"Jeffrey Lord - Blade 26 - City of the Living Dead" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lord Jeffery)

The curtains of the palanquin opened, and its occupant climbed out. Blade could see that he was more
than six feet tall and wore a blue robe with a white sash. He carried a golden helmet under one arm and
had a long curved sword slung across his back. He put on the helmet and appeared to be closely
examining the village. The gate was still tightly closed. The man drew his sword, waved it, at the wall, and
shouted loudly:

"In the name of the Shoba, as Aygoon of the Tribute, I call the village of Hores to the business of the
day."

There was no response. The Aygoon repeated the summons, shouting louder and waving the sword
more vigorously. Still silence. He did everything a third time, and this time he looked to Blade as if he
were about to have a fit.

Without a word the Aygoon waved his sword at one of the cannon. The gunner thrust his match into the
touchhole, and the gun went off with a whooomp and a thick cloud of white smoke. Dust and stone chips
flew from the village wall where the shot struck. The Aygoon waited for the dust to clear, then waved his
sword at another cannon.

Whooomp! Whooomp! Whooomp! Three cannon went off in rapid succession, and all three balls struck
the same section of wall as the first one. The wall shivered, and a six-foot section of the crest went down
with a crash and a rumble. A final shot from the last gun smashed one of the hinges of the gate.

Blade heard angry shouts from inside the wall, but the gate remained closed. Some of the archers
stepped forward and sent arrows arching over the wall into the village. This drew more shouts and a few
screams. The archers kept up a low but steady fire until the cannon were reloaded.

Now the gunners unfastened the rear wheels from one of the cannon so that the breech end of the
carriage dropped to the ground. The gunner pressed the match down into the touchhole, and the gun
hurled a shot clear over the wall to land among the houses. Blade heard even louder screams, this time of
pain, and the unmistakable crashing and crackling of a roof caving in.

That ended the defiance of the villagers. Perhaps they'd hoped their stubbornness would make the
soldiers hesitate or even withdraw. Perhaps they'd just been bluffing. In any case, the soldiers hadn't
hesitated, the bluff had been called, and the cannon were ready to hammer the village into rubble about
the ears of its people.

The screams and shouts from the village died away. Then the gate opened, and the people began filing
out to face the Shoba's soldiers. Someone in the village began pounding away on a gong. Blade saw the
farmers and herdsmen in the fields and pastures drop their tools and staffs and begin running toward the
village. Some of them had stripped to loincloths and came in such a hurry that they didn't even bother to
dress.

The people of the village might not be willing to face destruction, but they still weren't willing to crawl to
their enemies. They came out with their heads up and their faces blank. A few children burst into tears at
the sight of the soldiers drawn up before them, but were quickly hushed by their mothers.

At last the whole village was assembled, ready to submit to the Shoba's demands. Blade counted nearly
a thousand people, including more than two hundred men of military age.

Now the blue-robed Aygoon stepped forward, and from the ranks of the villagers, their chief stepped