"Anderson, Kevin J - Game 1 - Game Earth" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Kevin J)

Bryl snored softly.
In the background of the swamp he could hear Gairoth bellowing. The insect songs fell silent for a moment, then continued.
Vailret crumpled the soggy cloak into a ball before tossing it onto the scum of the pool. Then he sat back to watch the tentacled thing rise to the surface, waving its whiplike appendages and curling around the scarlet fabric. The creature pulled the cloak beneath the scum, like new prey.
Lurching forward as fast as he could, Gairoth reached his camp and smashed the spiked club against a tree trunk. He roared a battle cry that made the air vibrate, holding high the skull with the Air Stone. Rognoth lunged to the end of his chain, snarling.
But they found no one to fight.
Rognoth blinked his eyes. Gairoth came to a full stop, confused. "Haw! We skeered 'em off! They gots none of my treasure! Haw!" Gairoth mopped his brow.
Breathless, Delrael reached the camp and flashed a glance to the trees. He saw the damp patch on the ground where cesspool water had dribbled from Bryl's cloak, but the half-Sorcerer was gone.
Rognoth raised his scaly nose in the air, looking around with runny yellow eyes. When he saw the spot where Bryl had been, he snorted clouds of black, oily smoke.
"Shut up, stupid dragon! Nothing be there!" Gairoth snatched up a bone from the ground and bounced it off Rognoth's head.
"Gairoth, they gots your magic man!" Delrael pointed to the severed rope hanging from the cypress branch.
The ogre let his mouth drop open. Rognoth leaped to his feet, but the chain strangled him and he wheezed. Gairoth turned around in circles, looking for someone to hit with his club.
Delrael saw that the ogre needed help. "Cesspool! But we catch 'em! Bonk! Quick!" He gave Gairoth a helpful shove in the right direction.
Rognoth galloped down the path as Gairoth stumbled after him, clinging to the iron chain. The ogre clutched the skull in his hand, holding the Air Stone in place with his thumb as he grasped the thick iron chain. But he didn't seem to know what to do with the diamond. Delrael ran behind.
The dragon reached the edge of the cesspool, with Gairoth fighting to keep his footing. They arrived just in time to see the tentacled creature swallow something bright and scarlet. Rognoth yelped and leaped ahead, not slowing down as he reached the bank.
"Stupid dragon!" Gairoth bellowed. He let go of the chain, but it became tangled around the Air Stone and the skull. Both the dragon and the ogre plunged into the cesspool, vanishing under the scum. Rognoth splashed to the surface, looking around, tongue lolling out. A whine broke from his throat as he realized where he had landed. Clawing at the thick water, he began to swim.
Gairoth emerged, pulling duckweed out of his eye and spitting green sludge from his mouth. Delrael saw with dismay that the skull in the ogre's hand had broken. The Air Stone had sunk to the bottom of the foul cesspool.
In the water, Gairoth's gaze settled on the pitiful dragon. His nostrils flared, and the cypress trees trembled as he roared his rage. "Rognoth!"
The dragon gulped as the ogre heaved the spiked club out of the cesspool and sloshed toward him. Threads of green slime dribbled from the club into the water, following Gairoth as he moved. Rognoth ducked under the deep water just as the ogre swung at him with a crashing blow.
Delrael sauntered up to the edge of the pool, chuckling. Vailret emerged from his hiding place, but looked downcast at seeing the Air Stone gone. He watched Gairoth's struggles in the water without sympathy. Vailret heaved a limp and groggy Bryl to his feet, bringing him into view.
The ogre stopped splashing and glared at them, astonished and betrayed. Delrael couldn't resist adding a last comment. "Now you've gone and lost the Air Stone, you clod. But we've got your magic man!"
Gairoth exploded in fury and charged toward the young man, but he stumbled in the mire. The ogre scrambled to his feet again and shook his fist in the air. "Delroth! I gonna bash you!"
Spine-covered tentacles rose up and writhed around him, translucent and glinting in the slanting afternoon light. A tentacle slapped around Gairoth's neck, and another slimy appendage grabbed his ankle and jerked him under the water.
Rognoth paddled toward the shore, but he could go no farther than his chain allowed.
The bulbous body sack of the jellyfish rose to the surface and burbled; more tentacles emerged, wrapping around Gairoth. The ogre trashed right and left, annoyed and helpless.
Tentacles coiled around the dragon's tail, but Rognoth whirled and snapped at them, biting deeply into the translucent flesh.
"Time to get going, Vailret," Delrael said. "How's Bryl?"
Vailret shrugged but kept looking dejectedly at the cesspool. "Why did Gairoth have to drop the Air Stone? Now we've lost it all over again!"
Delrael smiled. "At least we know _where_ it is. Maybe there's another quest in the offing?"
"It would keep the Outsiders satisfied, I guess." He picked up his pack and wrapped Bryl in the blanket. "You carry him, Del. Your strength score is a lot higher than mine."
Gairoth finally yanked his right hand free and with a thick slurping sound pulled the club out of the slime. Dragging himself toward the jellyfish with its own tentacles, the ogre bashed his club into the mass of the creature's head. More tentacles wrapped around the ogre's face, and both monsters went under the water thrashing.
Delrael hiked the half-Sorcerer over his shoulder. "Well, do you think the Outsiders enjoyed that one? The whole adventure?"
Vailret frowned at him, puzzled. "Why shouldn't they? It's the same type of stuff they've always liked."
They walked off, listening to the bellows and splashings from the cesspool until the sounds vanished into other swamp noises. Soon they would reach the hex-line and be back into forest terrain.
But Vailret kept thinking about Delrael's question. _What if the Outsiders were no longer interested?_ It felt like a premonition.
INTERLUDE: Outside
David yawned, making sure everybody saw him. Tyrone smiled with delight at the adventure, but Melanie saw Scott fidgeting. He and David seemed ... disinterested. She couldn't understand what had changed for them.
David picked at his fingernails.
Tyrone finally asked, "What's up your butt, David?"
Melanie nodded. "You've never been this bad before."
David looked at her, and suddenly Melanie had a sinking feeling that they had done exactly what he wanted. Now he could always say _they_ had raised the question.
"Since you ask -- " David dropped a handful of dice on the table with a loud clatter, "there's something I'd like to bring up."
Melanie frowned as he looked at each of them in turn, like Charlie Chan about to announce his pick for the Murderer of the Month.
"I think we should quit playing the Game."
Even Tyrone, who was usually happy to play anything someone suggested, gasped in surprise.
"But why?" Melanie asked.
"It's boring. We've been at it too long. There's nothing left to it -- it's not interesting anymore. Is that enough reasons? Look at the adventure we just finished: good, standard stuff. A big bad ogre, some treasure, an exciting chase. Your characters tricked their way out of it, as they always do, Melanie. It's like watching _Star Trek_ reruns -- they're great for a few years, but it gets old after a while." He brushed at the sleeve of his denim jacket.
"And aren't _we_ getting a little old for this stuff, too? Do you know how much crap I take from my parents about our stupid Game every week?"
Melanie stared at him, then at Scott and Tyrone, then at the dice scattered across the table. Anger kept her voice even. "Would you rather go out for sports, David? Be a jock? Or how about hanging around in video arcades turning into a joystick zombie? Would your parents prefer that?
"The Game makes us put _ourselves_ into a world we made up. Think of all we've done, all the history we've made. That's a lot more important than bouncing a ball through a hoop."
Scott looked at her a bit in surprise. "Don't go overboard, Mel. This is just a game. It's nothing real."