"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 03 - Toyman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

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Toyman
#3 in the Dumarest series

E.C Tubb




Chapter One
FOR THIRTY HOURS the sun had arched across the sky,
baking the desert with its oven-heat, but now that it was night
the temperature had already fallen to the point where water
turns to ice. It would, Dumarest knew, fall even lower during the
twenty-hour period of darkness. Toy was a world of violent
extremes.

He crouched closer to the fire, watching as Legrain fed it with
thorned scrub and shards of bleached and weathered bone.
Around them a circle of rock both shielded the fire from casual
view and reflected the heat. Above the piled stones the wind
gusted with freezing chill, heavy with the odor of weed and brine,
the sullen roar of crashing waves.

"A bad night," said Legrain. "But all nights are bad for the
defeated."

He carefully fed a fragment of bone to the flames. Like
Dumarest, he wore a sleeved tunic of vivid scarlet reaching to his
knees. A metal helmet and breastplate shone with the color of
gold. A belt at his waist supported a bag and scabbarded sword.
Earlier in the day he had also carried a shield and spear, but
both had been discarded in the conflict. Helmet, breastplate and
tunic showed dents and slashes. Blood from a minor wound had
dried on one cheek. Lit by the fire, his big-nosed face gave him
the appearance of a disheveled eagle.

"Warmth and rest," he said. "At night, in the arena, the lack
of either can kill as surely as sword and spear." He delved into
his bag and produced a scrap of meat. He speared it on the tip of
his sword and held it to the flames. "A bargain," he suggested. "A
share of my meat for a share of your water. You have water?"