"01 - A Difficulty With Dwarves" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

'It seems your master and our masters have been doing a little business together, too,' Grott said as Slag ambled across the road to a spot opposite Vermin. 'And that business has led to an unfortunate situation. Now, because of your master, "the greatest wizard in the

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Western Kingdoms," all our masters are sneezing.'

'Yeah.' Slag smirked. 'Sneezing.'

Grott took a step in my direction. 'You probably don't realize how upset this situation makes us. Let me therefore give you a couple of examples.'

Slag and Vermin ambled toward me.

'Say you're a merchant in Vushta, used to paying a few pieces of gold each month as protection against evil sorcery. Now tell me, can a wizard who's allergic to magic protect anything?'

Grott didn't wait for my reply, but instead added: 'Let me give you another example. Say you're an apprentice, used to an occasional forbidden delight. What do you say when that delight's manager refuses to let you get near it, just because your master's malady might be contagious?'

Vermin walked away from his wall, sidestepping the stack of bricks he'd piled on the pavement. He used his knife to pick his teeth as he sauntered in my direction.

'Only one more example, Wuntvor,' Grott added ingratiatingly. 'Say, once again, that you are a magician's apprentice. This could give you a special standing with certain young women. Your job prospects are good. Full-fledged magicians have lots of power. And the ones that don't sneeze can make lots of gold as well, especially in Vushta. Now, it seems to me that the wise apprentice would find time to spend with all these young women, and show each one of them personally the advantages of a sorcerous career. But an apprentice won't be able to do anything of the kind if he has to spend all his time taking care of a sneezing wizard!'

I suddenly found Vermin's knife at my throat.

'It's very simple,' Grott continued, the smile gone from his face. 'All this sneezing around here is making our lives a

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little difficult. But we have a simple solution. Your master got us into this. And you're going to get us out of it.'

I opened my mouth to speak, but felt the knife point prick at my Adam's apple.

'We heard your master's hot stuff,' Grott went on, 'sneezing or no sneezing. We even heard you're pretty hot stuff, too, what with that jaunt down to the Netherhells and all. So we figure you can get everything back to normal by sometime in the very near future.' He reached forward to gently stroke the knife blade at my throat. 'Or else.'

'Yeah.' Slag towered over me. 'Else.'

'Are you threatening me?' I couldn't believe this. Fellow apprentices, resorting to violence! Is this what life in Vushta made of you? Perhaps I was happy I hadn't sampled any of the forbidden delights after all!

'Oh, no such thing.' Grott pulled his hand away. His smile once again dominated his face. 'We wouldn't think of causing you any harm. In fact, Vermin here is very good at improving the appearance of people he works on. He specializes in those little cosmetic extras, like cutting your ears back a trifle, or giving you an extra nose. But we wouldn't think of doing anything really violent.' He winked at Vermin. 'At least not yet.'

'Yeah.' Slag chortled. 'Yet.'

Vermin moved the knife point back a fraction of an inch, so that it but rested lightly against my throat.

'Well?' Grott prompted.

'Exactly what do you want me to do?' I asked. My hand still gripped my stout oak staff. I wondered how many of them I might be able to disable before they overwhelmed me.

'Why, that's simplicity itself,' Grott answered. 'We just need results - say, a cure for all our sneezing masters, or,

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