Read Online Her Majesty's Wizard #1 by Christopher Stasheff - Free Book Online

brief but bloody, and King Kaprin died."
       "How about `are'? That's the loyalist barons, I take it. Who do they have with them? A powerful wizard? If they do, he might be the one who pulled me here."
       "Throe estimates are accurate." Stegoman eyed him warily. "Malingo cannot progress against the barons, nor can they gain an ell of land toward Bordestang. Thou riddlest well from tiny rhymes."
       Matt almost blushed. "So the situation isn't a total conquest, it's a precarious balance. Astaulf and Malingo have the throne, but the barons have the people and a sizable chunk of the land. And I'd guess they're pretty evenly matched. So if you don't want that balance, introduce a random factor-me-to upset the apple cart. "
       "Aye," the dragon rumbled suspiciously, "but who would wish that most?"
       "The barons," Matt said promptly. "Malingo has the upper hand, right now. For the barons, anything that breaks the stalemate is welcome,. provided it doesn't come from Malingo."
       "A fascinating theory." Stegoman nodded. "But it trips and stumbles on one point: the barons have no wizard."
       "None?" Matt's eyebrows shot up.
       Stegoman shrugged impatiently. "Oh, they have a few of minor power-holy men, monastery abbots and the like. But no great wizard."
       "Hmm." Matt bit his lip. "You sure?"
       "I am. Their strongest asset is the princess, and she's imprisoned."
       "Princess?" Matt's head snapped up. "What princess?"
       Stegoman sighed. "I forget how newly thou art come. Still, 'tis strange thou hast not heard of her."
       "I've been a little busy. Who is she?"
       "King Kaprin's daughter. Rightful heir to Merovence's crown."
       "I'm surprised she's still alive."
       "Be not. She is a lass of beauty. And Astaulf bums to have her."
       "What's stopping him?"
       "Malingo. He plans further ahead than Astaulf. To marry her would give the usurper legitimacy-but only if she comes unsullied to him, so that the marriage may be duly solemnized. And she'll not wed him."
       "I don't blame her. And come to think of it, I did hear Astaulf say something about an idiot girl in the dungeons. I gather he's getting impatient."
       "Quite," Stegoman said grimly. "Six months agone he moved her to the dungeons with the rats. Rumor says he speaks now of torture. But she will have none of his plan."
       Matt nodded approval. "A girl with guts." He turned away, stroking his chin. "A real, live princess in durance vile!"
       Stegoman regarded him with jaundiced eyes. "Thou hast a scheme in mind, man?"
       "Matt," Matt said absently. "We ought to be on a first-name basis by now."
       "Matt," the dragon conceded. "Thy scheme?"
       Matt shrugged. "It's not really a scheme. I'm just wondering which is better-to wait here for Malingo to come and pull the plug on me, or to go looking for trouble when I have a good excuse."
       Stegoman was quiet for a moment, chewing that one over. Then he sighed and rattled his spinal plates. "Thou hast the right of it, I fear; there's nothing to be looked for here. But how dost thou mean to leave this cell?"
       "By going from bad to verse. Poetry got me into this fix; poetry should get me out."
       He was silent, thinking for a moment. The dragon eyed him warily.
       Then Matt began to recite:
       "There sits a prisoner in a cell of stone, Whose eyes should weep, for she's alone. Yet ill-becoming royalty are tears; And she's a queen, though slight of years."
       He took a breath to go on to the second verse-just in time, for the dragon to blast out, "Hold!"
       Matt leaped aside from the gout of flame, deciding Stegoman was a bit perturbed. "Yeek! Uh-was it something I said?"
       "Nay, what thou wast about to say." Stegoman's eyes glowed in the candlelight. "Thou wast about to leave this cell!"
       "Well, sure. I mean, we talked it over, didn't we? And decided-"
       "That challenging blind fate would better