"(ebook) Anthony Piers - Xanth 03 - Castle Roogna" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anthony Piers)

Dor sighed. "No way, without a bucket. We just aren't set up to handle this cactus."

"Yeah. A firedrake could handle it. Those plants don't like fire: it burns off their needles. Then they can't fight until they grow new ones, and that takes time. But we don't have any fire." He shook a few drops from his body. "Sometimes I wish you had more physical magic, Dor. If you could point your finger and paralyze or stun or burnЧ"

"Then the Good Magician would have had other defenses for his castle, that those talents would be useless against. Magic is not enough; you have to use your brain."

"How can a brain stop a needier from needling?" Grundy demanded. "The thing isn't smart; you can't make a deal with it."

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"The cactus isn't smart,'* Dor repeated, an idea forming. "So it might not grasp what would be obvious to us."

"Whatever you're talking about is not obvious to me, either," the golem said.

"Your talent is translation. Can you talk cactus language too?"

"Of course. But what has that to do withЧ"

"Suppose we told it we were dangerous to it? That we were salamanders, burning hot, about to burn it down?"

"Wouldn't work. It might be scaredЧbut all it would do would be to fire off a volley of needles, to kill the salamander before the creature could get close."

"Hm, yes. But what about something that wasn't threatening, but was still sort of dangerous? A fireman, maybe, just passing through with flame on low."

Grundy considered. "That just might work. But if it failedЧ"

"Doom," Dor finished. "We'd be pincushions."

Both looked back at the moat. The triton was watching them alertly. "Pincushions either way," Grundy said. "I sure wish we were heroes, instead of golems and boys. We're not cut out for this sort of thing."

"The longer we stand here, the more scared I get," Dor agreed. "So let's get on with it before I start crying," he added, and wished he hadn't phrased it quite that way.

Grundy looked at the needle-cactus again. "When I was really a golem, a little thing like a needier couldn't hurt me. I wasn't real. I felt no pain. But nowЧI'm too scared to know what to say."

"I'll say it. It's my quest, after all; you don't have to participate. I don't know why you're risking yourself here anyway."

"Because I care, you twit!"

Which had to be true. "Okay. You just translate what I say into cactus talk." Dor nerved himself again and walked slowly toward the vegetable monster.

"Say something! Say something!" Grundy cried, as

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needles oriented on them visibly, ready to fly off

ir handles.

Х "I am a fireman," Dor said uncertainly. "IЧI am made of fire. Anything that touches me gets burned to a crisp. This is my firedog, Grundy the growler. I am just taking my hot dog for a walk, just passing through, chewing idly on a firecracker. I love crackers!"