Night Mare Read Online Free PDF Page B

as we slept, weren’t you? No secrets from your kind.”
    “No, we only deliver the dreams,” Imbri protested, her pride in her former profession overriding her wish to deceive the Horseman. “We can’t tell what’s in people’s minds. If we could, I would never have let you put this bit in my mouth.” That brass tasted awful, and not just physically!
    “How, then, did you know about me? I know you knew, because of your message of warning about me.”
    “I
don’t know. The Night Stallion knows. He has a research department, so he can tell where to target the bad dreams. But he can’t usually tell waking people. There’s very little connection between the night world and the day world.”
    “So I now understand. Many secrets are buried in the depths of night! But what of this Good Magician, who you say also knows a great deal? Why hasn’t he warned Xanth about me?”
    “Magician Humfrey only gives information in return for one year’s service by the one who asks,” Imbri said. “Nobody asks him anything if he can help it.”
    “Ah, zealously guarded parameters,” the Horseman said, seeming to like this information. “Or the mercenary motive. So for the truth about Xanth’s situation, a person must either pay a prohibitive fee or peer into the peephole of a gourd—whereupon he is confined and can not extricate himself by his own effort. It is a most interesting situation. The people are almost entirely dependent on the King for information and leadership. If anything were to happen to King Trent—” He paused a moment. “His successor, Prince Dor—is he competent?”
    “All I know is what I have picked up from people’s dreams,” Imbri temporized.
    “Certainly. And their dreams reflect their deepest concerns. What about Prince Dor?”
    “He has hardly had any experience,” she sent unwillingly. “When he was a teenager, about eight years ago, King Trent went on vacation and left Dor in charge. He had to get his friends to help, and finally the Zombie Master had to come and take over until King Trent returned. There were a lot of bad dreams then; we mares were overloaded with cases and almost ran our tails off. It was not a very good time for Xanth.”
    “So Prince Dor is not noted for competence,” the Horseman said. “And next in the line of succession is the Zombie Master, whom the people don’t feel comfortable with. So there really is no proper successor to King Trent.” He lapsed into thoughtful silence, guiding Imbri by nudges of his knees. When he pushed on one side, he wanted her to turn away from that side. He was not wantonly cruel, she understood; all he required was the subordination of her will to his in every little detail.
    That was, of course, one thing she couldn’t stand. At the moment she could not escape him, but she would find a way sometime. He couldn’t keep the bit and spurs on her forever, and the moment he slipped, she would be gone—with a whole lot more news about him than she had had originally. Beware the Horseman, indeed!
    They came to the Horseman’s camp. There were two men there, Mundane by their look. “Found me a horse!” the Horseman called jovially.
    “Where’s the other horse?” one asked.
    “He bolted. But I’ll get him tomorrow. This one’s better. She’s a converted night mare.”
    “Sure enough,” the Mundane agreed uncertainly, eyeing Imbri. It seemed he thought the reference to night mare was a joke. Mundanes could be very stupid about magic.
    “Better off without the white horse,” the other Mundane said. “For all the riding you get on him and all the feeding you give him, he’s never around when you need him.”
    “He’s got spirit, that’s all,” the Horseman said with a tolerant gesture. “I like a spirited animal. Now put a hobble on this one; she’s a literal spirit, and she’s not tame yet.”
    One of the henchmen came with a rope. Imbri shied away nervously, but the Horseman threatened her again with his awful