Ron Goulart - The Curse of the Obelisk

76 RON GOULART
"Maybe we can," said Jennie.
Harry stepped ahead of the other two. "You men down there," he called. "Hurry, run to the
kitchen and start boiling plenty of hot water."
"Gar?" The biggest of the three men was crouched at the foot of the stairs with his revolver in
his fist.
"I'm Herr Doctor Hauser," Harry explained, "and I have just come from Herr Zaytoon's
chambers. I fear he's had a serious relapse and must be—"
"Kill the infidels!" shouted another of the guards, the one with the knife.
"Death to intruders! By the Eye of Osiris!"
The three large men started up the stairs, howling, waving their assorted lethal weapons.
"You convinced me you were a medic," said Jennie.
"Duck behind me." He reached for his gun.
"Halt, you craven dogs!" boomed another voice down below, "lest the wrath of Isis visit you."
"Gar?" The guards halted, still fifty feet from Harry and Jennie.
A plump Oriental gentleman had appeared out of a dining room off the hallway. He held his
silken-sleeved arms high. "I must request that you cease this unseemly display of mean-minded
behavior at once," he informed the perplexed guards. "For not only am I a guest at tonight's buffet
supper, I am a most powerful Eastern wizard."
"Kill him, too," suggested the guard with the knife.
The Great Lorenzo sighed, his Oriental moustache drooping even further. "You gents give me
no choice," he said. "Lando Zambini Marvelo!"
From out of nowhere great sputtering clouds of thick green smoke began to billow. They came
rolling up the stairs to engulf everyone. Blood-chilling shrieks were heard, strange ominous shapes
danced in the dense green swirls.
"Get down here fast, my boy!"
Harry caught Jennie's arm and the professor's. "Let's go," he said. "Keep over to the far left."
"This latest nonsense," muttered the professor, "is almost more than I can stand."