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

Snarks had his hood off in an instant. “This is impossible! I’ve known both humans and demons to be
longwinded, but this fellow has the lungs of an elephant! And talk about bad taste in clothes!”

My beloved Norei touched my left shoulder. My heartbeat raced.

“Wuntvor!” she cried in a voice more musical than the Vushta stage might ever produce. “We have to
do something!”

“A demon’s work is never done.” Snarks pushed back his sleeves to reveal thin green arms. “Let’s
drag the wizard out of there.”

As briefly as possible, I pointed out to Snarks why this might not be such a good idea. Some weeks
past, in the Western Kingdoms where my master maintained his practice, he had accidentally loosed a
particularly fierce demon by the name of Guxx Unfufadoo. My master had managed to send that foul
fiend back to the Ne-therhells from whence he had come, but it had cost the wizard dearly. Now,
whenever he encountered anything demonic or magical in nature, he would break out in a fit of
uncontrollable sneezing. Thus had his current situation been brought about by his proximity to a dragon. If
the wizard’s proximity to magic ailed him, it did not make sense to have another magical creature come
to his aid.

Snarks rolled his sleeves back down. “A demon’s work is never appreciated. ‘Twas ever thus. Why
do you think they kicked me out of the Netherhells in the first place?”

I knew the answer to that, but my master was sneezing far too much for me to reply. I turned to
Hendrek for aid. The large warrior and I dragged Ebenezum to a safe distance.

Both Snorphosio and Hubert looked temporarily abashed at what they had caused to happen to my
master. Now, I thought, it was time to get to the bottom of all this. And since my master was indisposed,
I would have to act in his stead.

“Indeed,” I began. “And just what has happened to Vushta?”

“In a physical, or in a metaphorical, sense?” Snor-phosio inquired. “Inexact questions, I am afraid, are
one of the pitfalls of modern civilization. How many wars could be avoided if we might only learn—”

“Indeed!” I said, rather more loudly. I feared that, should the professor go on at much greater length, I
would not be able to match my master’s restraint. I glanced meaningfully at Hendrek. The warrior pulled
the doomed club Headbasher from its restraining sack.
 “Where did Vushta go?” I asked.

Snorphosio looked at the warclub with some alarm. “Now see here, you wouldn’t think of using—”

“Doom!” Hendrek remarked. He let the tip of Head-basher fall to the ground. The earth shook.

“Oh,” Snorphosio intoned. “Vushta went down.”

“Doom!” Hendrek reiterated. “Down?”

“Yes, down. Beneath the earth.” The professor’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I fear it has been