Читать книгу Tanya Grotter And The Magic Double Bass - Дмитрий Емец - Страница 5

“Twang!” Tanya pressed the third string from the edge closer against the middle of the neck and it hummed. The sound hardly dissipated as a round thick-necked head in a copper helmet appeared on the balcony. It was the size of a considerable cauldron and it rotated its pupils menacingly. The look on the head was openly predatory. The bent nose was once dented by someone’s fist, and a long scar stood out on the cheek…

“Forgeli botchli?” it growled, when its pupils, having stopped revolving, settled on the girl.

“Not forgeli not botchli… A mistake…” Tanya muttered, attempting to hide behind the double bass.

The head smirked, baring ground-off yellow teeth, each of which was the size of a good fist. Furthermore, it became noticeable that something terribly similar to the sole of boots got stuck between the two front teeth.

“What is ‘not forgeli,’ specifically?” the head asked hoarsely. “Where’s the magic response? What, did they not warn you that I could tear apart whoever uses magic objects illegally? Beatings in alleyways, and all such.”

“No, they didn’t,” Tanya quickly blurted out, considering that this was her only justification.

“And I’ll not believe it for life! And if they didn’t warn you, it means you’re not a witch but one of the moronoids!”

“Yes, I’m a witch… That is, I… Please wait, I’ll explain everything…”

Tanya moved back in fright and, hoping that the head would disappear, in a hurry passed the bow along the adjacent string.

“T-wang!” the string hummed intensely. No, the head did not disappear, instead beside it immediately appeared another, even more murderous than the first, decorated with a downy sergeant-major moustaches.

“Where are the evil spirits? Blabbli gabbli intertwineli?” it asked with a voice that grated on the hearing like sandpaper.

Tanya went “Oh,” experiencing a burning desire to show up a hundred kilometres away from here or, at the worst, to simply fall under the floor.

“Blabbli gabbli intertwineli?” the head repeated impatiently.

“Hello, Usynya!” the head that appeared on the balcony earlier barked. “I think the time has come to gobble up someone. Someone who summons us without knowing the simplest magic response…”