"Laura Resnick - The Fortunes of Temperance" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Laura)

Could there possibly be a more emphatic indication that I must on no
account go into business with Pettifog Celestor? I was dreadfully disappointed
that, without a suitable investor, I would now have to continue managing the
Dreamweavers Guild for the time-being. Nonetheless, I was immensely relieved
to benefit from this celestial intervention before I'd fallen into the
clutches of a man deceitful, amoral, scheming, and wicked enough to be
represented by the Senator in my Reading!
I gave Madame Rabinowitz a large tip, so grateful was I to her for
snatching me from the jaws of karmic disaster before it was too late. Then,
having learned just what kind of a man Pettifog Celestor really was, I did
what any responsible person would do: I went out into the street and asked
which way Death had last been seen riding. I went off in search of him,
tracking him down without much trouble, since everyone's always alert when
Death comes to town.
Hurrying down Harmony Lane, I rounded the corner onto Fortune Avenue
and practically walked straight into the back end of Death's pale horse.
Thrilled to have found him before he left town, I cried, "Excuse me, Death? I
have a -- Ooops! I'm terribly sorry."
The ex-King of Pentacles was kneeling in the street, his hands clasped
before him. Death had evidently been just on the verge of reaping.




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 "I didn't mean to interrupt," I apologized.
"No, no," said the ex-King of Pentacles, rising shakily to his feet.
"Think nothing of it! Did you have business with Death?"
Death turned his implacable eyeless gaze upon me. Staring at that
grinning skull encased in shiny black armor, I found myself clasping my hands,
too.
"Well, sir, it's just that, um..."
"Yes?" Death prodded, sounding a trifle impatient.
"It's just that so many people will miss the ex-King of Pentacles, and
I think I know of a better candidate to return to the Undiscovered Country
with you," I said in a rush. He took a step forward; I took three steps back.
"If you _want_ my suggestion, that is ... Sir."
"Go on." Death sounded a little bored. Well, I suppose it was all in a
day's work to him.
I gave him a thorough description of Pettifog Celestor, his current
address on Alchemy Avenue, and related what I had learned at Madame
Rabinowitz's. Within moments, the ex-King of Pentacles added his not
inconsiderable powers of persuasion to my arguments. Suddenly, in less time
than it takes to cast Runes, Death was climbing back up on his horse to ride
off in search of his new quarry, grinning ferociously.
"You're not going with him?" I asked the ex-King of Pentacles.
"There's only room for one, besides Death, on that horse," he replied.
"Gosh, what a darn shame."
"So I ... I _saved_ you?" I asked.
"This time, yes." He sighed as we watched Death ride away. "But it's