"Lawrence Watt-Evans - Dus 1 - Lure Of The Basilisk" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watt-Evans Lawrence)

chamber and shuttered windows on a third. He was apparently very near indeed
to that portion of the palace Shang used for his personal quarters. Garth's
eyes were already adjusted to the dark; after closing the door and turning
away from the lit cracks, he had little difficulty in discerning the contents
of the room. He immediately realized how wrong his assumptions had been.
He was in a kitchen; Shang had merely been obtaining a snack. One wall
was lined with cupboards and cabinets, with an open arch in their midst that
must lead to the larder and pantry. Around a corner must be the scullery, to
judge from the pans that lay near. One wall was taken up mostly with assorted
ovens and a huge open hearth. Tables and counters were scattered around, and
the air smelled of vegetables and cooked meat.
Garth accepted his error with a shrug; he should have expected the next
room to a dining hall to be a kitchen, and he had not. It was a mistake, but
it was past and would not be made again. He was where he was, and would have
to make the best of it. In fact, he told himself, this was a good place to be.
The crypts were, of course, under the palace; therefore the palace cellars
were a likely place to find an entrance, and the kitchen was the natural place
to find an entrance to the cellars. Unquestionably one, or maybe several, of
the many doors opened on stairs to the cellars. The only question was, which
door?
Well, it was a safe assumption that the cellars were not illuminated at
the moment, which eliminated from consideration those doors that showed light;
that left three doors in the main portion of the kitchen, and perhaps others
in the pantries and scullery.
He began to inch his way across the room toward the nearest of the unlit
doors. His boots scraped slightly on the flagstone floor, so he switched to
slow, careful strides, lifting his feet straight up, advancing them, and
placing them gingerly down. He was perhaps halfway across the darkened kitchen
when his moving foot collided in midstride with a kettle that lay on its side
where it had been flung by Shang-who was rather a sloppy housekeeper. The
copper pot rolled aside, rattling, when the toe of his foot struck it; he was
thrown off balance and caught himself only at the cost of a loud thud as his
foot hit the floor and his hand grabbed at a nearby table. He froze.
The kettle had scarcely stopped rolling when he heard the wizard's
approaching footsteps. His right hand fell once again to his sword, while his
left slipped inside his cloak, seeking the pocket where he had put the
so-called Jewel of Blindness, as he told himself that if ever he needed
magical aid it was now.
 Groping, he found the pocket; he did not dare take his eyes from the
general direction of the lit doorways, as he had no way of knowing which one
was about to burst open and admit Shang. Being unaware from what direction the
attack was to come, he could not afford to be looking the wrong way when it
arrived. His three forgers fumbled about, his thumbs hooked over the pocket's
edge to catch anything that fell. He felt the hard lump of the gem, and
started to draw it forth.
A door slammed open, flung back against the wall.
The wizard stood framed in the doorway, a black silhouette against the
torchlit room beyond. Garth was blinded momentarily by the sudden light, but
nonetheless his sword was drawn and ready by the time the door had stopped its
abrupt movement; his left hand was also held out before him, the Jewel of