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would've punctured me.
All old Regin Fafnirsbruder did was, he kept laughing. He was laughing his ass off, to tell you the truth.
He really was.
Well, that just made old Brunhild madder. "You will pay for your insolence!" she said, and so help me if
she didn't charge right on out through the fire. I halfway thought she'd cook. But she was hotter than the
flames, and they didn't hurt her one bit.
Anyway, I figured I'd better try and get outa there, too. Old Regin Fafnirsbruder had said Brunhild was
my only chance of doing that, andshe'd said I was supposed to guard her back even though I didn't
know what the hell I was supposed to do if somebody did go and jump on her. So I ran after her. People
always say I never listen toany body, practically, but that's a goddam lie. Well, it was this time.
I didn't run all that goddamhard , though, on account of I didn'tknow for sure if the fire would let me go
the way it did for old Brunhild. But it felt like it did when that goddam sonuvabitch moron bastard Regin
Fafnirsbruder pushed me through it going the other way it was hot but nothot , if you know what I
mean.
Let me tell you, old Regin Fafnirsbruder didn't look any too happy when Brunhild burst out of the ring of
fire with me right behind her not that he paid all that much attention tome , the lousy crumby moron.
Actually, when you get down to it, I can't blame him for that, to tell you the truth. Here was this ordinary
guy, and here was this goddamgirl with chainmail and this sword coming after him yelling, "Now you
shall get what you deserve!" and swinging that old sword like she wanted to chop his head off and she
did , honest to God.
But old Regin Fafnirsbruder was a lot sprier than he looked. He ducked and he dodged and she ran
right on by him. The sword wentwheet! a couple times but it didn't cut anything but air. And old Regin
Fafnirsbruder laughed his ass off again and said, "Yourblade is my life to drink not fated."
Well, old Brunhild was already madder than hell, but that only pissed her off worse. She started swinging
that sword like a madman up, down, sideways, I don't know what all. I swear to God, I don't know
how old Regin Fafnirsbruder didn't get himself chopped into dog food, either, I really don't, Houdini
couldn't have gotten out of the way of that sword, but Regin Fafnirsbruder did. He was a bastard, but he
was aslick bastard, I have to admit it.
Finally, he said, "This grows boring. I shall another surprise for you one day have." Then he was gone.
One second he was there, the next second he wasn't.I don't know how the hell he did it. I guess maybe
he really was a magician, for crying out loud.
Old Brunhild, she needed like half a minute to notice he'd disappeared, she really did. She just kept
hacking and slashing away like there was no tomorrow. She'd already hit the ceiling in fourteen different
places, and she wasn't anywhere close to ready to calm down. I wanted to keep the hell out of her way,
was all I wanted to do right about then, if you want to know the truth.
Only I couldn't. There was this castle with the ring of fire around it, and there was the slope that headed
down toward old Isenstein and the Rhine that didn't stink any more, and there were me and old Brunhild.
That was it. Talk about no place to hide. If she decided I was in cahoots with old Regin Fafnirsbruder
after all, she'd chop me in half. I didn't know how the hell he'd dodged her, but I knew goddam wellI
didn't have a chance.
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Anyway, Brunhildfi nally figured out old Regin Fafnirsbruder'd flown the coop. She didn't rub her eyes
or go "I can't believe it" or anything like that. She just sort of shrugged her shoulders, so the chainmail
went clink-clank again, and she said, "Curse his foul sorcery."
Then she remembered I was there. I swear to God, I wouldn't've been sorry if she'd forgotten. She
walked over to me, that crazy armor jingling every step she took, and she looked up into my face. Like I
said before, she didn't have to lookup very goddam far, on account of she had almost as much heighth as
I did.
"You came through the fire for me," she said. "You did it unwittingly, I think, and aided by Regin
Fafnirsbruder's magecraft, but the wherefores matter only so much. What bears greater weight is that you
did it."
"Yeah, I guess I did."
Old Brunhild nodded. The sun shone off her helmet like a spotlight off the bell of a trombone in a
nightclub. She took this deep breath. "However it was done, it was done. As I said when first you woke
me, if you would claim me for your bride, you may." And she looked at me like if I was crumby enough
to do it, she'd spit in my eye, honest to God she did.
Isn't that a bastard? Isn't that a bastard and a half, as a matter of fact? Here's this girl and she's apretty
girl, she really is, especially if you like blondes about the size of football players and she was saying
"Yeah, you can give me the time, all right, and I won't say boo," only I know she'll hate me forever if I
do. And when old Brunhild hated somebody, she didn't do it halfway. Ask Regin Fafnirsbruder if you
don't believe me, for crying out loud. And she was holding on to that sword so tight, her knuckles were
white. They really were.
I said, "When I woke you up back there, in that crazy old castle and all, didn't you tell me you were in
there waiting for Sieg for somebody?" I couldn't even remember what the hell his name was, not to
save my life.
"For Siegfried." Old Brunhild's face went all gooey again. I'd kind of like to have a girl look that way
when she saysmy name or else I'd like to puke, one or the other. I'm not sure which, I swear.
"Well," I said, "in that case maybe you'd better go on back in there and wait some more, don'tcha
think?"
She swung up that old sword again. I got ready to run like a madman, I'm not kidding. But she didn't do
any chopping it was some kind of crazy salute instead. "Ja," she said, just like old Regin Fafnirsbruder,
and then she put the sword back in the sheath. "I will do that." And then she leaned forward and stood
up on tiptoe just a little, on account of she was pretty goddam tall, like I say and she kissed me right
on the end of the nose.
Girls. They drive you nuts, they really do. I don't even think theymean to sometimes, but they do
anyway.
I wanted to grab her and give her a real kiss, but I didn't quite have the nerve. I'm always too slow at
that kind of stuff. Old Brunhild, she nodded to me once, and then she walked on back through the fire
like it wasn't even there. I heard the door close. I bet she laid down on that old sofa again and fell asleep
waiting for old Sieg-whatever to get done with whatever he was doing and come around to give her a
call.
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As soon as that door closed, I decided I wanted to kiss her after all. I ran toward the ring of fire, and I
damn near damnnear burned my nose off. I couldn't go through it, not any more.
No Brunhild. Damn. I shoulda laid her, or at leastkissed her. I'malways too goddam slow, for crying out
loud. I swear to God, it's the story of my life. No Regin Fafnirsbruder, either. I don't know where the hell
he went, or when he's coming back, or if he'sever coming back.
If he's not, I'm gonna beawful goddam late making that Rhine boat connection to old Düsseldorf.
What's left here? A crumby castle I can't get into and that little tiny town down there by the river where
Isenstein used to be or will be or whatever the hell it is. That's it. I wish I'd paid more attention in history
class, I really do. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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