Read Online The Oathbound Wizard-Wiz Rhyme-2 by Christopher Stasheff - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christopher Stasheff
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fantasy fiction, Fiction - Fantasy, Fantasy, Juvenile Fiction, Epic, Science Fiction; Fantasy; & Magic, Fantasy - Epic, Fantasy - General, Wizards
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you saw it coming and turned away?"
"Of course not! I wasn't expecting anything, remember? But I flew. Just in the nick of time, I felt this thrill of danger, and I flew up fifteen feet and over two yards--then I lit out for the tall timber. First time I'd flown since I met that motherless dragon. Nice to find out I could do it if I had to." He lapsed into a brooding silence. Matt had to jolt him out of it. "And the second time?"
"Huh? Second time?" The dracogriff turned his head around, frowning. "What do you care?"
"That black-magic-worker is still following you, according to what you've told me--so I might have to match spells with him. What'd he do the second time?"
"Oh." The dracogriff turned its head frontward again. "Well, the second time he conjured up a fake lady griffin to give me the 'come-hither.' Dumb fool didn't know I would never do a thing like that to a lady, most especially not a griffin!"
Matt heard overtones of Oedipus, vowing to outwit the gods, and wondered how long "never" was. "So you just turned away from it?"
"Damn straight away, you bet your bodkin! Idiot sorcerer didn't know that I'd grown up with griffins avoiding me like a plague-carrier, either!" Matt wondered if an "idiot sorcerer" might be anything like an "idiot savant." If so, he might have trouble ahead, regardless of the man's lack of judgment. "How'd you know it was him?"
"Oh, I checked. I went over a few hundred yards, snuck past, then snuck back in--and sure enough, there he was, hiding behind a boulder, waiting for his lure to do its job on me. But I gave him a royal hot seat, and he ran away yipping." The guy definitely did not sound like much of a threat, but Matt planned to be loaded for bear anyway. "So he hasn't been able to catch you, just slow you down a lot?"
"Right--but he keeps getting better. The trap after that was a chunk of road that he'd created a bog under. I was just about to step on it when some churl of a rider shouted, "King's courier! Stand aside!" and slammed past me and right into the mud. Well, sir, you never saw a sorcerer hightail it out so fast--but the messenger shouted a spell to get himself out, then turned around and chased me back for ten miles, 'cause he thought I'd done it!"
"But you did see the sorcerer twice." Matt frowned. "How come you thought I was him? Do we look alike?"
"How should I know? I only saw him from the back! And you might have taken off your sorcerer's robe to fool me. All I know is, he's a sorcerer, and he's still after me."
Matt nodded. "And now he's chased you all the way back into the mountains. Want to tell me about the last try?"
"Maybe it was him, and maybe it wasn't," the dracogriff muttered. "But it was a huge snake, ten feet thick and, I swear, a hundred feet long if it was an inch, with breath that could shrivel the bark off a tree--I saw it do that; there's a whole woodlot, fifty miles in front of us, with naked trunks. And boy, could it move! When I tried to go around, it struck way ahead of me--and when I tried to circle around its tail, it whipped about and struck even farther than its back tip! So I pulled all my nerve together and tried to fly over, but it reared up and snapped at me--I just barely dodged aside in time! So I flew back a mile, then dropped and ran--but it kept coming, faster and faster. Wouldn't come up past the foothills, though."
"Trouble hauling all that mass upward?"
"No, trouble with the rocks I kept throwing down at it; sometimes it pays to be taloned. It went away when the sun set, and I figured I was safe--you know how snakes are about nighttime and cold. But I still got as high up as I could before I settled down for the night, and I made sure I slept where there was a lot of loose rock, so I'd hear it if it came."
"And where it would be really easy for the sorcerer to make a small boulder roll down and pin you."
"Awright! I can't think of everything!" the dracogriff bawled.
"No, and you do have to sleep some time," Matt said,
"Of course not! I wasn't expecting anything, remember? But I flew. Just in the nick of time, I felt this thrill of danger, and I flew up fifteen feet and over two yards--then I lit out for the tall timber. First time I'd flown since I met that motherless dragon. Nice to find out I could do it if I had to." He lapsed into a brooding silence. Matt had to jolt him out of it. "And the second time?"
"Huh? Second time?" The dracogriff turned his head around, frowning. "What do you care?"
"That black-magic-worker is still following you, according to what you've told me--so I might have to match spells with him. What'd he do the second time?"
"Oh." The dracogriff turned its head frontward again. "Well, the second time he conjured up a fake lady griffin to give me the 'come-hither.' Dumb fool didn't know I would never do a thing like that to a lady, most especially not a griffin!"
Matt heard overtones of Oedipus, vowing to outwit the gods, and wondered how long "never" was. "So you just turned away from it?"
"Damn straight away, you bet your bodkin! Idiot sorcerer didn't know that I'd grown up with griffins avoiding me like a plague-carrier, either!" Matt wondered if an "idiot sorcerer" might be anything like an "idiot savant." If so, he might have trouble ahead, regardless of the man's lack of judgment. "How'd you know it was him?"
"Oh, I checked. I went over a few hundred yards, snuck past, then snuck back in--and sure enough, there he was, hiding behind a boulder, waiting for his lure to do its job on me. But I gave him a royal hot seat, and he ran away yipping." The guy definitely did not sound like much of a threat, but Matt planned to be loaded for bear anyway. "So he hasn't been able to catch you, just slow you down a lot?"
"Right--but he keeps getting better. The trap after that was a chunk of road that he'd created a bog under. I was just about to step on it when some churl of a rider shouted, "King's courier! Stand aside!" and slammed past me and right into the mud. Well, sir, you never saw a sorcerer hightail it out so fast--but the messenger shouted a spell to get himself out, then turned around and chased me back for ten miles, 'cause he thought I'd done it!"
"But you did see the sorcerer twice." Matt frowned. "How come you thought I was him? Do we look alike?"
"How should I know? I only saw him from the back! And you might have taken off your sorcerer's robe to fool me. All I know is, he's a sorcerer, and he's still after me."
Matt nodded. "And now he's chased you all the way back into the mountains. Want to tell me about the last try?"
"Maybe it was him, and maybe it wasn't," the dracogriff muttered. "But it was a huge snake, ten feet thick and, I swear, a hundred feet long if it was an inch, with breath that could shrivel the bark off a tree--I saw it do that; there's a whole woodlot, fifty miles in front of us, with naked trunks. And boy, could it move! When I tried to go around, it struck way ahead of me--and when I tried to circle around its tail, it whipped about and struck even farther than its back tip! So I pulled all my nerve together and tried to fly over, but it reared up and snapped at me--I just barely dodged aside in time! So I flew back a mile, then dropped and ran--but it kept coming, faster and faster. Wouldn't come up past the foothills, though."
"Trouble hauling all that mass upward?"
"No, trouble with the rocks I kept throwing down at it; sometimes it pays to be taloned. It went away when the sun set, and I figured I was safe--you know how snakes are about nighttime and cold. But I still got as high up as I could before I settled down for the night, and I made sure I slept where there was a lot of loose rock, so I'd hear it if it came."
"And where it would be really easy for the sorcerer to make a small boulder roll down and pin you."
"Awright! I can't think of everything!" the dracogriff bawled.
"No, and you do have to sleep some time," Matt said,
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