"02 - An Excess of Enchantments" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

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And there, in his checkered suit, was Brax the traveling Salesde-mon, purveyor of previously owned enchanted weapons, "Every one a Creampuff!" And the sword was Cuthbert, a weapon that was unfortunately a bit of a coward. And he had seen Tap the Brownie during his last fairy tale.

His last fairy tale?

That's right! He was a prisoner of Mother Duck, who was currently storming down the hill toward them, pursued by a hairy fellow who looked rather like a wolf standing on his hind legs, sporting a green cap. Hadn't he seen this fellow before somewhere, too? Wuntvor shook his head.

I wondered what else I didn't remember.

Somebody was sneezing, but it didn't sound like my master. A large, blueish-purple, and quite horrible creature crawled from a ravine beneath the nearby bridge. It grabbed a corner of Brax's sportcoat and blew its nose.

"Guxx Unfufadoo, noble demon, Wants no more of fairy stories! Will no longer obey Mother; Will turn Mother into ducklings!"

"Is that so?" Mother Duck replied drily. "And what seems to have upset my little demon so?"

Guxx advanced on the old lady, his talons spread wide, ready to rip and shred. As he lifted his claws above the woman to prepare for the kill, he uttered three final words:

"No more poetry."

THREE

The wise wizard should, if at all possible, avoid making plans during a crisis. The only problem with this advice is that the mage often discovers that the crisis has already made plans for the wise wizard.

--The Teachings ofEbenezum, VOLUME VII

Guxx advanced on Mother Duck.

The old woman stood her ground. "Don't you think for a minute that you can defeat me. Once upon--"

"Did I hear someone mention poetry?" a booming voice called from the direction of the bridge. I turned away from Guxx to see Hubert the dragon landing in the river, the beautiful Alea astride his broad blue back. But wasn't there something different about the damsel? Perhaps it was that she was wearing a new gown of royal blue. Then again, I did not remember her blond tresses as being so long that they covered most of the dragon's back.

Still, all this fairy tale business seemed to be jumbling my memory. At that moment, I could not swear to anything.

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"We'll give you something better than poetry!" the dragon called. "Hit it, Damsel!" The beautiful Alea sang in a clear, high voice:

"All your troubles don't mean a thing, Whether you're rich, whether you're poor; Forget your troubles and dance and sing, For Damsel and Dragon are the cure!"

With that, she did an impromptu dance across Hubert's scales as the dragon beat time with his wings.

"If they're the cure," Snarks mumbled, "give me the disease."

"What are you two doing here?" Mother Duck demanded, forgetting Guxx to concentrate on the new arrivals. "You were supposed to wait on the other side of the bridge!"

"We were?" the dragon asked. "Well, why didn't someone tell us about this? We can take direction when required. We're theater people, you know."