Read Online A Wizard of Mars, New Millennium Edition by Diane Duane - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Diane Duane
Ads: Link
who’re interested in you and want you to live somewhere safe! If you’ll just let me show you—”
The Komodo dragon between Mamvish’s feet looked up at her and opened its mouth, emitting a similar hiss, though a much smaller one. By way of the Speech, Nita heard it say, I’m hungry.
Mamvish rolled her eyes in frustration. This was worth seeing, since it wasn’t just the eyeballs that rolled; the entire socket containing each one went around in a large and wobbly circle. “You can eat any time,” she said. “Please pay attention. We’re talking about something important here—”
A juicy little deer would be nice right about now, said the Komodo dragon ...and it turned ponderously around and lurched away out of Mamvish’s shadow and up the beach, toward the underbrush that sprang up under the eaves of the forest.
Mamvish watched it go. “You stupid, stupid things,” she hissed, “why do I keep wasting my time?” She stamped all her feet in annoyance. “It’s your lives I’m trying to save here! Your whole rijakh ’d species’ lives! ...And all you can ever think about is food! If you came home with me, you’d be superstars; your species would be comfortable and safe forever! And now I wonder why I’m bothering trying to take creatures home who’re so merthakte dumb! Powers that Be in a bucket, have you ever seen the like of these people? Time after time you come umpteen thousand light-years to make them the offer of a lifetime, and every time they ignore you. They don’t have the brains to come in out of the Sun; they—”
The tirade went on. Somewhat distractedly— for Mamvish was using a completely new and interesting subset of words in the Speech— Nita made her way over to the boulder where Kit was perching. As she scrambled up beside him, Nita found herself wondering whether there was a separate “bad language” section of the wizard’s manual, and why she’d never thought to go looking for it. Am I really that much of a geek? Oh, god. Kit was looking elsewhere, as if embarrassed. Darryl was listening with fascination: Ronan had leaned all the way back on his boulder with his hands under his head, his eyes closed. Because of Mamvish, or Carmela? — for Kit’s sister was sitting there, trying to keep her attention evenly divided between Mamvish and Ronan. For the moment, Mamvish was winning.
“What took you so long?” Kit said under his breath. “You missed everybody. Half the wizards we know have been here, and a lot we don’t.”
“Want to understate some more? Half the wizards on the planet have been here!” Darryl said from the next boulder over. “A real mob scene. And some real heavy hitters. Check this out!” He scrambled over toward them, holding out the WizPod he used these days to carry his wizard’s manual. “Jarrah Corowa was here, and she even gave me her autograph!” He pulled a glowing page sideways out of the WizPod and into the air, showing Nita the tracery of Speech characters there.
“Wow!” Nita said, for a wizard’s autograph, depending on how much of the wizard’s personal information it contained, could be worth a lot more than just a keepsake of meeting someone who was famous for their way with a spell. “Nice going!”
Kit rolled his eyes in a good-natured way at Darryl’s excitement. “Fang was here, too,” he said. Nita let out a breath, sorry to have missed an old friend in wizardry, the orca who’d sung the part of the Killer in the Song of the Twelve. “How is he? He came way out of his way to get here.”
“Not all that far. He and his family swim the Pacific this time of year: he’s over here working on typhoon steering or something. He’s fine, and he was asking about you. And her.” Kit threw an annoyed glance in Carmela’s direction. “On another subject, is it just barely possible that we can go anywhere on this planet these days, or any other, without her
The Komodo dragon between Mamvish’s feet looked up at her and opened its mouth, emitting a similar hiss, though a much smaller one. By way of the Speech, Nita heard it say, I’m hungry.
Mamvish rolled her eyes in frustration. This was worth seeing, since it wasn’t just the eyeballs that rolled; the entire socket containing each one went around in a large and wobbly circle. “You can eat any time,” she said. “Please pay attention. We’re talking about something important here—”
A juicy little deer would be nice right about now, said the Komodo dragon ...and it turned ponderously around and lurched away out of Mamvish’s shadow and up the beach, toward the underbrush that sprang up under the eaves of the forest.
Mamvish watched it go. “You stupid, stupid things,” she hissed, “why do I keep wasting my time?” She stamped all her feet in annoyance. “It’s your lives I’m trying to save here! Your whole rijakh ’d species’ lives! ...And all you can ever think about is food! If you came home with me, you’d be superstars; your species would be comfortable and safe forever! And now I wonder why I’m bothering trying to take creatures home who’re so merthakte dumb! Powers that Be in a bucket, have you ever seen the like of these people? Time after time you come umpteen thousand light-years to make them the offer of a lifetime, and every time they ignore you. They don’t have the brains to come in out of the Sun; they—”
The tirade went on. Somewhat distractedly— for Mamvish was using a completely new and interesting subset of words in the Speech— Nita made her way over to the boulder where Kit was perching. As she scrambled up beside him, Nita found herself wondering whether there was a separate “bad language” section of the wizard’s manual, and why she’d never thought to go looking for it. Am I really that much of a geek? Oh, god. Kit was looking elsewhere, as if embarrassed. Darryl was listening with fascination: Ronan had leaned all the way back on his boulder with his hands under his head, his eyes closed. Because of Mamvish, or Carmela? — for Kit’s sister was sitting there, trying to keep her attention evenly divided between Mamvish and Ronan. For the moment, Mamvish was winning.
“What took you so long?” Kit said under his breath. “You missed everybody. Half the wizards we know have been here, and a lot we don’t.”
“Want to understate some more? Half the wizards on the planet have been here!” Darryl said from the next boulder over. “A real mob scene. And some real heavy hitters. Check this out!” He scrambled over toward them, holding out the WizPod he used these days to carry his wizard’s manual. “Jarrah Corowa was here, and she even gave me her autograph!” He pulled a glowing page sideways out of the WizPod and into the air, showing Nita the tracery of Speech characters there.
“Wow!” Nita said, for a wizard’s autograph, depending on how much of the wizard’s personal information it contained, could be worth a lot more than just a keepsake of meeting someone who was famous for their way with a spell. “Nice going!”
Kit rolled his eyes in a good-natured way at Darryl’s excitement. “Fang was here, too,” he said. Nita let out a breath, sorry to have missed an old friend in wizardry, the orca who’d sung the part of the Killer in the Song of the Twelve. “How is he? He came way out of his way to get here.”
“Not all that far. He and his family swim the Pacific this time of year: he’s over here working on typhoon steering or something. He’s fine, and he was asking about you. And her.” Kit threw an annoyed glance in Carmela’s direction. “On another subject, is it just barely possible that we can go anywhere on this planet these days, or any other, without her
Similar Books
