large [lɑ:ʤ], corselet [kɔ:slɪt], banquet [ˈbæŋkwɪt], board [bɔ:d]

The Cimmerian turned and fled from the chamber, down the silver stairs. So amazed was he that it did not occur to him to escape from the tower by the way he had entered it. Down that winding, shadowy silver well he ran, and came into a larger chamber at the foot of the gleaming stairs. There he halted for an instant; he had come into the room of the soldiers. He saw the glitter of their silver corselets, the sheen of their jeweled sword-hilts. They sat slumped at the banquet board, their dusky plumes waving somberly above their drooping helmeted heads; they lay among their dice and fallen goblets on the wine-stained, lapis-lazuli floor. And he knew that they were dead. The promise had been made, the word kept; whether sorcery or magic or the falling shadow of great green wings had stilled the revelry, Conon could not know, but his way had been made clear. And a silver door stood open, framed in the whiteness of dawn.

Into the waving green gardens came the Cimmerian (киммериец вошел в колышущийся зеленый парк) and, as the dawn wind blew upon him with the cool fragrance of luxuriant growths (и когда рассветный ветерок дохнул на него прохладным благоуханием буйной растительности; to blow — дуть; выдыхать, дохнуть; growth — рост; растительность; luxuriant — буйный, пышный, богатый), he started like a man waking from a dream (он вздрогнул, как человек, пробуждающийся ото сна; to start — начинать; вздрагивать, содрогаться). He turned back uncertainly (он нерешительно обернулся; to turn back — обернуться), to stare at the cryptic tower he had just left (чтобы посмотреть на загадочную башню, которую он только что покинул; to leave — покидать). Was he bewitched and enchanted (/не/ был ли он заколдован и зачарован)? Had he dreamed all that had seemed to have passed (/не/ приснилось ли ему все, что, казалось, произошло; to pass — проходить; происходить)? As he looked he saw the gleaming tower sway against the crimson dawn (когда он взглянул, то увидел, что мерцающая башня закачалась на фоне малиновой зари), its jewel-crusted rim sparkling in the growing light, and crash into shining shards (с покрытой драгоценностями оградкой, сверкающей на фоне усиливающегося света, и с грохотом рухнула блестящими осколками; to crash — с грохотом рушиться, разбиваться).