"Eric Van Lustbader - Sunset Warrior 4 - Beneath an Opal Moon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lustbader Eric van)

Now the scarred man laughs out loud. "I will
tell you what to take, Omojiru."

The door flies open, lock and hinges splintering
and in that brief instant of shock, as his head
turns in the direction of the violent motion and
sound, the scarred man wonders why he heard
nothing. Nothing at all.

The lights are gone from the hall and it is as if
he looks out upon a starless night, dense with a
damp and clinging fog. His hand withdraws his
blade but already he hears the fearful sounds of
struggle, a strangled cry tom from the lips of
Omojiru, conveying as much terror as pain. The
sound of a whirlwind in the room and across
from him a great viscous bubbling, a hideous
animal grunting connoting coupling or death, and
with a shudder he realizes it is coming from
Omojiru. Something has him and is killing him.

The scarred man's great curving blade is out,
naked in the night, lifted high over his head, but
something is careening at him from out of the
darkness. It is as if the night itself has

BENEATH AN OPAL MOON 9

abruptly come alive, filled with vengeance and a
cold implacable hatred.

His sword whispers in the air as it descends but
encounters nothing. Fingers like bars of steel
enwrap his right wrist, twisting. He fights, jabbing
with his left fist, his feet, his legs. His knee lifts for
a blow and something heavy smashes into it,
splintering the kneecap. The scarred man grunts as
the breath shoots out of him. Pain flares. His left
wrist snaps and he cries out. His blade clatters to
the floor.

He is borne as if weightless onto the bed. A
tightness against his chest and then more pain,
lancing through him, turning his vitals to water.
He soils himself and is ashamed as the stench rises
about him.

Skin and flesh part. His pulse pounds like surf
against his inner ear and sounds become distorted.