"Dave Duncan - A Man Of His Word 2 - Faery Lands Forlorn" - читать интересную книгу автора (Duncan Dave)

set off down the stairs, stroking the basalt neck in passing. "Isn't he
gorgeous? I think I'll put him on one side and the wolf on the other. "

Chasing down after her, Inos said, "It's real?"

"When I want it to be. Lucky I remembered to warn it that the Meat Man
was coming."

Inos was becoming more bewildered by the minute. "Who?"

"Azak," said the sorceress. "I've got lots of names for him, but that
one really twists his nose. It fits him, though-he's got biceps like the
humps on his camel. I'll have him show you sometime."

Halfway down, she suddenly slackened her pace, as if the
urgency-whatever it was-was over. Azak was padding down the stairs
behind Inos in his kidskin slippers. Aunt Kade was just passing the
panther.

"But Rap!" Inos exclaimed. "Doctor Sagorn? You can't just leave them
there for the imps!"

Rasha continued down the stairs without replying. The lower chamber was
as overloaded with furniture as the upper had been, mostly innumerable
chests and tables of random styles. Two windows added little to the
light spilling down the central stairwell. The walls were poorly
lighted, therefore, and yet cluttered with ornate mirrors and bright
tapestries barely discernible in the shadows. Musk and flower scent hung
in the air like syrup.

Despite her worry over Rap and the others, despite her bonedeep
weariness, Inos was intrigued by these exotic, alien rooms. They were
like nothing she had ever seen, not even in the Duke of Kinvale's
collection of lithographs; a collection that he had amassed from all
over the Impire, and had inflicted on her during several mind-numbing
afternoons. Neither in art nor reality had she ever seen decor so alien.
Double doors vast enough to admit a coach and four stood shut; against
the opposite wall was an absurdly huge bed, the largest four-poster in
the world, wide and high, draped in filmy gauze. Then her eyes had
adjusted to the gloom and the nature of some of the statuary penetrated
her fog-shrouded mind. She took an incredulous second look at the


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illustrations on the walls and was suddenly very glad that such
obscenities were so poorly lighted. Kade would have an apoplectic fit.

Hastily Inos turned her attention back to the sorceress. Surely the