Emperor and Clown Read Online Free PDF Page B

must be the
equal of-”
    “You’re
going to need medical help again very shortly, you know.”
    The
scholar chuckled dryly and slowed his pace. He had begun to puff already. “We
could use Ishist right now, couldn’t we? If what we heard about gangrene is
true, then the faun hasn’t long to live. His healing powers must be failing.”
    Gathmor
shuddered. Before noon Thinal had gone over the palace wall again, so that
Andor could interview a couple more guards. The trouble was that then he’d
called Darad to ensure their silence, and all the others were becoming
understandably alarmed by the sudden epidemic of anemia in their profession.
    “And
Darad saw Princess Kadolan on a balcony,” Sagorn remarked. “That’s important,
although none of the others realized.”
    The
alley entered a tiny square, and Gathmor peered around nervously. “Last
warning-don’t play games with me, Sagorn.”
    The
old man snorted. He was wheezing now, but obviously headed back to the palace.
How long could their luck last?
    “Is
there a solution?” Gathmor demanded. “Certainly.”
    “There
is?”
    “Certainly.
I have known it since Jalon called me yesterday. I just didn’t want to raise
your hopes by mentioning it.”
    Gathmor
promised himself revenge on this scraggy old bookworm-someday, somehow. “Raise
them now.”
    “More
magic! Rap is merely an adept. His powers have kept him alive this long,
despite his injuries, but since he can no longer speak to talk his guards into-”
    “I
am only an ignorant sailor!” Gathmor shouted. “But I am not stupid. I know all
this.” The old windbag always used too many words, but he seemed to be dragging
this story out deliberately.
    “Will
you tell the world? Keep your voice down! Now, do you want to hear or not?”
    “What
is the answer?”
    The
two jotnar emerged onto a wide road, better lit by the moon. There was no
wheeled traffic in these early-morning hours, but a band of men went by on the
far side with lanterns and suspicious glances, guarding a fat merchant encased
within them like a yolk.
    Sagorn
was laboring, puffing harder. “More power! If we can learn another word, then I
will be an adept, also, and so will Andor, or Thinal, or Jalon, or even Darad.
I admit that the thought of Darad as an adept is . . .” He sensed Gathmor’s
fury and broke off. “That is the answer! Another word of power.”
    What
madness was this? “And where exactly do you propose finding one of those now,
after failing for a hundred years?”
    Sagorn
chuckled dryly. “I know exactly where.”
    “Where?”
    “The
girl has one.”
    “Rap’s
princess? She does? You’re serious?”
    “Absolutely)
One of Inisso’s words has been handed down in her family. Her father passed it
to her on his deathbed. It was perhaps the reason the sorceress abducted her.
But I couldn’t be sure ... She does not seem to have had fair fortune, and even
a single word normally brings good luck.”
    “Now
you’re sure?” Gathmor was certain he was overlooking something in this argument.
    “Yes,
I am. That was why we have been cultivating Master Skarash all afternoon. He
was one of her companions in the desert.”
    “One
word? A genius? What’s her skill, then? What’s she good at?”
    Sagorn
sniffed disparagingly. “That seems to be still a mystery. At least the djinn
boy told Andor he didn’t know. He may not have been informed, of course, but at
one point in their adventures, she was definitely exercising some sort of
power. It was how his grandfather was able to find her again.”
    “Grandfather?”
    “Elkarath
himself. He’s a mage. But he isn’t here. He’s still in Ullacarn, working for
Warlock Olybino now. Forget him. We must find Inos and persuade her to share
her word of power with me. Or with one of my associates. Then we can save Rap!”
    “How?”
    Sagorn
paused to rest, leaning against a high stone wall-the wall of the palace
grounds, in fact. He took a moment to catch his breath and