"03 - The Wizardry Cursed (b)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cook Rick)

The Wizardry Cursed

by Rick Cook

The Wizardry Cursed (c) 1991


ONE: CONTRACT

Beware of open-ended contracts. They are hell to support.

-Programmers' saying

Torches flickered and smoked, casting fitful light through the cavern.
Tosig Longbeard, King of the Dwarves-or at least the Mid-Northeastern
Dwarves of the Southern Forest Range-shifted on his carved alabaster
throne and eyed his visitors with distaste.

It was, he had to admit, a most unusual sight. Three Troll Kings in the
same room and not fighting. The sight and stench would have been enough to
gag a human; but dwarves have a somewhat different aesthetic and King
Tosig's attitude owed more to the delegation's demands than their looks or
smell. He drummed his fingers on the throne arm as he tried to figure a
diplomatic way out of this mess.

The smaller troll in the center did the talking. He was unusually
intelligent for a troll and their host had no doubt he was the one who had
organized this meeting. Pox rot him! Tosig thought as he waited for him to
run down.

"This is not a matter for me or my people," Tosig broke in at last. "If
this new human wizard bothers you, then destroy him."

"We cannot," the troll king replied. "This magic is too strong." His face
split into a snaggle-toothed grin. "But dwarves have powerful magic.
Dwarves can kill this new wizard."

His two companions nodded and growled assent. King Tosig glowered back and
felt a tiny burning sensation kindle somewhere up under his breastbone. At
that moment he truly wanted to kill the new wizard who had brought him all
this trouble.

At that moment the new wizard wouldn't have been at all averse to being
killed.

Like King Tosig's hall, the chamber was underground and dimly lit. But
instead of rough stone, the walls were fine mosaics in subdued and
tasteful patterns. There were no smoky torches here, only a diffuse
radiance that seemed to emanate from everywhere in the room. And while the
creature that faced the two humans across the table might be decidedly