Read Online Tales from the vulgar unicorn- Thieves World 02 by Robert Asprin - Free Book Online Page B

thick fat. So...'
    He waited a long time, the pipe now at his lips. Then, his cheeks swelled, and the dart shot out. The bear to the right, roaring even louder, grabbed at the missile stuck in its left eye. Smhee fitted another dart into the pipe and took a step closer. The monster on the left lunged against the restraining collar and chain. Smhee shot the second dart into its tongue. The first beast struck fell to one side, its paws waving, and its roars subsided. The other took longer to become quiet, but presently both were snoring away.
    'Let's hope they die,' Smhee said. 'I doubt we'll have time to shoot them again when we come back.'
    Masha thought that a more immediate concern was that the roaring might have alarmed the mage's servants.
    They went through a large cavern, the floor of which was littered with human, cattle, and goat skeletons and bear dung. They breathed through their mouths until they got to an exit. This was a doorway which led to a flight of steps. At the top of the steps was another entrance with a closed massive wooden door. Affixed to one side was a great wooden bar.
    'Another hindrance to pursuers,' Smhee said. 'Which will, in our case, be the Raggah.'
    After a careful inspection of the door, he gripped its handle and slowly opened it. Freshly oiled, it swung noiselessly. They went out into a very large room illuminated by six great torches at one end.. Here streams of water ran out from holes in the ceiling and down wooden troughs and onto many wooden wheels set between metal uprights.
    Against the right-hand side of the far wall was another closed door as massive as the first. It, too, could be barred shut. Unlike the bare walls of the other caves, these were painted with many strange symbols.
    'There's magic here,' Smhee said. 'I smell it.'
    He strode to the pool in which were set the wheels. The wheels went around and around impelled by the downpouring water. Masha counted aloud. Twelve.
    'A magical number,' Smhee said.
    They were set in rows of threes. At one end of the axle of each were attached some gears which in turn were fixed to a shaft that ran into a box under the wheel. Smhee reached out to the nearest wheel from the pool edge and stopped it. Then he released it and opened the lid of the box beneath the wheel. Masha looked past him into the interior of the box. She saw a bewildering array of tiny gears and shafts. The shafts were connected to more gears at the axle end of tiny wheels on uprights.
    Smhee stopped the wheel again and spun it against the force of the waterfall. The mechanism inside started working backwards. Smhee smiled. He closed the box and went to the door and barred it. He walked swiftly to the other side of the pool. There was a large box on the floor by it. He opened it and removed some metal pliers and wrenches.
    'Help me get those wheels off their stands,' he said.
    'Why?'
    'I'll explain while we work.' He looked around. 'Kemren would have done better to have set human guards here. But I suppose he thought that no one would ever get this far. Or, if they did, they'd not have the slightest idea what the wheels are for.'
    He told her what she was to do with the wheels, and they waded into the pool. The water only came to their ankles; a wide drain in the centre ensured against overflow.
    Masha didn't like being drenched, but she was sure that it would be worthwhile.
    'These boxes contain devices which convert the mechanical power of the water driven wheels to magical power,' he said. 'There are said to be some in the temple ofWeda Krizhtawn, but I was too lowly to be allowed near them. However, I heard the high priests talking about them. They sometimes got careless in the presence of us lowly ones. Anyway, we were bound by vows to keep silent.
    'I don't know exactly what these particular wheels are for. But they must be providing energy for whatever magic he's using. Part of the energy, anyway.'
    She didn't really understand what he was talking about, though she