[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
quaff."
"Very well, you old miser. Four gold bars."
"Five."
Hringorl cursed sulfurously. "Some night, you ancient pimp, you will provoke
me too far. Besides, the girl is old."
"Aye, in the ways of pleasure. Did I tell you that she once became an acolyte
of the Wizards of Azorkah? -- so that she might be trained by them to become a
concubine of the King of Kings and their spy in the court at
Horborixen. Aye, and eluded those dread necromancers most cleverly when she
had gained the erotic knowledge she desired."
Hringorl laughed with a forced lightness. "Why should I pay even one silver
bar for a girl who has been possessed by dozens? Every man's plaything."
"By hundreds," Essedinex corrected. "Skill is gained only by
experience, as you know well. And the greater the experience, the greater the
skill. Yet this girl is never a plaything. She is the instructress, the
revelator; she plays with a man for his pleasure, she can make a man feel king
of the universe and perchance -- who knows? -- even be that. What is
impossible to a girl who knows the pleasure-ways of the gods themselves --
aye, and of the arch-demons? And yet -- you won't believe this, but it's true
-- she remains in her fashion forever virginal. For no man has ever mastered
her."
"That will be seen to!" Hringorl's words were almost a laughing shout.
There was the sound of wine gulped. Then his voice dropped. "Very well, five
gold bars it is, you usurer. Delivery after tomorrow night's Show. The gold
paid against the girl."
"Three hours after the Show, when the girl's drugged and all's quiet.
No need to rouse the jealousy of your fellow tribesmen so soon."
"Make it two hours. Agreed? And now let's talk of next year. I'll want a black
girl, a full-blooded Kleshite. And no five-gold-bar deal ever again.
I'll not want a witchy wonder, only youth and great beauty."
Essedinex answered, "Believe me, you won't ever again desire another woman,
once you've known and -- I wish you luck -- mastered Vlana. Oh, of course, I
suppose -- "
Fafhrd reeled back from the tent a half dozen paces and there planted his feet
firm and wide, feeling strangely dizzy, or was it drunk? He had early guessed
they were almost certainly talking of Vlana, but hearing her name spoken made
a much greater difference than he'd expected.
The two revelations, coming so close, filled him with a mixed feeling he'd
never known before; an overmastering rage and also a desire to laugh hugely.
He wanted a sword long enough to slash open the sky and tumble the dwellers in
paradise from their beds. He wanted to find and fire off all the
Show's sky-rockets into the tent of Essedinex. He wanted to topple Godshall
with its pines and drag it across all the actors' tents. He wanted --
He turned around and swiftly made for the stable tent. The one groom was
snoring on the straw beside an empty jug and near the light sleigh of
Essedinex. Fafhrd noted with a fiendish grin that the horse he knew best
happened to be one of Hringorl's. He found a horse collar and a long coil of
light, strong rope. Then, making reassuring mumbles behind half-closed lips,
he led out the chosen horse -- a white mare -- from the rest. The groom only
snored louder.
He again noted the light sleigh. A risk-devil seized him and he unlaced the
stiff, pitchy tarpaulin covering the storage space behind the two seats.
Beneath it among other things was the Show's supply of rockets. He selected
Page 19
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
three of the biggest -- with their stout ash tails they were long as ski
sticks -- and then took time to relace the tarpaulin. He still felt the mad
desire for destruction, but now it was under a measure of control.
Outside he put the collar on the mare and firmly knotted to it one end of the
rope. The other end he fashioned into a roomy noose. Then, coiling the rest of
the rope and gripping the rockets under his left elbow, he nimbly mounted the
mare and walked it near the tent of Essedinex. The two dim silhouettes still
confronted each other across the table.
He whirled the noose above his head and cast. It settled around the apex of
the tent with hardly a sound, for he was quick to draw in the slack before it
rattled against the tent's wall.
The noose tightened around the top of the tent's central mast.
Containing his excitement, he walked the mare toward the forest across the
moon-bright snow, paying out the rope. When there were only four coils of it
left, he urged the mare into a lope. He crouched over the collar, holding it
firm, his heels clamped to the mare's sides. The rope tightened. The mare
strained. There was a satisfying, muffled _crack_ behind him. He shouted a
triumphant laugh. The mare plunged on against the rope's irregular restraint.
Looking back, he saw the tent dragging after them. He saw fire and heard yells
of surprise and anger. Again he shouted his laughter.
At the edge of the forest he drew his knife and slashed the rope.
Vaulting down, he buzzed approvingly in the mare's ear and gave her a slap on
the flank that set her cantering toward the stable. He considered firing off
the rockets toward the fallen tent, but decided it would be anticlimactic.
With them still clamped under his elbow, he walked into the edge of the woods. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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quaff."
