"Eternal Champion - 01 - The Eternal Champion" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

'I have come,' I said. 'I am here, King Rigenos. I have left nothing worth while
behind me, but do not let me regret that leaving.'

'You will not regret it, Champion.' He was pale, exhilarated, smiling. I looked
at lolinda who dropped her eyes modestly and then, as if against her will,
raised them again to regard me. I turned to the dais on my right. 'My sword,' I
said, reaching for it. I heard King Rigenos sigh with satisfaction. 'They are
doomed now, the dogs,' he said.


CHAPTER TWO

'THE CHAMPION HAS COME!'


They had a sheath for the sword. It had been made days before. King Rigenos left
to get it, leaving me alone with his daughter.

Now that I was here, I did not think to question how I came and why it should
have been possible. Neither, it seemed, did she question the fact. I was there.
It seemed inevitable.

We regarded one another silently until the king returned with the scabbard.

'This will protect us against your sword's poison,' he said.

He held it out to me and for a moment I hesitated before stretching my own hand
towards it and accepting it.

The king frowned and looked at the ground. Then he folded his arms across his
chest.

I held the scabbard in my two hands. It was opaque, like old glass, but the
metal was unfamiliar to me-or rather to John Daker. It was light, flexible and
strong.

I turned and picked up the sword. The handle was bound in gold thread and was
vibrant to my touch. The pommel was a globe of deep onyx and the hilt was worked
in strips of silver and black onyx. The blade was long and straight and sharp,
but it did not shine like steel. Instead, in colour, it resembled lead. The
sword was beautifully balanced and I swung it through the air and laughed aloud,
and it seemed to laugh with me.

'Erekose! Sheath it!' cried King Rigenos in alarm. 'Sheath it! The radiation is
death to all but yourself!'

I was reluctant, now, to put the sword away. The feel of it awakened a dim
remembrance . . .