With fantastic bounds and prancings he entered the ring and whirled before his bound and silent captives. With another man it would have seemed ridiculous — a foolish savage prancing meaninglessly in a whirl of feathers. But that ferocious face glaring out from the billowing mass gave the scene a grim significance. No man with a face like that could seem ridiculous or like anything except the devil he was.
Suddenly he froze to statuesque stillness (вдруг он оцепенел в застывшей =
statuesque [stæʧʋˈesk], erect [ɪˈrekt], increase [ɪnˈkri: s]
Suddenly he froze to statuesque stillness; the plumes rippled once and sank about him. The howling warriors fell silent. Zogar Sag stood erect and motionless, and he seemed to increase in height — to grow and expand. Balthus experienced the illusion that the Pict was towering above him, staring contemptuously down from a great height, though he knew the shaman was not as tall as himself. He shook off the illusion with difficulty.
The shaman was talking now, a harsh, guttural intonation that yet carried the hiss of a cobra (шаман теперь говорил /с/ раздражающей гортанной интонацией, которая тем не менее несла /в себе/ шипение кобры). He thrust his head on his long neck toward the wounded man on the stake (он вытянул свою голову на /его/ длинной шее в сторону раненого мужчины у столба); his eyes shone red as blood in the firelight (его глаза засветились красным, как кровь в свете костра). The frontiersman spat full in his face (житель приграничья плюнул прямо в его лицо =
The shaman was talking now, a harsh, guttural intonation that yet carried the hiss of a cobra. He thrust his head on his long neck toward the wounded man on the stake; his eyes shone red as blood in the firelight. The frontiersman spat full in his face.
With a fiendish howl Zogar bounded convulsively into the air (с ужасным воем Зогар подпрыгнул судорожно в воздух), and the warriors gave tongue to a yell that shuddered up to the stars (и воины подали голос в виде вопля, который содрогнулся =
fiendish [ˈfi: ndɪʃ], convulsively [kənˈvʌlsɪvlɪ], haste [heɪst]
With a fiendish howl Zogar bounded convulsively into the air, and the warriors gave tongue to a yell that shuddered up to the stars. They rushed toward the man on the stake, but the shaman beat them back. A snarled command sent men running to the gate. They hurled it open, turned and raced back to the circle. The ring of men split, divided with desperate haste to right and left. Balthus saw the women and naked children scurrying to the huts. They peeked out of doors and windows. A broad lane was left to the open gate, beyond which loomed the black forest, crowding sullenly in upon the clearing, unlighted by the fires.