Read Online The River of Dancing Gods by Jack L. Chalker - Free Book Online
Authors: Jack L. Chalker
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They stopped at the edge of the courtyard, and Ruddygore beamed with pride. "Terindell was built more than six centuries ago," he told them. "It has a grand and glorious history, since its position here commanded the heights overlooking the two great rivers and their junction—and, therefore, what commerce and use the rivers made possible. It is quite a fortress, and its location is still vital; but so long as it is mine and I am here, it is safe from the kind of violence it was built to withstand..
"They'd have a tough time getting anybody out of here who didn't want to go," Joe agreed. "They'd have to surround you and starve you out, most likely, and that would put their backs to the river in case you wanted out..
Ruddygore looked surprised at his new recruit. "You seem to understand the military factors of my world very well for someone from such a technological culture as your own. Do you have any experience in this sort of thing?.
"Naw. It just seemed logical, is all," the former trucker replied.
"Hmmm..." Ruddygore muttered to himself. "Remind me never to confuse ignorance and stupidity again." He cleared his throat and regained command of the conversation. "Staff quarters are in the inner ring, as we call it. I also do a bit of teaching here, and those students also stay there. Inside here we have the central kitchen, then the adjoining banquet hall.
The two-storey, blocky L-shaped building over there contains my library, laboratories, and quarters. Come—we'll go there first..
He led the way across the courtyard. For the first time the two newcomers noticed others in the vast castle complex. Smoke was coming from the great chimney that abutted the kitchen, and from inside could be heard talking and the sounds of hard work. Around the courtyard, a few small boys were caring for flower groupings or trimming bushes. No, Marge saw, not small boys. About the size of nine- or ten-year-olds and dressed in green leotards and jerkins, but definitely not boys. One, at least, had a graying beard, and there was something odd, almost Page 33 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods inhuman, about their wiry bowleggedness, oversized hands and feet, and disproportionately enormous and slightly pointed ears.
Ruddygore caught her thoughts.
40 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS "Elves," he told her. "Nice, pleasant folk. Nobody better for landscaping and grounds maintenance work..
Even as they followed the sorcerer, both Joe and Marge could hardly keep from staring at the little men busily at work.
They reached Ruddygore's building and headquarters and were met at the door by a tall, exotic, and, again, not quite human creature. He was close to six feet and stood ramrodstraight, but he was oddly elongated. Joe thought of him as a four-foot-six man stretched somehow to that height. His face, too, was incredibly lean and thin, his ears large, thin, and sharply pointed. His skin was yellowish, and his eyes, black orbs set in deep red where white should be, darted this way and that like those of some beast of prey sizing up its victims.
He was dressed in the same sort of jerkin and leotards as the elves, but his were a muddy brown. He wore no shoes; both hands and feet were long and had lengthy, eaglelike talons instead of nails. His jet-black hair was cropped very short, but a shock of it rose up and drooped slightly over his forehead.
He was a formidable and fearsome sight, that was for sure.
"Welcome back, sir," the creature said in the stiff, emotionless tones of a butler or other professional servant. He neither looked nor sounded as if he were genuinely glad to see Ruddygore or anybody else. "Did you have a pleasant and successful trip?.
"Yes, yes, indeed," Ruddygore replied and started to go in.
He was suddenly aware of his two guests' hesitancy, stopped, turned, and beckoned them in. "Please come in. Poquah— well, I won't say he doesn't bite,
They stopped at the edge of the courtyard, and Ruddygore beamed with pride. "Terindell was built more than six centuries ago," he told them. "It has a grand and glorious history, since its position here commanded the heights overlooking the two great rivers and their junction—and, therefore, what commerce and use the rivers made possible. It is quite a fortress, and its location is still vital; but so long as it is mine and I am here, it is safe from the kind of violence it was built to withstand..
"They'd have a tough time getting anybody out of here who didn't want to go," Joe agreed. "They'd have to surround you and starve you out, most likely, and that would put their backs to the river in case you wanted out..
Ruddygore looked surprised at his new recruit. "You seem to understand the military factors of my world very well for someone from such a technological culture as your own. Do you have any experience in this sort of thing?.
"Naw. It just seemed logical, is all," the former trucker replied.
"Hmmm..." Ruddygore muttered to himself. "Remind me never to confuse ignorance and stupidity again." He cleared his throat and regained command of the conversation. "Staff quarters are in the inner ring, as we call it. I also do a bit of teaching here, and those students also stay there. Inside here we have the central kitchen, then the adjoining banquet hall.
The two-storey, blocky L-shaped building over there contains my library, laboratories, and quarters. Come—we'll go there first..
He led the way across the courtyard. For the first time the two newcomers noticed others in the vast castle complex. Smoke was coming from the great chimney that abutted the kitchen, and from inside could be heard talking and the sounds of hard work. Around the courtyard, a few small boys were caring for flower groupings or trimming bushes. No, Marge saw, not small boys. About the size of nine- or ten-year-olds and dressed in green leotards and jerkins, but definitely not boys. One, at least, had a graying beard, and there was something odd, almost Page 33 Chalker, Jack L - The River of the Dancing Gods inhuman, about their wiry bowleggedness, oversized hands and feet, and disproportionately enormous and slightly pointed ears.
Ruddygore caught her thoughts.
40 THE RIVER OF DANCING GODS "Elves," he told her. "Nice, pleasant folk. Nobody better for landscaping and grounds maintenance work..
Even as they followed the sorcerer, both Joe and Marge could hardly keep from staring at the little men busily at work.
They reached Ruddygore's building and headquarters and were met at the door by a tall, exotic, and, again, not quite human creature. He was close to six feet and stood ramrodstraight, but he was oddly elongated. Joe thought of him as a four-foot-six man stretched somehow to that height. His face, too, was incredibly lean and thin, his ears large, thin, and sharply pointed. His skin was yellowish, and his eyes, black orbs set in deep red where white should be, darted this way and that like those of some beast of prey sizing up its victims.
He was dressed in the same sort of jerkin and leotards as the elves, but his were a muddy brown. He wore no shoes; both hands and feet were long and had lengthy, eaglelike talons instead of nails. His jet-black hair was cropped very short, but a shock of it rose up and drooped slightly over his forehead.
He was a formidable and fearsome sight, that was for sure.
"Welcome back, sir," the creature said in the stiff, emotionless tones of a butler or other professional servant. He neither looked nor sounded as if he were genuinely glad to see Ruddygore or anybody else. "Did you have a pleasant and successful trip?.
"Yes, yes, indeed," Ruddygore replied and started to go in.
He was suddenly aware of his two guests' hesitancy, stopped, turned, and beckoned them in. "Please come in. Poquah— well, I won't say he doesn't bite,
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