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

staircase. Garth lost his balance as a result of his mad dash and stumbled
awkwardly halfway down the long flight before he managed to grasp to rail and
halt his headlong progress. To his astonishment, he felt no bumps or bruises
from his numerous impacts with both stairs and railing, nor did he make a
sound; the silence was, in fact, rather eerie and horrible, as if he no longer
really existed.
As the door slammed, shutting off the dim light from the kitchen, a
bright little flame suddenly flashed into being; Garth saw with a curious
mixture of fear and fascination that it came directly from the wizard's
finger. Shang used it to light a torch that stood ready in a bracket above the
landing, then extinguished it with a gesture and picked up the much brighter
torch.
Looking around, Garth saw that he was more or less at the midpoint of
approximately two dozen steps, hewn of some dull gray stone. On one side of
the steps ran a wall of rough blocks of the same stone, while on the other
there was a black iron railing to which Garth was clinging. Beyond the railing
there extended a sizable wine cellar, with damp stone walls on either side and
intricate, ancient stone vaulting overhead, its limits lost in the darkness
beyond the torch's glow; in the portion that could be seen stood countless old
and bewebbed wine-racks, some full, some empty, some in intermediate states.
The light shifted, and Garth turned his gaze upward again to see Shang
approaching. Not caring to risk a collision, he backed hastily down the steps,
keeping a few paces ahead of the wizard until they both stood at the bottom,
where Garth stepped aside and permitted Shang to move unimpeded to the nearest
rack of bottles.
As he did, Garth was reprimanding himself for making another unjustified
assumption; it was much more natural that Shang would seek a bit of wine to go
with his cheese than that he would go prowling unarmed into the catacombs.
As if to confirm that the overman had acted hastily, Shang said loudly,
"Ah! Perfect!" He drew forth a cobwebby bottle, dark liquid visible through
its murky glass, then turned back toward the stairs. Garth remained where he
was, attempting to plan his next move.
Although Shang's visit to the cellar had been in no way connected with
the crypts, it was still perfectly possible that an entrance was to be found
somewhere amid the wine-racks; since Garth was already down here it would do
no harm to check. Therefore he would let the wizard leave, investigate, and
then leave himself if he found nothing. It was only when he heard the padlock
clicking back into place that he realized he had forgotten about it. He would
either have to wait until the wizard was thirsty again or use his axe to hack
open the door when it came time to depart. He felt rather foolish.
However, since there was nothing he could do about it, he would make the
best of the situation and carry on with his intention of searching the cellar.
Fortunately, Shang had not bothered to douse the torch, but had merely stuck
it back in its bracket, still lit. Garth wondered if this meant he would be
returning shortly. Presumably he would be, in order to restock the
wine-cupboards in the kitchen. Therefore it would be advisable to work
quickly, so as to have the torch back into its holder when Shang should
return. Garth decided he could count on only as much time as it took a man to
drink a rather small bottle of wine, which left no time for delay. He hurried
up the steps and reached up to take the torch from its place. He closed his