"Michael Swanwick - The Raggle Taggle Gypsy - O" - читать интересную книгу автора (Swanwick Michael)

Machine-gun the infant Charlemagne and within the year those who had been there
would remember him having been stabbed. A century later every detail of his career
as Emperor would be chronicled, documented and revered, down to his dotage and
death.

It hadn't made a lot of sense to Crow, but, "Live with it," the physicist had said, and
staggered off in search of his great-great-five-hundred-times-great-grandmother with
silver in his pocket and a demented gleam in his eye. So here it was.

Not an hour later, they arrived at the Coliseum and were sent around back to the
tradesmen's entrance.

"Ave," Crow said to the guard there. "I want to talk to one of theтАФhey, Annie,
what's Latin for animal wrangler?"

"Bestiarius."

"Yeah, that's it. Fella name of Carpophorus."

****

Carpophorus was delighted with his new pets. He watched eagerly as the truck was
backed up to the cage. Two sparsores with grappling-hooks unlatched the truck
doors and leaped back as eleven nightmares poured out of the truck. They were all
teeth and claws and savage quickness. One of their number lay dead on the floor of
the truck. Not bad for such a long haul.

"What are they?" Carpophorus asked, entranced.

"Deinonychi."

"Terrible-claws', eh? Well, they fit the bill, all right." He thrust an arm between the
bars, and then leaped back, chuckling, as two of the lithe young carnivores sprang at
it. "Fast, too. Oh, Marcus will be pleased!"

"I'm glad you like 'em. Listen, we got a little trouble here with our steering column."

"Down that ramp, to the right. Follow the signs. Tell Flamma I sent you." He turned
back to the deinonychi, and musingly said, "Should they fight hoplomachi? Or
maybe dimachaeri?" Crow knew the terms; the former were warriors who fought in
armour, the latter with two knives.

"Horses would be nice," a sparsore commented. "If you used andabatae, they'd be
able to strike from above."

Carpophorus shook his head. "I have it! Those Norse bear-sarkers I've been saving
for something specialтАФwhat could be more special than this?"

It was a regular labyrinth under the Coliseum. They had everything down there:
workshops, brothels, training rooms, even a garage. At the mention of Carpophorus'