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Authors: Alan Burt Akers
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is said about teachers. Now contact Khe-Hi and send my message!”
The gasp from Quonling’s mouth could have come from the lad himself or his officious damned teacher. Either way, my words must have had some effect. Quonling pitched forward and put his young face into a patch of the more liquid mud we had tried to avoid. I caught his tunic and heaved him back. He was shaking all over now, and that was pure physical fear and reaction and not magical. By Krun! The poor lad had had a time of it!
He gargled a bit and I wiped the mud off. I wanted to know if that idiot teacher had sent the message.
At last he said: “I know what happened. I heard. But I do not believe. No, by Hlo-Hli herself, I do not credit it!”
“Has he sent the message, boy?”
“How should I know? I was disrespectful and disobedient, I know that. But I never went around uttering threats—”
“I seldom threaten. If it has to be done, I do it. Anyway, if you don’t know we can only find out by waiting. Who was that onker, anyway?”
“That? Oh, that was Gal-ag-Foroming, one of the head tutors. He has the heaviest and springiest cane in all Whonban.”
“Sometimes,” I said, “sometimes, I suppose, that is necessary. If he was any good as a tutor you’d pass your exams without the need of a cane.”
Although I told the lad this, I am well aware there are exceptions in the case of the genuinely thick. Not the cane, of course, but the passing.
“Oh, he’s clever, no doubt of that. Just that, well—”
“Some do, and some don’t,” I said. “In that game trying hard is generally not good enough. What is accomplished is far too important to have people who fall down on the job.” I looked at him, and saw he had regained his color. He was pulling bits of mud out of his red hair. “I thank you for going into lupu, Ra-Lu. You were taking a risk I did not appreciate. I shall not forget that.”
“Yes, well. I am more concerned about those plug-uglies who threw me in the water. They are aware my powers are strictly limited; yet they know I was to have been a Wizard of Walfarg and therefore they can punish me.”
“What for?”
“Many people, not all, pile the blame for the loss of empire upon the sorcerers of Whonban. That and the lack of airboats and saddle birds.”
“I’d have thought a Wizard of Loh could take care of himself. They strike mortal fear into the hearts of folk outside Loh, believe me.”
“Why do you think we always seek to practice overseas?”
“That makes sense. And if you’re half-trained, then—”
“Oh, I’m more than half-trained. The interim exam I failed was a mere trail-blazer for the finals. Those, I could have sailed through.”
“Says you.”
“I cut classes, yes, chasing that fickle Pynsi, and my frustration made me disrespectful. But I studied hard to catch up when Pynsi betrayed me.”
“H’m,” I said, using that old quarterdeck procrastination. “We’d better decide what we’re going to do with you, hadn’t we?”
I unbuckled one of the swords I’d taken from those two dozy guards, Lin and Hwang, after I’d disposed of the lily pad on my head. Both weapons were lynxters, the straight cut and thruster of Loh, and there was nothing to choose between them. I handed the sword to the lad.
“Here, Ra-Lu. It does not do to go unarmed on Kregen.”
“That is true.” He took the lynxter. “Still, I’m more of a dagger man. Although the bow is the prime weapon of all.”
You can’t argue with the Bowmen of Loh over that question.
He buckled the sword on and suddenly looked up.
“All right, then, Dray Prescot, Drajak the Sudden. I shall call myself Rollo. From Ra-Lu — see?”
I nodded. “A fine name. I knew a splendid artist, Rollo the Circle. He could draw a—”
“I know. So could our art master, Tun-du-Haffyien. Perfect.”
I was taking to this young scamp. He knew who I was, and had read those outrageous romances about the Dray Prescot in the scarlet
The gasp from Quonling’s mouth could have come from the lad himself or his officious damned teacher. Either way, my words must have had some effect. Quonling pitched forward and put his young face into a patch of the more liquid mud we had tried to avoid. I caught his tunic and heaved him back. He was shaking all over now, and that was pure physical fear and reaction and not magical. By Krun! The poor lad had had a time of it!
He gargled a bit and I wiped the mud off. I wanted to know if that idiot teacher had sent the message.
At last he said: “I know what happened. I heard. But I do not believe. No, by Hlo-Hli herself, I do not credit it!”
“Has he sent the message, boy?”
“How should I know? I was disrespectful and disobedient, I know that. But I never went around uttering threats—”
“I seldom threaten. If it has to be done, I do it. Anyway, if you don’t know we can only find out by waiting. Who was that onker, anyway?”
“That? Oh, that was Gal-ag-Foroming, one of the head tutors. He has the heaviest and springiest cane in all Whonban.”
“Sometimes,” I said, “sometimes, I suppose, that is necessary. If he was any good as a tutor you’d pass your exams without the need of a cane.”
Although I told the lad this, I am well aware there are exceptions in the case of the genuinely thick. Not the cane, of course, but the passing.
“Oh, he’s clever, no doubt of that. Just that, well—”
“Some do, and some don’t,” I said. “In that game trying hard is generally not good enough. What is accomplished is far too important to have people who fall down on the job.” I looked at him, and saw he had regained his color. He was pulling bits of mud out of his red hair. “I thank you for going into lupu, Ra-Lu. You were taking a risk I did not appreciate. I shall not forget that.”
“Yes, well. I am more concerned about those plug-uglies who threw me in the water. They are aware my powers are strictly limited; yet they know I was to have been a Wizard of Walfarg and therefore they can punish me.”
“What for?”
“Many people, not all, pile the blame for the loss of empire upon the sorcerers of Whonban. That and the lack of airboats and saddle birds.”
“I’d have thought a Wizard of Loh could take care of himself. They strike mortal fear into the hearts of folk outside Loh, believe me.”
“Why do you think we always seek to practice overseas?”
“That makes sense. And if you’re half-trained, then—”
“Oh, I’m more than half-trained. The interim exam I failed was a mere trail-blazer for the finals. Those, I could have sailed through.”
“Says you.”
“I cut classes, yes, chasing that fickle Pynsi, and my frustration made me disrespectful. But I studied hard to catch up when Pynsi betrayed me.”
“H’m,” I said, using that old quarterdeck procrastination. “We’d better decide what we’re going to do with you, hadn’t we?”
I unbuckled one of the swords I’d taken from those two dozy guards, Lin and Hwang, after I’d disposed of the lily pad on my head. Both weapons were lynxters, the straight cut and thruster of Loh, and there was nothing to choose between them. I handed the sword to the lad.
“Here, Ra-Lu. It does not do to go unarmed on Kregen.”
“That is true.” He took the lynxter. “Still, I’m more of a dagger man. Although the bow is the prime weapon of all.”
You can’t argue with the Bowmen of Loh over that question.
He buckled the sword on and suddenly looked up.
“All right, then, Dray Prescot, Drajak the Sudden. I shall call myself Rollo. From Ra-Lu — see?”
I nodded. “A fine name. I knew a splendid artist, Rollo the Circle. He could draw a—”
“I know. So could our art master, Tun-du-Haffyien. Perfect.”
I was taking to this young scamp. He knew who I was, and had read those outrageous romances about the Dray Prescot in the scarlet
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