"Son of the Sword" presents an early Anderson escape and fight scene. As Thoas and his men leave the palace, the guard captain pulls the veil from the face of the woman who accompanies them and sees that they are smuggling out Ankhenamen. Thoas kills the captain and another guard with his sword. One of his men kills a third guard by crashing the loaded treasure chest that he carries onto the guard's head, thus losing the treasure which spills out onto the street. Ankhenamen's Kushite dwarf slave, Pepy, who is accompanying the escape, kills the fourth and last guard with his dagger. Abandoning another treasure chest which now would be too much to carry, they run, the two remaining chests each carried by two of the men. People scatter and a horn sounds behind them but Pepy knows which way to go and I must now go to the kitchen, leaving Poul Anderson's characters in flight until they next time that we open their book.
Good night, folks.
1 comment:
Note that there's no more rapid method of communication than sending out runners with messages. Makes it easier to get away!
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