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

Slash with the sword, lopping off limbs, opening chests and stomachs. Deflect blows with the axe, or
use it to smash skulls and collarbones into bloody fragments. Scream war cries that made some of the
enemy stop and stareтАФstop and stare for a few seconds too long. Hear the chief priests gibbering with
rage as the Holy Warriors of Ayocan went down one by one, sometimes two by two, to litter the ground.
Before long Blade could no longer distinguish one exchange of blows from another, or keep track of
his opponents. In spite of his iron endurance, his breath was rasping in and out of his sweat-soaked
chest. His sword seemed to weigh a hundred pounds and his axe fifty. One man could not kill two
hundred, no matter how much better he might be than any one of them. The enemy's warriors saw him
beginning to flag and slow, and rushed in, still one or two at a time. They were too bold and Blade was
still too fast, and more dead or wounded men joined the ones already on the ground. Blade stood with a
circle of dead around him, in some places piled two or three deep. He could not get out of that circle any
more, for the Holy Warriors were all around him. But when they tried to get at him, they were slowed by
having to climb over the bodies of their comrades. And no matter how little they were slowed, it was still
too much. The voice of the hysterical chief priest grew hoarse and raw.
But that voice finally pushed the warriors forward in a mass rush at Blade. So many of them came
forward at once that they got in each other's way. Some stumbled over the bodies and Blade slashed at
others, but there were still too many of them coming at him. They pressed in around him, now swinging
the flats of their swords and axes. This cost them more men as Blade leaped and whirled and struck with
the last of his strength. But eventually an axe blow smashed across his right wrist, and his sword slipped
out of numb fingers.
Now a warrior rushed in on Blade's disarmed right side before he could shift his axe, and grappled
Blade around the waist. Blade had enough strength left to bring his knee up into the man's groin. He
screamed and jerked, but clung. Blade raised his left arm, to smash the man down with his axe, but a
dozen hands clutched at the raised arm and pulled it down. Blade jerked and kicked and bellowed like a
bull. Then an axe head smashed down on his skull, cold and hard and brutal. He sagged back into the
arms reaching to grab him and hold him, as everything around him swirled away into blackness.


Chapter 4
┬л^┬╗
When Blade awoke, he was lying on his back on a cool damp surface that swayed under him. Above
him was solid blackness. For a moment he had the unnerving thought that he had gone blind from the
blow on the head. Then he realized that he was lying under a heavy canopy in the bottom of one of the
canoes. He could hear the splash-clunk of the paddles and the high sing song of somebody calling the
stroke.
He felt as though he had been run through a cement mixer filled with large rocks. His head ached, his
wrists and ankles were bound with rope tied so tight it gouged the flesh, and he had purple bruises and
red welts all over his body. He was also still naked. But at least he was alive. The Holy Warriors and
priests of Ayocan had captured him, and now they were taking him to be sacrificed to their god.
Several hours passed, with the sound of the paddles and the calling of the stroke continuing without a
break. Blade began to feel uncomfortably hungry and thirsty. More hours passed, and then Blade heard
the stroke speed up. The motions of the canoe became livelier. In fact, they became so lively that Blade
rolled around in the damp wood of the bottom, adding new bruises to the ones from the battle of the
night before.
Before he could wonder for very long what was going on, the stroke-caller shouted out a single sharp
cry, and the paddles suddenly stopped. A moment later a long rolling, grating sound came from
underneath, and the whole canoe shook and vibrated as it ran up on the shore. Blade slid forward on his
bare rear end for several feet, ending up with a number of splinters stuck in his skin and his feet sticking
out from under the canopy.
Now that they had reached land, Blade suddenly became the center of attention. Half a dozen