"Zelazny, Roger - ComingToACord" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

"The guisel," he said. "I sent one to slay another sorcerer, but he
disposed of it and sent one of his own after me. Didn't know he was
that good. I don't know how to dispose of the things, and it will be
oozing through that mirror in a matter of minutes, to destroy us all
most nastily. So, this place being Amber and all, is there some hero
available who might be anxious to earn another merit badge?"
"I think not," she replied. "Sorry."
Just then the mirror began to darken.
"Oh, it's coming!" he cried.
I had felt the menace it exuded some time before. But then, that is
my job.
Now I got a glimpse of the thing. It was big, and wormlike,
eyeless, but possessed of a shark-like mouth, a multitude of short legs,
and vestigial wings. It was twice again the length of a human, and
black, having crisscrossing red and yellow stripes. It slithered across
our reflected room, rearing as it came on.
"You imply," Flora said, "in your quest for a hero, that it will
make it through that interface and attack us?"
"In a word," said the strange little man, "yes."
_When it does,_ I said to Flora, _throw me at it. Wherever I hit
I'll stick--and I'll go for the throat._
"All right," she said, "and there's one other thing."
_What's that?_, I asked.
"Help! Help!" she cried.
It began crawling out through the silver, flower-bordered mirror.
Flora unwound me from her ankle and threw me at the thing. It had no
real neck, but I wrapped myself about its upper extremity below the
mouth and began tightening immediately.
Flora continued to call out, and from somewhere up the hall I heard
the sound of heavy footfalls.
I tightened my grip, but the creature's neck was like rubber.
The sorcerer was moving to exit the room when the door burst open
and the tall and husky, red-haired form of Luke entered.
"Flora!" he said, and then he saw the guisel and drew his blade.
On my recent journey with Merlin in the space between shadows I had
gained the ability to converse at complex levels. My perceptions--which
seem quite different--also became more acute. They showed me nothing
special about Luke, the sorcerer, or the guisel, but Werewindle now
burned of an entirely different light. I realized then that it was not
merely a blade.
As Luke moved to position himself between Flora and the guisel, I
heard the sorcerer say, "What is that blade?"
"'Tis called Werewindle," Luke replied.
"And you are...?"
"Rinaldo, King of Kashfa," Luke said.
"Your father--who was he?"
"Brand--Prince of Amber."
"Of course," the sorcerer said, moving again toward the door. "You
can destroy that thing with it. Command it to draw energy while you're
using it. It has a virtually limitless supply to draw upon."