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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] kept a respectful distance from the game; he was therefore unable to learn the hierarchy of combinations. The young woman came forward once again to serve a mug of unrequested beer, which Elvo was pleased to accept. He tried to catch the woman s eye so that he might have a friendly word with her when into the room came a man of most extraordinary appearance and mien. His face exhibited a range of mismatched over-large features: an odd wide jaw, sunken cheeks, heavy cheekbones, a splayed nose, a tall round forehead, a wide flexible slit of a mouth twisted in a mindless grin. His eyes, round and pale buff, blinked and winced as if the light were uncomfortable. Long heavy arms dangled from burly shoulders; his torso file:///C|/3278%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%2...ack%20Vance%20-%20The%20Gray%20Pr ince.html (69 of 132) [1/11/2005 11:52:19 PM] THEGRAYPRINCE was knotted and knobbed with bone and muscle; his long legs terminated in massive feet. He looked, thought Elvo, both imbecilic and cunning; simple yet rich in fancy. The gamblers saw him with little side-flicks of vision but paid him no heed; the pot-boy ignored him as if he had not existed. He approached the woman and spoke to her; then, with a soft sad grin on his face, struck her an open-handed blow on the side of the head, creating a sound which caused Elvo s stomach to churn. The woman fell to the floor; the man kicked her in the neck. An instantaneous image struck into Elvo s mind which never would leave him: the pale young woman on the floor, blood oozing from her mouth, face placid, eyes staring; the man looking down in proud delight, heavy foot raised to kick again, like a man performing a grotesque jig; the players at the table showing glittering side-glances but indifferent and remote; himself, Elvo Glissam of Olanje, sitting astounded and horrified. To his amazement he saw himself reach out, catch the foot and pull, so that the man fell sprawling, only to leap up with incredible lightness, and still smiling his soft sad smile, aim a kick for Elvo s head. Never in his life had Elvo fought with his hands; he hardly knew what to do except jerk back, so that the force of the kick thrust air against his face. In desperation he seized the foot and ran forward. The man, face suddenly contorted in dismay, hopped back with lurching foolish hops, out the door, out across the balcony, over the rail, out into the void. With nothing better to do, Elvo tottered back to his seat. He sat panting and presently he drank from the mug of beer. The players occupied themselves with their game. The woman hobbled away. The room was quiet except for the sounds at the gaming table. Elvo rubbed his forehead and stared down into the beer. The episode evidently had been a hallucination& For several minutes Elvo sat immobile. An odd thought occurred to him: the man had worn no fiaps, no talismans of protection. Elvo thoughtfully finished the mug of beer, then rose to his feet and went out to his hammock. Chapter 8 Page 51 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html In the morning no reference was made to the episode. The inn-keeper served a breakfast of bread, tea and cold meat, and took coins from Gerd Jemasze in settlement of the account. The three departed Sailmaker s Inn, crossed the compound to the area behind the workshops. The sky-car rested as they had left it. Jemasze turned his attention to the sail-wagons. At a big eight-wheeled beer-cart, with three masts, a multiplicity of yards, shrouds, sprits and halyards, he merely glanced; the six-wheeled and four-wheeled house-wagons he gave more consideration. Their pneumatic wheels stood eight feet tall; the house hung on spring suspensions with less than two feet of ground clearance; most were rigged as schooners or two- masted brigantines; like the cargo-wagons, they seemed more adapted to passages down the monsoon winds than to speed or maneuverability. Jemasze turned his attention to a land-yawl about thirty feet long, with four independently sprung wheels, a flat bed with a pair of cuddies fore and aft. The shop foreman had been unobtrusively watching; now he came forward to ascertain Jemasze s requirements, and the two engaged in negotiations which occupied the better part of an hour. Jemasze finally obtained a rental rate for the land-yawl at a figure he file:///C|/3278%20Sci-Fi%20and%20Fantasy%2...ack%20Vance%20-%20The%20Gray%20Pr ince.html (70 of 132) [1/11/2005 11:52:19 PM] THEGRAYPRINCE considered tolerable, and the shop foreman went off to find sails for the craft. Jemasze and Kurgech returned to the inn to buy provisions, while Elvo transferred luggage and personal belongings from the sky-car to the land-yawl. Moffamides the priest sauntered across the yard. You have selected a good wagon for your journey, he told Elvo. Sound and stiff, fast and easy. Elvo Glissam politely acquiesced in the priest s judgment. What kind of sail-wagon did Uther Madduc use? Moffamides eyes went blank. A wagon somewhat similar, so I would suppose. Several men came forth from the shop with sails which they proceeded to bind to the masts. Moffamides watched with an air of benign approval. Elvo wondered whether he should refer to the events of the night before, which now seemed totally unreal. Some kind of conversation seemed in order. He counterfeited a tone of ease and lightness. My home is in Szintarre; at Olanje, actually. I ve become interested in the erjins. How in the world do you tame such creatures? Moffamides slowly turned his head and inspected Elvo through heavy-lidded eyes. The process is complicated& We start with erjin cubs and train them to our commands. I assumed as much, but how can a ferocious beast become a semi-intelligent domestic servant? Ha ha! The ferocious beasts are semi-intelligent at the start! We convince them that they live better as Uldra mounts than as starvelings running naked across the desert, and better still as Outker house servants. Then you communicate with them? Moffamides raised his eyes to the sky. To some extent. Telepathically? Moffamides frowned. We are not truly adept. Hmm. In Olanje an important society intends to stop the enslavement of erjins. What do you think of this? Foolishness. The erjins are otherwise wasted and we are supplied good wheels and bearings and metal parts for our sail-wagons. The commerce is profitable. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |