death and
slain your comrades among the Holy Warriors! One man, who will make a mighty sacrifice to Ayocan!"
The priest's words made Blade understand his situation better but like it much less. So they were
going to sacrifice him to AyocanтАФwhoever or whatever that was. Did that mean they were going to try
to capture him alive? Possibly, but he couldn't count on it.
Those thoughts ran through his mind in seconds and left him clear-headed and alert, ready to continue
his attack. The warriors who had been backing away from around him stopped at the priest's words. But
Blade was upon them before they could get up the nerve to launch their own attack.
He broke their line by throwing his axe again. This time his target got his sword up in time. The axe
struck the bronze blade with a terrific clang, glanced off, sailed into the air, and smashed into a priest's
face. Not the chief priest's, unfortunately, only one of his underlings. The man screamed and collapsed,
clawing at his smashed and bloody face. The chief priest gave a scream of quite another kind and jumped
up and down in a burst of rage.
"Take him, you pigs! Take him, you turtle turds! Take him, take him, take him!" The man's face was
dark with fury. For a moment Blade wondered if he were going to fall down in a fit.
But the chief priest did not fall down. Then the warriors attacked and Blade had no more attention to
spare for the man. The warrior that had deflected the axe came at him, whirling both sword and axe like
the arms of a windmill. That was more spectacular than useful. Blade launched a feint at the man's left
side, then whipped his own sword high over his head and brought it down on the man's right shoulder.
His arm half-severed, the warrior staggered. Once more Blade plucked an axe out of its owner's failing
hand. This time he swung it hard to smash in the man's skull.
The man behind the first warrior tried a slash at Blade, but his sword would not reach. Blade's
would, and the warrior reeled back, dropping sword and axe and clutching his stomach to keep the
gaping wound there from spilling out all his guts. Blade whirled as he heard footsteps behind him, whirled
fast enough to deflect a sword blow with his axe and slash his attacker across the chest. The cut was long
but not deep enough to kill, and the man kept on coming. His axe whistled down at Blade's head, but
Blade's arm came up and smashed the attacker's elbow, so that his hand opened and let the axe fall. A
second later Blade's sword slashed again, deep into the man's thigh, and this time he did stop and go
down onto the blood-soaked ground.
The extra time taken in killing the last warrior had let several others get around Blade's flanks. He had
to back away again. He realized as he did that if these warriors could ever launch a mass rush at him,
they would have him. Did they have some tradition of fighting one at a time, or did they want to wear him
down and take him alive? Blade hoped it was the second. If they took him prisoner, he could always
look for a chance to escape. But that was no reason to not go on making things expensive for them. A
quick slash at a warrior who was crowding too close, and another man down with a leg streaming blood.
The chief priest howled again.