"Mickey Zucker Reichert - Renshai 02 - The Western Wizard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reichert Mickey Zucker)

world. You will pay with the lives of followers, and perhaps with your own. You had best hope your
wards can bind me."



Trilless tossed her hooded head without reply, keeping her attention fully focused. She knew that when
the time came to return the demon it would demand payment in blood. But the amount it took would
depend upon the quickness and competence of her craft. Dismiss it, distract it, and slay it. Trilless let the
process cycle through her mind, hoping the knowledge of her predecessors would enhance the
procedures while she concentrated on more immediate matters. Stay alert, she reminded herself. To lose
even one life to this abomination would be a travesty.



Demons cared nothing for good or evil. They followed no masters and obeyed no laws. The only feature
about it on which Trilless could rely was its certain and violent inconsistency. And the longer she kept it
here, the stronger it would grow. "By Odin's law I have called you here. You must answer my questions
and perform a service to the best of your knowledge and abilities.'' Trilless hated wasting time with
formality and information she believed they both already understood, but her predecessors assured her of
the necessity. Unlike men, the demons had no natural constraints. They were bound only by the laws
thrust upon them and then only when on the world Odin created.



Wound with enchantments, the demon assumed a vague man-shape. Its eyes looked like points of fire in
a bed of dying embers. "Ask, then, Wizard. But hope your answers are worth the blood I shall claim in
return." A glob of spittle fell from his mouth and struck the ocean with a hiss. Smoke curled from the
water as its surface broke in widening rings.



Trilless raised her arms to a sky gone dull as slate. She knew that the demon, though forced to answer
with truth, could deceive to the limits of that boundary. Clearly, it would reveal more of the information
that it wanted her to have, skewed in the direction of primordial chaos. She would need to phrase her
questions carefully. "At this time, is there a living Western Wizard?"



The demon faded into the gloom. Its semisolid form oozed beneath Trilless' wards. Abruptly, wind
chopped the jeweled calm of the sea, took down the hood of the sorceress' cloak, and spilled her white
hair into her face. But the demon's bonds held. The gale withered and dropped. The demon's eyes
gleamed, and its jaws parted to reveal pointed teeth as dark as its form. "Lady, I do not know."
 Trilless gritted her teeth, prodded by frustration and rage. She dared not believe she had taken such a
risk for nothing. "Who does know?" She tried to keep her mood hidden, but her question emerged like a
shout.



"More powerful demons," it suggested, then laughed.