"Zelazny, Roger - Amber 08 - Sign Of Chaos" - читать интересную книгу автора (Zelazny Roger)

reason it was here. For a moment I regretted having wasted my cardiac arrest
spell on a mere Bandersnatch--until I recalled that Fire Angels have three
hearts. I glanced quickly about as it spied me, gave voice to a brief hunting
wail, and advanced.
"I'd like to have had some time to speak with you," I told the artist. "I
like your work. Unfortunately--"
"I understand."
"So long."
"Good luck."
I stepped down into the rabbit hole and ran, bent far forward because of
the low overhead. Luke made my passage particularly awkward, especially on the
turns. I heard a scrabbling noise fat to the rear, with a repetition of the
hunting wail. I was consoled, however, by the knowledge that the Fire Angel
would actually have to enlarge sections of the tunnel in order to get by. The
bad news was that it was capable of doing it. The creatures are incredibly
strong and virtually indestructible.
I kept running till the floor dipped beneath my feet. Then I began falling.
I reached out with my free hand to catch myself, but there was nothing to catch
hold of. The bottom had fallen out. Good. That was the way I'd hoped and half
expected it would be. Luke uttered a single soft moan but did not stir.
We fell. Down, down, down, like the man said. It was a well, and either it
was very deep or we were falling very slowly. There was twilight all about us,
and I could not discern die walls of the shaft. My head cleared a bit further,
and I knew that it would continue to do so for as long as I kept control of one
variable: Luke. High in the air overhead I heard the hunting wail once again. It
was followed immediately by a strange burbling sound. Frakir began pulsing
softly upon my wrist again, not really telling me anything I didn't already
know. So I silenced her again.
Clearer yet. I began to remember.... My assault on the Keep of the Four
Worlds and my recovery of Luke's mother, Jasra. The attack of the werebeast. My
odd visit with Vinta Bayle, who wasn't really what she seemed.... My dinner in
Death Alley.... The Dweller, San Francisco, the crystal cave.... Clearer and
clearer.
...And louder and louder the hunting ,wail of the Fire Angel above me. It
must have made it through the tunnel and be descending now. Unfortunately, it
possessed wings, while all I could do was fall.
I glanced upward. Couldn't make out its form, though. Things seemed darker
up that way than down below. I hoped this was a sign that we were approaching
something in the nature of a light at the end of the tunnel, as I couldn't think
of any other way out. It was too dark to view a Trump or to distinguish enough
of the passing scene to commence a shadow shift.
I felt we were drifting now, rather than falling, at a rate that might
permit us to land intact. Should it seem otherwise when we neared the bottom,
then a possible means of further slowing our descent came to mind--an adaptation
of one of the spells I still carried with me. However, these considerations were
not worth much should we be eaten on the way down--a distinct possibility,
unless of course our pursuer were not all that hungry, in which case it might
only dismember us. Consequently, it might become necessary to try speeding up to
stay ahead of the beast--which of course would cause us to smash when we hit.
Decisions, decisions.