Eaglethorpe Buxton and the Sorceress Read Online Free PDF

right cheek and then my left. “Here. Drink
this.”
    The mouth of a small bottle was pressed
between my lips and cool sweet liquid flowed over my tongue and
down my throat.
    “Is that an antidote?” I asked.
    “Antidote to what?”
    I looked into the face above me. It was one
of the most beautiful faces that I had ever seen. Very large brown
eyes, like cow eyes, but in a good way, which is to say large and
brown, and with long lashes. A cute little nose. Perfect lips.
    “I’ve been poisoned.”
    “How?”
    “You are the most beautiful woman that I’ve
ever seen. Kiss me quickly before I die.”
    “What poisoned you?”
    “Quickly, the kiss.”
    “I don’t think I had better kiss you if
you’ve been poisoned. I might get some of the poison on my
tongue.”
    “Don’t use your tongue. Just use your
lips.”
    “Well, that’s not really much of a kiss, is
it?” quoth she.
    “I like the way you think,” I said, sitting
up. “If you didn’t know I was poisoned, what was that liquid you
just gave me?”
    “That was water from the well outside. It’s
supposed to be naturally healthful.”
    “I feel much better, but ‘naturally
healthful, does not quite equal ‘antidote to poison’.”
    “I ask again. With what were you
poisoned?”
    “That pie over there.”
    The young woman got up from my side and
walked across the room to where the remainder of the pie still sat.
From my vantage point, I could see that, as beautiful as her face
was, it was nothing compared to her body, especially that part of
her body which she presented as she walked away across the room. In
a word she was fetching, which is to say very attractive.
    “Is this a disconsolateberry pie?” she
asked.
    “Yes. It was one of the finest buttocks I’ve
ever had.”
    “What?”
    “I said it was one of the finest pies I’ve
ever had.”
    “Well you can’t poison somebody with
disconsolateberries,” she said, walking back over to me and
kneeling down. “They are a natural counteragent.”
    “That’s very breast for me,” I said, getting
up.
    “What?”
    “I said that’s very lucky for me.”
    “They are full of natural antioxidants too,”
said she.
    “Is that good?”
    She nodded. “Would you like that kiss
now?”
    Then it was my turn to nod, as I was
suddenly but momentarily mute. She put her hand on my cheek and
gave me one of the best kisses that I have had in my entire life.
The only better ones that I can think of off the top of my head,
which is to say within easy reach of my memory, are the kiss that I
received from the Queen of Aerithraine, in whose company I once had
the pleasure of spending a fortnight, and my cousin Tuki, who was
the first girl I ever kissed and was also a first-rate kickball
player.
    “What are you thinking about?” the beautiful
young woman asked.
    “Kickball.”
    “Well, stop it. I want you to think about
me.”
    “I don’t even know your name, or how you
found me, or how you know me, or what you want, or how you were
able to squeeze into that dress, or how much pie is left.”
    “My name is Megara Fennec, and I’ve been
looking for you for more than a week. I want to be an actress in
your play.”

Chapter Thirteen: Wherein I hear the story
of two star-crossed lovers.

    I stood looking at the young woman, whom
might well be the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen. She
struck a pose and tossed her thick locks of dark brown hair back
over her shoulder.
    “You are so beautiful,” I said. “Why would
you want to go into such a disreputable business as acting? You
could do anything you wanted.”
    “It’s not what I want; It’s all that I have
left,” she replied. “You see, my family the Capillaries…”
    “I thought you said your name was
Fennec.”
    “That’s my stage name,” she explained. “My
real name is Megara Capillarie. And my family and other family, the
Montenegroes, have been involved in a feud for dozens of
generations.”
    “Is it the kind of feud in