"Henry Lion Oldie. Fragments of novels in english translation" - читать интересную книгу автора

The novel "THE WAY OF THE SWORD" was highly appreciated by the readers;
it became an extremely popular book. This novel was published five times in
Russia, the number of copies amount to seventy thousands.
The novel "The Way of the Sword" got "The Great Zilant" prize at
"ZilantCon" SF Fantasy Festival in Kazan (Russia) in 1999.




Henry Lion Oldie. The way of the sword (fragments)





-- Here's a man standing at the crossway
between life and death. How should he behave
himself?
-- Obviate your duality and let only your
sword stand against the sky.

From the talks of Kusunoki
Masasighe with his teacher


BOOK I. KABIR

Part 1. The sword of the man.

Chapter 1.

1.

We met the Kharzian near the corner tower Al-Koutuna in a dirty
narrow lane of Jaffar-lo quarter -- there the streets are numerous and
tangled like the threads of a worn sword-knot. Its Carrier stood in our
way, with his crooked legs wide apart and his head bowed to the shoulder.
The skull-cap on his head was incredibly small. It was embroidered
skilfully with minute glass beads. The Carrier hands weren't hidden and
he held nothing in them -- the ordinary hands of a good Carrier, smooth
and calm.
Coming nearer I felt him through and at first I've found no traces
of a Brilliant equal to me -- there was nothing at his shoulder, nor at
the belt under the folds of his cloak nor...
Suddenly the Carrier threw something into the cool evening air,
something like a big white butterfly made of lace. It began to fall
slowly while the Carrier's other hand touched the belt I haven't yet
seen. The buckle clicked loudly, and the released blade sang unfolding
into a steel strip.