"Andrew J. Offutt - Cormac 04 - Tigers Of The Sea" - читать интересную книгу автора (Offutt Andrew J)

striking terror into the hearts of Turk and Bedouin while his great Frankish broadsword hews them asunder.
Only three tales of this Conanomorphic adventurer exist, none of which has appeared between hard covers.
An unpublished fragment (which I have completed and titled тАЬThe Slave-PrincessтАЭ) describes how Cormac
Fitzgeoffrey fought in his first battle at the age of eight! Like Conan, he shows little tendency toward moody
philosophizing on the ephemeral nature of life; he is out for what plunder he can get from Moslem or Christian,
but possesses a rude, basic chivalry withal.
Such were the heroes one might call Robert E. HowardтАЩs тАЬformer incarnations.тАЭ Certainly they symbolize his
idealized self-conception, and no doubt it must have amused him to fantasize that such men had been part of
his own ancestry back through the mists of time, even into prehistory and the heroic ages of myth.
Two of the tales in this book were incomplete when they were discovered among HowardтАЩs effects; judging
from appearances, he probably finished them rather than abandoned them midway, and the endings were
later lost. I have written the last 700 or so words of тАЬThe Temple of AbominationтАЭ and the last 5,200 of тАЬTigers
of the Sea.тАЭ While I was editing this book, Glenn Lord discovered a much shorter and presumably earlier
version of тАЬThe Temple of AbominationтАЭ the final sentences of the version presented here were taken from it.
HowardтАЩs text was left as he wrote it, except for routine editing where errors and slight inconsistencies have
made changes desirable.

Richard L. Tierney

St. Paul, Minnesota
February 19, 1974


TIGERS OF THE SEA
тАЬTigers of the sea! Men with the hearts of wolves and thews of fire and steel! Feeders of ravens whose only joy
lies in slaying and dying! Giants to whom the death-song of the sword is sweeter than the love-song of a girl!тАЭ
The tired eyes of King Gerinth were shadowed.
тАЬThis is no new tale to me; for a score of years such men have assailed my people like hunger-maddened
wolves.тАЭ
тАЬTake a page from CaesarтАЩs book,тАЭ answered Donal the minstrel as he lifted a wine goblet and drank deep.
тАЬHave we not read in the Roman books how he pitted wolf against wolf? AyeтАФthat way he conquered our
ancestors, who in their day were wolves also.тАЭ
тАЬAnd now they are more like sheep,тАЭ murmured the king, a quiet bitterness in his voice. тАЬIn the years of the
peace of Rome, our people forgot the arts of war. Now Rome has fallen and we fight for our livesтАФand cannot
even protect our women.тАЭ
Donal set down the goblet and leaned across the finely carved oak table.
тАЬWolf against wolf!тАЭ he cried. тАЬYou have told meтАФas well I knew!тАФthat no warriors could be spared from the
borders to search for your sister, the princess HelenтАФeven if you knew where she is to be found. Therefore,
you must enlist the aid of other menтАФand these men I have just described to you are as superior in ferocity
and barbarity to the savage Angles that assail us as the Angles themselves are superior to our softened
peasantry.тАЭ
тАЬBut would they serve under a Briton against their own blood?тАЭ demurred the king. тАЬAnd would they keep faith
with me?тАЭ
тАЬThey hate each other as much as we hate them both,тАЭ answered the minstrel. тАЬMoreover, you can promise
them the rewardтАФonly when they return with the princess Helen.тАЭ
тАЬTell me more of them,тАЭ requested King Gerinth.
тАЬWulfhere the Skull-splitter, the chieftain, is a red-bearded giant like all his race. He is crafty in his way, but
leads his Vikings mainly because of his fury in battle. He handles his heavy, long shafted axe as lightly as if
it were a toy, and with it he shatters the swords, shields, helmets and skulls of all who oppose him. When
Wulfhere crashes through the ranks, stained with blood, his crimson beard bristling and his terrible eyes