Dark Lord of Derkholm Read Online Free PDF Page B

inspected him with one large gray and black eye and nodded briefly before she went away.
    Why aren’t they talking? Blade wondered as he came onto the terrace carrying their biggest coffeepot. Elda was in front of him, pushing a trolley loaded with wine, glasses, and mugs. She had been in the kitchen with him for half an hour, and nothing would possess her to utter a word. He supposed it was something to do with Kit’s plan. Stupid. He felt tired and nervous. And he had been woken far too early this morning by groanings and creakings from the overstretched roof. No one had had time to put it right. And there was no time now. Blade’s job was to make sure that every one of the eighty or so wizards around the table had the drinks they preferred. They did look tired, he thought, as he went his rounds with coffeepot and trolley. The fact that they were all in formal robes, red or white or black, made their faces look really pale and tired. And the beards did not help. Wizards he had met without beards had suddenly got them now.
    â€œOh, it’s the rules,” one of the younger ones, a wizard called Finn, told him. “Mr. Chesney won’t hear of a wizard guiding a Pilgrim Party without a beard. Coffee, please. How do you come by your coffee? I can only get it from the tours. I asked to be paid in coffee last year, I love it so much.”
    â€œMy father grows it,” Blade said.
    â€œReally?” Finn said eagerly. “Will he sell me any?”
    â€œI should think so,” said Blade. “Look, does that mean I’ll have to wear a beard? I’m supposed to be a Wizard Guide.”
    Finn gave him a startled look. “We-ell,” he said. “You’d look a bit odd—see what Mr. Chesney says.”
    I can’t wait! thought Blade. You’d think Mr. Chesney rules the universe.
    Once every wizard was in a seat and supplied with a drink, Shona stepped out through the windows at the end of the terrace, carrying her violin and wearing her green bardic robes. They made her look lovely. Shona’s hair was darker than Mara’s, dark, glossy, and wavy. Otherwise she had inherited her mother’s good looks. Several wizards made admiring noises as she set the violin under her chin. Shona’s color became lovelier than ever. She struck an attitude and, very conscious of admiring stares, began to play divinely.
    â€œCan’t you stop her showing off?” Derk murmured to Mara as he went around with a bottle of wine.
    â€œShe’ll grow out of it,” Mara whispered back.
    â€œShe’s seventeen! ” Derk hissed angrily. “It’s about time she did.”
    â€œShe’s beautiful. She plays wonderfully. She’s entitled! ” Mara whispered forcefully.
    â€œBah!” said Derk. Another disagreement already. What kind of animal would he create when this was over? He hadn’t done much with insects up to now.
    As he considered insects, he felt the magics of Derkholm reacting with someone else’s. It felt like Barnabas. He gave Barnabas a puzzled look.
    â€œIt’s all right,” Barnabas said. “I made Mr. Chesney a horseless carriage—thing with a sort of motor in front—years ago. He always uses it to get around in. That’ll be him coming now.”
    Here we go then, Derk thought. He stared, along with everyone else, anxiously at the gates. You could see nothing but sky beyond the gates from the terrace, but he felt the other magics travel up the valley toward Derkholm and then stop. Shortly Lydda and Don came pacing up the driveway, tails sedately swinging, and behind them strode a gaggle of purposeful-looking people, four of them, in tight dark clothes. Four! Derk looked anxiously at Mara, and Mara hastily stood up, leaving an extra chair free. She picked up a bottle of wine and joined Blade by the trolley.
    â€œGo and get the snacks now,” she whispered.
    â€œIn a second.” Blade was frankly