"Huff, Tanya - We Two May Meet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

I he bath was helping. Deep, hot water to soak away the road and the indignities. How could she even consider becoming one again with that low-minded, badly dressed hussy?
On the other hand, how could she consider allowing the Netherhells to visit death and destruction on the Midworld?
Vigorously exfoliating an elbow, Magdelene wondered how she'd got herself into a situation with no viable alternatives.
The sound of raised voices caught her attention. One of the voices sounded familiar, although the language left much to be desired and nothing at all to the imagination.
"Oh, for the love of . . ." The water sluiced off skin and hair as Magdelene climbed from the tub, and by the time she reached her neat pile of clean clothes, she was completely dry. Dressing quickly as the noise level rose, she opened the bathing room door, stepped out into the hall, paused, and returned to hang the mat neatly over the side of the tub. There were some things a wizard had to do to retain her self-respect.
She wasn't surprised to see herself as the center of attention in the common room. After pushing through the crowd, she was a bit surprised to see that the man who had her double by the vest was standing on chicken legs under the multicolored arc of a rather magnificent tail. There were two others, also half-man half-chicken and a couple of dozen onlookers who seemed uncertain if they should be amused or appalled. Whatever her other half had done, it had only half worked.
In the midst of being shaken, Magdelene-one caught her double's eye and croaked, "Little help here?"
Two rolled her eyes. "Were you going up the scale, or down?" she asked, pitching her voice under the roars of the chicken-man. "D ... d ... down."
The three roosters, the largest marked with blue dots on the ends of its wattles, made a run for the door and the wizards found themselves alone in the center of the room. The noise building in the surrounding crowd began to sound like an angry sea.
In Magdelene's experience, crowds became mobs very quickly. Familiar fingers interlocked, left hand to right. One voice from two mouths murmured, "Forget."
Why roosters?" Two asked as they climbed the stairs.
One rubbed at a beer stain on her trousers. "Well, all three were acting like pricks and pricks are another word for co . . ."
"I get it. You have to be more careful. Just because it's on your body, doesn't mean I want some overmuscled idiot rearranging my face. The world can be a nasty, brutal place and you must be prepared for that at all times."
"I don't think I want to live in your world," One snorted, pushing open the door to their room and slouching inside.
Two glared down at the handprint on her double's right cheek. "I know I don't want to live in yours." Closing the door with more force than was necessary, she walked over to the window
and reached out for one of the shutters. Frowning, she stared down into the inn yard. "The shadows are roiling."
"Yeah, whatever that means."
"They're excited about something."
Magdelene-one dropped onto the nearest bed and belched. "Probably not about the beer."
together
not now
not when together
when apart
"You Doctor Bineeni?"
The elderly man slumped over the scroll jerked erect so quickly his glasses slid down to the end of his nose. Half turning, he glared at the chestnut-haired woman standing in the door to his inner sanctum. "Here now, you can't just barge in unannounced!"
A second woman joined the first. "That's what I said, but she never listens to me."
Magdelene-one jerked a finger toward her companion. "Thinks she's my better half. What a laugh, eh?"
Pushing his glasses back into position, Doctor Bineeni stared. "Twins? But at your age even identical twins would be less than identical as differing experiences would write differing histories on the face."
"At our age?" Two bristled.
"You look . . ." He frowned. "But you're not young."
One sighed. "You don't know the half of it, sweet cheeks. We're the most powerful wizard in the world."
His eyes widened, strengthening his resemblance to a startled lizard. "You're Magdelene?"
Waving a bundle of dried herbs onto the top of the tottering pile across the room, One dropped into a chair. "He's heard of us."
"That should make this easier," Two agreed. She ran her finger along the edge of a shelf and clucked her tongue at the accumulated dust.
"But . . . you're a legend. You don't really exist."
"Oh, I exist. You can touch me if you like. Ow!" Shooting a steaming look at Two, she muttered. "I meant he could touch my hand."
"Sure you did."
Wide-eyed the doctor looked from one to the other. "You are the most powerful wizard in the world?"
"Yes."
"Both of you?"
"That's correct."
"There should only be one of you."
"Also correct." Two dusted off her hands, tucking them into the sleeves of her robe. "It appears that in the split, we both got half the power . . ."
"And she got the really shitty bits of the personality."
". . . and we need you to put us back together before the Netherhells make another try for the stairs."
"The stairs?" Dr. Bineeni asked, looking from one to the other.
"Yes, the flight of stairs in my house that descends into the Netherhells."
He smiled and raised an ink-stained finger, shaking it in their general direction. "Almost, you had me, ladies. I can help with your delusion, but you'll need to make an appointment."
"Under other circumstances, I'd be more than willing to follow protocol, but we need to see you now."
"Ladies, I'm sorry . . ."