"Stanley G. Weinbaum - Margaret Of Urbs 01 - The Black Flame" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weinbaum Stanley G)

and I trav-eled into the Empire. I saw all of them about the city of N'Orleans."

"And is sheтАФwhat they say she is?"

"The Princess?" Vail's eyes dropped. "Men say she is beautiful."

"But you think not?"

"What if she is?" snapped the girl almost defiantly. "Her beauty is like her youth, like her very
lifeтАФartificial, preserved after its allotted time, frozen. That's itтАФfrozen by sorcery. And as for the rest
of herтАФ" Vail's voice lowered, hesitated, for not even the plain-spoken valley girls discussed such things
with men. "They say she has outworn a dozen lovers," she whispered.

Hull was startled, shocked. "Vail!" he muttered. She swung the subject back to safer ground, but he
saw her flush red. "Don't tell me there's no magic!" she said sharply.

"At least," he returned, "there's no magic will stop a bullet save flesh and bone. Yes, and the wizard
who stops one with his skull lies just as dead as an honest man."

"I hope you're right," she breathed timidly. "Hull, he must be stopped! He must!"

"But why feel so strongly, Vail? I like a fightтАФbut most men say that life in the Empire is much like
life without, and who cares to whom he pays his taxes if only-

He broke off suddenly, remembering. "Your father!" he exclaimed. "The eldarch!"

"Yes, my father, Hull. If Joaquin Smith takes Ormiston, my father is the one to suffer. His taxes will
be gone, his lands parceled out, and he's old, HullтАФold. What will become of him then? I know many
people feel the way youтАФthe way you said, and so they fight half-heartedly, and the Master takes town
after town without killing a single man. And then they think there is magic in the very name of Joaquin
Smith, and he marches through armies that outnumber him ten to one." She paused. "But not Ormiston!"
she cried fiercely. "Not if the women have to bear arms!"

"Not Ormiston," he agreed gently.

"You'll fight, Hull, won't you? Even though you're not Ormiston born?"

"Of course. I have bow and sword, and a good pistol. I'll fight."

"But no rifle? Wait, Hull." She rose and slipped away in the darkness.
 In a moment she was back again. "Here. Here is rifle and horn and ball. Do you know its use?"

He smiled proudly. "What I can see I can hit," he said, "like any mountain man."

"Then," she whispered with fire in her voice, "send me a bullet through the Master's skull. And one
besides between the eyes of Black MargotтАФfor me!"

"I do not fight women," he said.

"Not woman but witch!"