Читать книгу Sinbad: Rogue of Mars - John Garavaglia - Страница 20

Massive and slow-moving, rapid movements sounded at the other side. Shadows obscured the light that had been pouring through the thin crack of the door.

Sinbad stood ready. Through everyone else’s eyes, they all considered him lucky for staying alive for so long in his imprisonment. But Sinbad didn’t believe in such a thing. He believed a man could control his own fate by the actions that define him. Not by playing as destiny’s puppet. But he didn’t argue with divine intervention. Sinbad believed Allah had kept him alive because this world needed him. The sailor had no qualms on that notion. All he cared about was the wellbeing of others.

Before the guards could fully open the door, the massive beast broke loose onto the arena. Its monstrous strength knocked the enormous door off its hinges and broke in two with its colossal feet. Two great eyes blazed from the wavering shadows. The moktar gave out a primal roar, with his small trunk swinging in the air with fierce rage. The hideousness of its face transcended more beastly.

Sinbad’s hair rose up and he grasped his sword very tightly.

Cries of amazement rose amongst the assembled members of the audience and many scattered away from the creature.

He stared in the unknown at the creature, which sat with such uncanny patience before the closed door. He shuddered at the sight of the giant feet, thickly grown with hair that was almost fur-like. The body was thick, broad and bushy. It growled as it breathed.

To Sinbad, the creature resembled on what would happen if an elephant mated with a hippopotamus. This was far too horrific that even he could have imagined. The moktar’s long inverted tusks were both dilapidated from when it was captured. Its left tusk was broken in half during the pursuit from Akhdar’s elite hunters. Ever since it was first brought into captivity, the zhar made sure the

SINBAD: ROGUE OF MARS

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