Read Online The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) by Heidi Willard - Free Book Online Page A

his face.
    "Do you think we should have left any of them alive?" Percy asked them. "They can rebuild and murder more people."
    "Oh, I don't think anyone will have to worry about them anymore," Ned replied.
    Fred wrinkled his nose. "Does anyone smell smoke?"
    They paused their horses and turned in their saddles to glimpse a column of thick smoke rise up from the trees to the southwest. "What is it?" Ruth asked them.
    "A sign from their god that he's displeased," Ned chuckled. "That saucer of oil is right now wreaking a very nasty mess on their meadow." A terrible raven-black plume rose up and mingled with the other gray smoke. "And that's the end of that cursed book," he added.

CHAPTER 9
     
    Canto frowned as he rummaged through their bags. "Damn zealots and their damn cannibalism," he grumbled.
    "Is there a problem?" Ned asked him as he sat by the fire. It was the afternoon after their adventure with the priests, and their first stop after that trouble.
    Canto stood by the horses where they'd unpacked their supplies to get an inventory. He closed the flap of his bag in disgust. "Those damn priests stole half of our food, and we lost all our blankets at the camp."
    "I'm just grateful they didn't steal our lives," Percy joked. "But thanks to Sins and Fluffy we were saved."
    Canto scowled at the silent man who sat beside Percy on a log. "Ya took long enough. Were ya going to allow 'em to sacrifice us?" Canto quipped.
    "If they offered enough money for you," Sins calmly replied.
    "I don't doubt it," Canto agreed as he seated himself beside the fire. "And how did Fluffy come to be with ya? Ah thought he was tied by those black cords."
    "My weapon is not a common dagger," was Sins' quizzical answer. "And I needed to recover our horses. I thought the beast would be a useful distraction."
    "I guess Fluffy was too worried about Fred to bite you," Ruth quietly spoke up.
    Sins relapsed into his silent mood and didn't reply. Pat whipped her head over to Fred. "And speaking of you, why didn't you use a spell on that maniac when he was monologuing?"
    Fred shrank back from her glare and shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything to conjure up," he replied.
    "Uh-huh, more like your master hasn't been doing his duty by you," Pat countered. She turned to Ned. "Don't you have a book or pamphlet with pictures that he can study?"
    Ned furrowed his brow and pulled at his beard. "I may have something of the kind for apprentices who can't read." He rummaged in his cloak and pulled out a small, weathered book. He handed it to Fred, but the young man couldn't even read the cover.
    Pat scooted over to him and rolled her eyes. She read the title aloud for the whole group. "Castoring For Fools." She glanced over to Ned with a raised eyebrow. "What sort of a fool makes a book for fools?"
    Ned chuckled. "The kind who wishes to make a large amount of gold," he pointed out. "These books sell quite well for those wishing to believe they have castor abilities, or can obtain them by following some basic rules."
    Pat jerked her thumb to Fred. "And this will help him?"
    "If it can't then nothing can, and we may as well take his staff away," Ned assured her.
    Fred cringed and quickly opened to the first page. It showed a picture of a silhouette figure standing with their staff in the proper position; perpendicular to the body with one hand on the staff. He flipped to another page in the center of the book and came up with an empty page. Fred held up the empty page so Ned could see it. "Is this supposed to be here?" he asked his master.
    "It's so you don't get ahead of your abilities," Ned told him. "The pages will show up after you've completed the previous lesson."
    Fred frowned and stood between his seat and the fire. He pulled his stick out and placed himself in the same stance as that in the picture. Everything was perfect except the staff didn't appear in his hand. Nothing happened on the page. Fred glanced over to Ned. "What now?"
    "Turn the page," Ned