"I - Odyssey" - читать интересную книгу автора (McGough Scott)

an apparently unconscious gesture.
"You'll want to speak to the Master of the Games then,"
Chainer said. He pointed across the enclosure to the box seats
across the arena. "There's the master now, talking to the Mer
ambassador."
The other side of the building held a host of individual
boxes, most of which were empty now, these being only the early
elimination rounds. Kamahl could see separate floating pods
hovering over the boxes, clustered around doors and a narrow
platform high on the arena wall.
"Those are only used by high officials and wealthy patrons of
the games." Chainer said as he followed Kamahl's eyes. "Usually
the Master of the Games oversees from there, but with so much
work still to be done, he is holding court where messengers can
easily be received and sent."
At the mention of a court, Kamahl turned his eyes down and
looked at the official's box. There sat the arena's ruler, rotund
and covered in drapes of expensive looking cloth. However, it was
his companions that fixed the barbarian's attention. Two figures
stood out against the backdrop of aides, guards, and servants.
Kamahl's teeth clenched as he considered the Mer seated at the
right hand of the Cabal official.
The ambassador looked remarkably human. Kamahl could see two
small silver-capped horns against the blue skin. The different
skin tone was barely worth mentioning. The barbarian had learned
something of the greater world during his years in the mountains.
Those born of and allied with the sea were well known for their
monstrous and bizarre appearance. The only oddity except for the
blue skin was the ambassador's clothes. The wraps of cloth lay
plastered against his azure flesh. While Kamahl looked on, a
servant slowly poured liquid over the limbs of his master. The
ambassador absently presented a leg for additional treatment,
never turning from his conversation.
The massive figure off to the side fitted KamahPs idea of
what a Mer citizen should look like. A sideboard piled high with
food lay open to the box patrons, but only one person took
advantage. The barbarian could think of two reasons for the
single eater.
First was the dangerous look of the diner. Kamahl was
reminded of a giant frog. The hulking figure would have
overtopped the barbarian by at least a foot, but until Kamahl
compared him with the other patrons of the box, he thought the
frog quite short. The amphibian was a mass of muscle, so wide
that the mind made the creature shorter than it was. The
creature's brilliant blue and yellow skin was dotted with short
growths that reminded the barbarian of spikes on a mace. The
mouth gaped wide as the frog swallowed an entire leg of lamb with
a single gulp.
The second reason that others might forego the repast was the
thick slime dripping from the frog creature's webbed hands. The