Читать книгу Sinbad: Rogue of Mars - John Garavaglia - Страница 26

The sound of the battle conch shell filled the arena. The spectators roared wildly as the primus was about to commence. Sinbad and Azrak turned around to look between the prison bars to see what the disturbance was about.

Sinbad could only make out a guard wrangling a horse. Sinbad had never seen any horses running through Mars before. When the horse advanced further into the arena, Sinbad discovered this creature wasn’t what he thought it was. It wasn’t a wild stallion at all. It was a man.

No, not a man—a centaur!

Sinbad couldn’t believe his eyes. This creature had the upper body of a man and a horse’s lower half. But he did not have the hooves of a horse, but three toes on each foot that resembled those similar of a gorilla. The centaur had a powerful frame. Broad heaving shoulders, massive chest, lean waist, and heavy arms. His skin was grey with a hue of purple, he had brown eyes, and a shock of tousled black hair crowned his balding forehead. Every time it swayed its head, its long ponytail would crack like a whip. The centaur was given a weapon from the guard, a kunai—a sharpened blade attached to a long piece of rope.

Astounded, Sinbad asked Azrak, “What is that?”

“A Kurwani,” Azrak replied implausibly. “I thought they were all dead.”

The elderly Azurian got off his perch and stared at the centaur.

“He is Kar-Tyr,” he said, “the last of his people.”

“Amazing,” Sinbad softly said in awe. He hadn’t seen a creature like that since his Golden Voyage years ago. But the one he encountered was a cyclops, and there wasn’t a griffin to swoop in to attack him as well.

“Kar-Tyr’s race, the Kurwani, valued combat over all things,” continued the elder as Sinbad heeded to every word he said. “They lived to fight and fought to live. For years they were the personal guard of the Dozhakian zhar—never asking for more than to prove themselves in

SINBAD: ROGUE OF MARS

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