"robert asprin - 06 - little myth marker" - читать интересную книгу автора (Asprin Robert)

As I said before, I know absolutely nothing about
dragon poker other than the fact that at the end of a
hand you have five cards face up and four face down.
Anything I've tried to get my partner, Aahz, to teach me
more about the game, I've been lectured about '^only
playing games you know" and "don't go looking for
trouble." Since I was already looking for mischief, the
chance to defy both my bodyguards and my partner was
too much to resist. I mean, I figured the worst that
could happen was that I'd lose a couple thousand in
gold. Right?

"You're all overlooking something. This is the forty-
third hand and Skeeve there is sitting in a chair facing
north!"

I took my cue from the groans and better-censored
expressions of disgust and raked in the pot.

"Say, Geek," Grunk said, his red eyes glittering at
me through half-lowered eyelids. "Are you sure this
Skeeve fellow isn't using magic?"

"Guaranteed," responded the Deveel who was gath-
ering the cards and shuffling for the next hand. "Any
game I host here at the Even-Odds is monitored against
magic and telepathy.''

"Weelll, I don't normally play cards with magicians,
and I've heard that Skeeve here is supposed to be pretty
good in that department. Maybe he's good enough that
you just can't catch him at it."

I was starting to get a little nervous. I mean, I wasn't
using magic . . . and even if I was going to, I wouldn't
know how to use it to rig a card game. The trouble was
that Grunk looked perfectly capable of tearing my arms
off if he thought I was cheating. I began racking my
brain for some way to convince him without admitting
to everyone at the table just how little I knew about
magic.

"Relax, Grunk. Mr. Skeeve's a good player, that's
all. Just because he wins doesn't mean he's cheating."

That was Pidge, the only other human-type in the
game. I shot him a grateful smile.

"I don't mind someone winning," Grunk muttered