"Huff, Tanya - We Two May Meet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Huff Tanya)

"What about borrowing Frenin's donkey and cart?"
"You may not be seen in the village like this. It will cause them great distress."
Magdelene-two looked pointedly at her companion who was wearing wide-legged purple trousers, an orange vest, and yellow sandals. "I can fully understand why."
"Ice queen."
"Sleaze."
Kali stared up at the huge wrought-iron gate overfilling the break in the coral wall and sighed. Deep and weary exhalations
weren't something demons indulged in as a rule, but over the last day she'd become quite accomplished. Had she ever stopped to anticipate their current situation, she might have expected two Magdelenes would be twice as much trouble as one. She would have been wrong. Twice as much trouble was a distinct underestimate.
What in the Netherhells have you got in that thing?" Magde-lene-one drawled, poking a finger at her companion's carpet bag.
"Clean handkerchiefs, water purification potion, bug repellent, extra sandal straps, desiccated dragon liver, a comb, one complete change of clothes, soap, a talisman for stomach problems . . . What?" Two demanded, the list having raised not one, but both eyebrows to the hairline of her listener.
"You do remember you're a wizard?"
"Your point?"
Magdelene-one held up a small belt pouch. "I have everything I need in here."
"And if we're unable to use our powers?" Two demanded.
"I still have everything I need."
"There's not enough room in there for a pair of clean underwear."
Rubbing at a rivulet of sweat, Magdelene-one grinned. "Good think I don't wear them, then. I still don't see why we can't take the carpet," she complained to Kali before her double could respond.
"With your powers divided, it would take both of you working in concert to keep the carpet aloft," the demon explained again. "Should your attention wander, even for a moment, it could be fatal."
"Three days on the road with Ms. Nettles-in-her-britches here could be fatal, too."
"No one ever died of boredom, Mistress. Or embarrassment," she added as the second Magdelene caught her eye. "And the sooner you begin, the sooner we can put all this behind us. Remember what is at stake." She all but pushed the wizards through
the gate and onto the path. As they rounded the first turn, already squabbling, she sighed again and closed her eyes.
Which was how she missed the black shadows slinking around the corner behind them.

soon soon
at their weakest
away from home
away from help
soon soon
Harmon was a largish town, four, maybe five times the size of the fishing village nestled under Magdelene's headland. It boasted a permanent market square, three competing inns, two town wells, a large mill, four temples, a dozen shrines, and one small theater that had just been torched by the local Duc who'd objected to having his name and likeness appear in a recent satirical production.
In its particular corner of the world, Harmon was about as cosmopolitan as it got.
Which could have been why no one gave the two identical wizards a second glance—although it was more likely they passed unnoted because no one knew they were wizards and they weren't, after three days' travel, particularly identical.
The shifting shadows of early evening hid the bits of darkness that entered the town on their heels.
soon
"Excuse me, we'd like a room."
"Two rooms," Magdelene-one corrected. "A dark, narrow uncomfortable room for her." She nodded toward her companion. "And a big, bright, comfortable room for me." Smiling her best smile, she leaned toward the barman. "With a big, bright comfortable bed."
Totally oblivious to the beer pouring over his hand, the barman swallowed. Hard.
Magdelene-two gestured the tap closed. "One room," she repeated, her tone acting on him with much the same effect as a bucket of cold water. "The one at the end of the hall with the two beds will do and we will not," a pointed look at her sulking double, "be sharing it with any other travelers." As four coins of varying sizes hit the counter, she swept the common room with an expression icy enough to frost mugs and drop curious gazes down to the tabletops. "First night's payment plus payment for use of the bathing room. I want the water hot and clean linens— clean, mind you, not just turned clean side out. And don't bother telling me you never do that," she cautioned, spearing the barman with a disdainful snort. "I know that you do."
"How?"
"We're the most powerful wizard in the world," Magdelene-one told him brightly while being dragged toward the stairs. A shower of coins hit the bar. "I'll get the first rou . . . OW!"
Maintaining her grip, Magdelene-two leaned in close to what should have been a familiar ear. Except that one never sees one's own ear from that angle, she reflected, momentarily nonplussed. "Don't you think we should be keeping a low profile?" she asked quietly, dropping her voice below the sudden noise of fourteen people charging toward the bar, tankards held out. "We shouldn't be letting the whole world know we're at half strength. That's just asking for trouble!"
"You worry too much." Rolling her eyes, Magdelene-one pulled her arm free. "Look, you have the first bath while I hang out here. I'll be fine." She sighed at the narrowed eyes and thin lips. "What? You don't trust yourself?"
"You are not the parts of myself that I trust!"
". . . so he said, Are you waiting to see the whites of his eyes? and I said, Not exactly!" Magdalene's gesture made it very clear just what, exactly, she'd been waiting to see. As the crowd roared its approval of the story, she upended her tankard and finished the last three inches of beer.
Before she could lower it, a hush fell over the room.
By the time she set the tankard on the table, the hush had become anticipation.
"Rumor has it you're a wizard."
A quick inspection proved her tankard was definitely empty. Since no one seemed inclined to fill it, she sighed and turned. There were three of them. Big guys, bare arms; attitude. Since this particular tavern didn't cater to the "big guys with bare arms and attitude" crowd, they'd clearly dropped by to make trouble.
"You don't look like a wizard," the leader sneered. "You don't act like a wizard." He leaned forward, nostrils flaring over the dangling ends of a mustache adorned with blue beads. "You don't smell like a wizard."
His companions grunted agreement.
"We wanted to see a wizard and we get pissed right off when we don't get what we want." A booted foot kicked the end of a bench; two people toppled to the floor.
Magdelene knew how to deal with this sort. One way or another she'd been dealing with these kinds of idiots her entire life. Unfortunately, she couldn't remember what she usually did. And the bicolored codpiece worn by the man on the right wasn't helping.