"Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - A Baroque Fable" - читать интересную книгу автора (Yarbro Chelsea Quinn)

"About time!" Alfreida shrieks.
"You told me to give your spiders"тАФhere she shudders, a blossom in the windтАФ"pedicures."
"What an abominable creature you are. You made a perfect mull of drowning kittens yesterday and now
this!" Her temper flares more brightly. "A spoon! My spell requires a spoon! What have you done with
the spoons?"
"I... washed them," Esmeralda ventures, not daring to raise her voice above a breathless whisper.
"Washed them? Washed them? What is the matter with you? Don't you know enough not to wash
things? Some people take too much on their judgment!" She stamps closer to Esmeralda, who shrinks
back. "Not content with everything else, you're washing things!"
"ButтАФ"
"If I want a thing washed, I will tell you to wash it, do you understand me? Some people don't know
when to listen. Some people don't know when to let others do the thinking! Some people assume they're
able to... to..." Alfreida has
A BAROQUE FABLE 7
turned an alarming shade of puce, and she gasps for air. In the sudden silence, the Trolls are beard once
again, more off-key man ever.
"тАФand scribble our names in the ooze!тАФ"
"A-A-A-a-a-a-gh-h-h!" goes Alfreida, shoving the door closed.
"Mercy," Esmeralda breathes.
"Not from me, you little Wither-head," Alfreida crows, having found a victim on whom to vent her wrath.
"You've done one thing too many, and you'll have to take the brunt of my punishment for your mistakes.
Yes, yesyesyes. You mink I'm an old soft-hearted creature, don't you? tike some others I could mention,
but 1*11 have a chance to learn otherwise."
Esmeralda stares in horror at the witch. "But I've tried to obey you. I've done as you wished, and I
haven't attempted to escape or do you any disservice, just as I promised."
"And you think I paid any notice of that?" Alfreida scoffs. "What a moron you must think I am. Just a silly
old woman, who only needs a little cajoling before she changes her mind about everything." Alfreida
looks down at Liripoop and coos, "You could tell her a thing or two, couldn't you?" The cat does not
respond, which is wise of it. "You sly wench! I'll turn you over to the Trolls if you go too far. You'll
discover how well-off you've been with me, if you end up with the Trolls. Some people mink that
reasonableness and lenience is weakness, but that's poppycock. You're in the Woebegone Vfood now,
you pretty nit, and you'd better think twice about what you do and say." Her pebble-gray eyes reveal no
trace of emotion, but her face is stretched out in a grotesque smile.
"But honestly. Mistress Broomtail, I have never wanted to turn against you. You've warned me mat all
my family's crops would be blighted if I did, and I cannot be the instrument of their distress." Esmeralda
lifts her hands (the nails, miraculously, are clean and unbroken) to her cheeks and starts to weep.
"It is strange that you would try to trick me. I can see through every word, you dizzard. There are some
who might be taken in by you, but not me." She raises her hands ominously. "There are some who might
take vengeance on you in other ways."
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Chelsea Quinn Yarbio
"Oh, gracious," Esmeralda whispers.
"You're not going to gel away with that twaddle about your poor papa's acres, no, you're not." Her
expression changes to one of the most spurious good will. "Still missing your family, are you? After all this
time? How sweet."
Liripoop gives a loud cat-snort but shows no other sign of paying attention.
With an enchanting link sniff, Esmeralda tries to stop her tears. "Oh, you cannot know how much I miss
my home and family. It was so wonderful to be there, with my father and my mother and brothers and
sisters andтАФ"
"It sounds too crowded to stand," Alfreida mutters with an impatient and ominous twitch to the ragged