Dragonslayer: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hodge, "it's marmot."
    "Oh good. It's just that I'm allergic to lentil. Anything but lentil."
    Grumbling, Hodge set out toward the kitchen, leaving Gringe to watch over the shuffling little group. "Ulrich will be along," he called over his shoulder. "Getting dressed."
    Indeed that was what Ulrich was doing, with Galen's help, in the tower room. So stiff was he from the conjuring and visions of the night that he could scarcely move, but he insisted on standing erect while Galen brought his cape and drew it over his shoulders. He peremptorily waved away his canes. "Do you want them to think me decrepit? Useless?"
    "But you can hardly walk," Galen protested. "Look at you!"
    "Boy," said Ulrich sternly, "do you believe I need to walk?"
    "No, sir. But I thought. . ."
    "Listen, now! You will precede me and greet our guests and make them welcome. And you will do that in such manner that they will know that they have come to the house of a sorcerer. Do you understand?" He held the boy's shoulder firmly. "You will use the power that is yours by nature, Galen, as well as that which you have acquired."
    "But . . ."
    "But nothing!" Ulrich raised a monitory finger. "Very soon, very soon, you will be alone, and you will win respect by your own merit or not at all. In an emergency, in a real emergency, when you are acting for others besides yourself, then special help may be given. But, for the moment. . ."
    Galen nodded dubiously.
    "And remember, my son," the old man continued soberly, "that no matter what happens before this day is done, it is for you to carry on, despite how pitifully small your knowledge is. When I am gone it is you who will succeed me. You are my heir, neither Hodge nor anyone else. You, Galen, only!"
    "If you say so, sir," Galen replied. He was disturbed. Rarely had he heard his teacher speak so intensely. "But I'm not ready to . . ."
    "When the need is there, you will be ready. Now, no more talk of the sea, or traveling to the silken lands of the East, so long as there is a Great Thing needing to be done."
    "Yes, Ulrich."
    "Yes." Ulrich rested his hand on the boy's shoulder for a long moment. Then he smiled. "And now, now let us not keep our guests waiting. You first, and I shall follow."
    Head bowed respectfully, Galen backed away from Ulrich until he was through the door; then he hurried down the stairs. Visitors of any sort were rare at Cragganmore, and only twice since he had been apprenticed to Ulrich had travelers as young as himself arrived. Usually those who came were supplicants—aging councillors gnawing their beards, or fretting parents—or else renegades skulking along the edge of the woods and easily frightened off by a fireball conjured around their shins. So now he was particularly anxious to meet Valerian, whom he liked already, although he could not say why, and to hear more of Urland, for he had already heard strange tales. So eager was he that he almost burst indecorously into the hall. At the last moment he stopped running down the corridor, composed himself, and gestured to Gringe, who was still perched on the railing just inside the hall and who had been watching his approach with a baleful eye. He smiled ingratiatingly at the raven. "Announce me!" he whispered. But the bird turned a disdainful back and uttered a single raucous and unintelligible cry, like the grinding of oak branches in a wind, which startled the pilgrims and caused them to huddle together.
    "Greetings," said Galen, entering with what he hoped was a friendly wave. "Welcome to Cragganmore."
    They stared at him. They saw a gangling boy of eighteen, with an ingenuous face, big hands, and a patched cloak that was much too big. "Oh no," he said, guessing their thoughts. "No, no. I'm not Ulrich. Ulrich's coming. He sent me to greet you. I'm his apprentice. I'm Galen."
    "Magic, not talk!" said Ulrich's voice, but Ulrich was not there. Only chortling Gringe, preening his wing, was there.
    "Well," said Galen, "let's have some light!" In