"Very well, you old miser. Four gold bars."
"Five."
Hringorl cursed sulfurously. "Some night, you ancient pimp, you will provoke
me too far. Besides, the girl is old."
"Aye, in the ways of pleasure. Did I tell you that she once became an acolyte
of the Wizards of Azorkah? -- so that she might be trained by them to become a
concubine of the King of Kings and their spy in the court at
Horborixen. Aye, and eluded those dread necromancers most cleverly when she
had gained the erotic knowledge she desired."
Hringorl laughed with a forced lightness. "Why should I pay even one silver
bar for a girl who has been possessed by dozens? Every man's plaything."
"By hundreds," Essedinex corrected. "Skill is gained only by
experience, as you know well. And the greater the experience, the greater the
skill. Yet this girl is never a plaything. She is the instructress, the
revelator; she plays with a man for his pleasure, she can make a man feel king
of the universe and perchance -- who knows? -- even be that. What is
impossible to a girl who knows the pleasure-ways of the gods themselves --
aye, and of the arch-demons? And yet -- you won't believe this, but it's true
-- she remains in her fashion forever virginal. For no man has ever mastered
her."
"That will be seen to!" Hringorl's words were almost a laughing shout.
There was the sound of wine gulped. Then his voice dropped. "Very well, five
gold bars it is, you usurer. Delivery after tomorrow night's Show. The gold
paid against the girl."
"Three hours after the Show, when the girl's drugged and all's quiet.
No need to rouse the jealousy of your fellow tribesmen so soon."
"Make it two hours. Agreed? And now let's talk of next year. I'll want a black
girl, a full-blooded Kleshite. And no five-gold-bar deal ever again.
I'll not want a witchy wonder, only youth and great beauty."
Essedinex answered, "Believe me, you won't ever again desire another woman,
once you've known and -- I wish you luck -- mastered Vlana. Oh, of course, I
suppose -- "
Fafhrd reeled back from the tent a half dozen paces and there planted his feet
firm and wide, feeling strangely dizzy, or was it drunk? He had early guessed
they were almost certainly talking of Vlana, but hearing her name spoken made
a much greater difference than he'd expected.
The two revelations, coming so close, filled him with a mixed feeling he'd
never known before; an overmastering rage and also a desire to laugh hugely.
He wanted a sword long enough to slash open the sky and tumble the dwellers in
paradise from their beds. He wanted to find and fire off all the
Show's sky-rockets into the tent of Essedinex. He wanted to topple Godshall
with its pines and drag it across all the actors' tents. He wanted --
He turned around and swiftly made for the stable tent. The one groom was
snoring on the straw beside an empty jug and near the light sleigh of
Essedinex. Fafhrd noted with a fiendish grin that the horse he knew best
happened to be one of Hringorl's. He found a horse collar and a long coil of
light, strong rope. Then, making reassuring mumbles behind half-closed lips,
he led out the chosen horse -- a white mare -- from the rest. The groom only
snored louder.
He again noted the light sleigh. A risk-devil seized him and he unlaced the
stiff, pitchy tarpaulin covering the storage space behind the two seats.
Beneath it among other things was the Show's supply of rockets. He selected
Page 19
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
three of the biggest -- with their stout ash tails they were long as ski
sticks -- and then took time to relace the tarpaulin. He still felt the mad
desire for destruction, but now it was under a measure of control.
Outside he put the collar on the mare and firmly knotted to it one end of the
rope. The other end he fashioned into a roomy noose. Then, coiling the rest of
the rope and gripping the rockets under his left elbow, he nimbly mounted the
mare and walked it near the tent of Essedinex. The two dim silhouettes still
confronted each other across the table.
He whirled the noose above his head and cast. It settled around the apex of
the tent with hardly a sound, for he was quick to draw in the slack before it
rattled against the tent's wall.
The noose tightened around the top of the tent's central mast.
Containing his excitement, he walked the mare toward the forest across the
moon-bright snow, paying out the rope. When there were only four coils of it
left, he urged the mare into a lope. He crouched over the collar, holding it
firm, his heels clamped to the mare's sides. The rope tightened. The mare
strained. There was a satisfying, muffled _crack_ behind him. He shouted a
triumphant laugh. The mare plunged on against the rope's irregular restraint.
Looking back, he saw the tent dragging after them. He saw fire and heard yells
of surprise and anger. Again he shouted his laughter.
At the edge of the forest he drew his knife and slashed the rope.
Vaulting down, he buzzed approvingly in the mare's ear and gave her a slap on
the flank that set her cantering toward the stable. He considered firing off
the rockets toward the fallen tent, but decided it would be anticlimactic.
With them still clamped under his elbow, he walked into the edge of the woods. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]