"Craig Shaw Gardner - Ebenezum 03 - A Night in the Netherhell" - читать интересную книгу автора (Gardner Craig Shaw)

and his beautiful companion, Alea, and Norei, the wondrous young witch—all looked at my master,
waiting for a decision, or a sneeze.

But the sorcerer breathed deeply, his malady unaffected. If magic had taken Vushta away, it had gone
with the city.

The warrior Hendrek took a deep breath in turn. Once again his great voice reverberated across the
wasteland.

“Doom!”

“I beg your pardon?” answered a voice from somewhere.

My master waved us All to silence. I held my breath, anxious to hear other words rise from the dust.
But the mysterious voice said no more.

“Hendrek,” my master said after a moment. “Repeat your curse.”

The warrior did as the wizard instructed.

“Doom!”

“Oh!” called the mysterious speaker. “Doom! You see, I thought you were saying ‘dune’! Well, there
certainly are a lot of them around now, nothing but sand. You’d hardly believe there was a city here only
the other day. Still, I didn’t know if I wanted to start a conversation with someone who pointed at piles
of sand and said ‘dune’! But ‘doom’? Well, that’s another matter. Doom implies angst. I’ll always talk to
somebody about angst!”

The demon Snarks muttered darkly from deep within his robes. The stranger’s monologue had
returned the rest of us to shocked silence.
 “There!” Ebenezum pointed. From out of the dust before us a figure emerged, clad all in robes as red
as blood.

Hendrek pulled his enchanted weapon from his sack. Ebenezum rapidly retreated and held his nose.

“Doom!” Hendrek repeated.

“Yes, isn’t it?” the approaching man replied. “Or at least it was the doom of Vushta. I assume that’s
what you folks came for, to visit Vushta. It’s a pity you weren’t informed that it was no longer here. But
then again, none of us were informed that it was going. One minute there it was, just over the hill, and the
next. . .” The newcomer waved a bony hand.

Ebenezum gestured at Hendrek to rebag his club. The wizard stepped forward as the warrior
complied.

“Indeed,” Ebenezum said. “Have we not met before?”

The newcomer paused a few paces before us. He was a gaunt man, well on in years, his weathered
skin pressed tight against skull and finger bones. His whole body—face, hands, and clothes—was
covered by a fine layer of dust, which made him appear more ancient still.