"Jim Theis - The Eye of Argon (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Theis Jim)

his memory sifted back within his grips. This was not the land of the
dead, it was something infinitely more precarious than anything the grave
could offer. Death promised an infinity of peace, not the finite misery of
an inactive life of confined torture, forever concealed from the life
bearing shafts of the beloved rising sun. The orb that had been before
taken for granted, yet now cherished above all else. To be forever refused
further glimpses of the snow capped summits of the land of his birth, never
again to witness the thrill of plundering unexplored lands beyond the crest
of a bleeding horizon, and perhaps worst of all the denial to ever again
encompass the lustful excitement of caressing the naked curves of the body
of a trim yound wench.
This was indeed one of the buried chasms of Hell concealed within the
inner depths of the palace's despised interior. A fearful ebony chamber
devised to drive to the brinks of insanity the minds of the unfortunately
condemned, through the inapt solitude of a limbo of listless dreary
silence.

-3 1/2-

A tightly rung elliptical circle or torches cast their wavering shafts
prancing morbidly over the smooth surface of a rectangular, ridged alter.
Expertly chisled forms of grotesque gargoyles graced the oblique rim
protruberating the length of the grim orifice of death, staring forever
ahead into nothingness in complete ignorance of the bloody rites enacted in
their prescence. Brown flaking stains decorated the golden surface of the
ridge surrounding the alter, which banked to a small slit at the lower
right hand corner of the altar. The slit stood above a crudely pounded
pail which had several silver meshed chalices hanging at its sides.
Dangling at the rimof golden mallet, the handle of which was engraved with
images of twisted faces and groved at its far end with slots designed for a
snug hand grip. The head of the mallet was slightly larger than a clenched
fist and shaped into a smooth oval mass.
Encircling the marble altar was a congregation of leering shamen.
Eerie chants of a bygone age, originating unknown eons before the memory of
man, were being uttered from the buried recesses of the acolytes' deep
lings. Orange paint was smeared in generous globules over the tops of thw
Priests' wrinkled shaven scalps, while golden rings projected from the
lobes of their pink ears. Ornate robes of lusciour purple satin enclosed
their bulging torsos, attached around their waists with silvered silk
lashes latched with ebony buckles in the shape of morose mis-shaped skulls.
Dangling around their necks were oval fashoned medalions held by thin gold
chains, featuring in their centers blood red rubys which resembled crimson
fetish eyeballs. Cushoning their bare feet were plush red felt slippers
with pointed golden spikes projecting from their tips.
Situated in front of the altar, and directly adjacent to the copper
pail was a massive jade idol; a misshaped, hideous bust of the shamens'
pagan diety. The shimmering green idol was placed in a sitting posture on
an ornately carved golden throne raised upon a round, dvory plated dias; it
bulging arms and webbed hands resting on the padded arms of the seat. Its
head was entwined in golden snake-like coils hanging over its oblong ears,