"John DeChancie - Castle 03 - Castle Kidnapped" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dechancie John)

Feeling like the dam above Johnstown, Gene hurried.

Reaching the door, he found it had been locked — automatically, most likely, during takeoffs and
landings. He shoved a shoulder against it and pushed, to no avail.

Well, hell, it wasn’t a complete humiliation to let go in your breeches. Must have been something he ate,
or drank, or whatever.

Use the facilitation spell again? Nothing to lose.

He repeated the incantation and tried the door again. There seemed to be some give. He cast the spell
once more, trying to get some feeling into the recitation, even though doing so made him feel slightly
foolish. Gene knew he alone was to blame; he had come up with the silly phrase, a simple mnemonic.
Sheila had told him that the words actually didn’t matter, as all magic was mental. The words simply
focused the energy.

“Voodoo! — Who do? — You do!”

The door opened with a click and he stepped in. The urge vanished as soon as he closed the door, but
that didn’t surprise him as much as seeing that the rear bulkhead of the cubicle was missing, the curving
outline of the plane’s fuselage forming an oddly shaped doorway. Stranger still, the doorway led into a

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 Castle Kidnapped John DeChancie - 0-7592-6265-9en-usen-usCopyright © 1989 by John DeChancie{7A7127F2-6985-

large stone-walled crypt. A young man dressed in medieval costume stood well away from the aperture,
facing it. He regarded Gene, then bowed deeply.

“Your Excellency,” the boy intoned.

Judging by the costume, Gene took him for a castle servant, specifically a page. Gene didn’t recognize
him.

“What the hell is going on?” Gene demanded.

The page bowed again. “Pardon the intrusion, Excellency. His Majesty wishes to speak with you
immediately on a matter of the greatest urgency.”

“He’s back? No kidding. How in the world did you wrangle the portal here?”

“I believe His Excellency the Royal Librarian effected the technical details, sir.”

“Is Osmirik around?”

“He waits without, sir. He also is most anxious to see you.”

“Sounds like a real emergency. Well, okay. But that stewardess out there is going to be mighty confused
when I don’t come out of here. She’ll think I pulled a D. W. Cooper.”

The page gave him a puzzled look. “Your pardon, sir. I do not quite take your meaning.”