"James E. Gunn - The Magicians" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gunn James E)

Great things indeed."
He'd heard about me? "You haven't heard anything until you've heard me blow my trumpet."
 "Exactly," he said, "We're all waiting for that." He turned his blue eyes back on Ariel. "I've been
so out of touch, my dear, I haven't even heard how your father died."
"Oh," she said slowly, as if measuring the impact of every word, "he just seemed to waste away."
"Waste away!" Sammael said. The words had connotations that bleached the red face. "Oh,
dear. Wasted? Oh, my!" He was backing away as if Ariel had just announced that she was a carrier of
the plague. "Very sad. Very sad indeed. Ah well, we all must go. But wasted! Good-bye, my dear.
AndтАФ" He had been about to say "good luck," I thought, but he had reconsidered and turned away.
I looked at Ariel. She was staring regretfully after the rapidly disappearing white hair. "That's
what always happens," she said, "but I had hopes for Sammael."
Just then I saw my man come through a small door beside the backdrop at the far end of the
room. He ascended the three steps to the platform and began to converse with another man who had
been waiting there. "Who's that?" I asked before I thought, touching her arm. It was a dumb thing to do;
if I was a member of the society I should know the others.
"I wish I knew," Ariel said.
"He's a stranger?" I asked, surprised.
"Of course not."
"Then who is he?"
"He's the Magus."
"The Magus?"
'That's what we call the president of our society," she said.
"But what's his name?"
"He calls himself Solomon."
"Or pays five dollars. I know." I sighed and turned away. I would have enjoyed Ariel's company
in other circumstances, but I had responsibilities. "See you around, Ariel."
"Good luck!" she called after me.
The seats had begun to fill up, but the back row was still empty. I wandered over and sat down.
Overhead the crystal chandeliers tinkled their eternal music. In spite of the fact that I couldn't feel a
breeze.
Good luck! Ariel had said. I needed it. I wasn't handling this assignment in a professional manner.
Of course this wasn't an ordinary assignment; every question got the wrong answer. But I was blundering
along, giving myself away every chance I got. The girl nowтАФshe knew I didn't belong. I'd told her as
much several times. But she didn't seem to care. How many others knew?
Good luck? Funny thing: suddenly I felt lucky.
It had all seemed too simple at first. Here's a thousand bucks. All you have to do is find out a
man's name.
A name, a name. What's in a name? Gabriel, Ariel, Prospero, Sammael, La Voisin (How did a
name like that slip in among the others?), and now Solomon the Magus. I should have told the old lady
that. I should have said, "What's in a name?"

Chapter 2
The gates of hell are open, night and day;
Smooth the descent, and easy is the way.
тАФVirgil,
Aeneid

I sat there alone in the office for a long time, talking to myself. I'd got in the habit of doing that. It was a
bad habit, all right, but there was nobody else to talk to, and it was better than listening to the spiders
spinning their webs in the corners and across the door.