"Gardner F. Fox - Kothar 01 - Kothar Barbarian Swordsman" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fox Gardner F)

give it to you who are without wealth. See it slays those who need slaying,
boy of the sea."

Kothar froze, still with his hand on the swordhilt. "What know you of
the sea that flung me as a babe on the shore at Grondel bay?"

"I know what the dead know."

"My real family? Where was I born?"

"It is not for me to tell. You must live your life as the gods have decreed.
That which you will do, your deeds and misdeeds, are written in the scrolls
of the gods in the imperishable script of Rath. No living man can read
them. Only the gods whom men worship, and the dead, can scan those
lines."

"You are dead," Kothar pointed out.

"True. But were I to sin in this regard, the gods might give me life and I
who have been dead fifty thousand of your years do not desire to live
again, other than as now —fleetingly, for moments out of Time." The dry
chuckle was soft with distance. "I am content in the place where I am.
Very content, Kothar the sellsword. But now, go. The queen is waiting."

A rotted hand lifted, pointing. The iron door gaped.

Kothar moved out into the air that was fragrant with the vine-flowers.
Yet the voice of Afgorkon followed him.

"Go to the hut of the witch Fristhia. There shall you find the queen."

The iron door slammed shut behind him.

The rusted bolt clicked into place.
Chapter Two
A grey wolf sat on its haunches, tongue lolling.

Kothar half drew his sword, but the gaunt animal at the edge of the
weald did not move and when Kothar put the sword back in its scabbard
and buckled the great belt at his lean middle, the wolf rose to its feet and
trotted off along a narrow forest trail. It halted and turned its head and its
glowing feral eyes seemed to call to the big barbarian.

The wolf would be his guide to the queen.

He walked through the stillness of the forest, pausing only once to
glance back at the dead mercenaries piled here and there outside the iron
door. Men would come and carry them off, but no one but himself would
ever explain how they had come to find death here in this ancient weald.