scene [si:n], police [pəˈli:s], frequent [fri:ˈkwent]

There was a priest of Anu whose temple, rising at the fringe of the slum district, was the scene of more than devotions. The priest was fat and full-fed, and he was at once a fence for stolen articles and a spy for the police. He worked a thriving trade both ways, because the district on which he bordered was the Maze, a tangle of muddy, winding alleys and sordid dens, frequented by the bolder thieves in the kingdom. Daring above all were a Gunderman deserter from the mercenaries and a barbaric Cimmerian.

Because of the priest of Anu, the Gunderman was taken and hanged in the market square (из-за = стараниями жреца Ану гундера арестовали и повесили на рыночной площади; to take — брать; арестовать; square — квадрат; площадь). But the Cimmerian fled (а киммериец убежал; to flee — убегать), and learning in devious ways of the priest's treachery (и, узнав окольными путями о предательстве жреца; devious — удаленный; окольный), he entered the temple of Anu by night and cut off the priest's head (он вошел в храм Ану ночью и отрезал жрецу голову; to cut off — отсечь, отрубить). There followed a great turmoil in the city (/за этим/ последовала большая суматоха в городе), but the search for the killer proved fruitless until a woman betrayed him to the authorities (но поиски убийцы оказывались бесплодными, пока одна женщина не выдала его властям; to prove — доказывать; оказываться; to betray — предавать; выдавать) and led a captain of the guard and his squad to the hidden chamber where the barbarian lay drunk (и не привела офицера стражи и его отделение в скрытую = тайную комнату, где варвар лежал пьяным; to lead — вести; captain — капитан; офицер; guard — охрана; стража; squad — группа; отделение;to lie — лежать).