Off to Be the Wizard - 2 - Spell or High Water Read Online Free PDF Page B

follow him and fly through the Martin-shaped hole. Martin would have just flown straight up, punching through the canopy and emerging into the clear blue sky above, except that he knew there was a second pursuer lurking up there, waiting for Martin to emerge into the open, presenting a clear target.
    Martin glanced upward and saw a black shape moving fast above the treetops. He lowered his gaze just in time to see and almost dodge a dead limb hanging limply from the live branches that supported its weight. He tried to swoop under it, but wasn’t quite fast enough. It grazed painfully across his back, then fell to the forest floor. In an act of hopefulness Martin glanced behind him, and cursed when he saw the purple blur that was gaining on him zip right over the top of the fallen branch without having to alter course, or even decelerate.
    He knew from memory that a river cut through the woods, and that he’d be reaching it soon. He would lose his cover and be a sitting duck for the bogey above the trees. If, on the other hand, he slowed enough to turn away from the river, the purple blur behind him would overtake him and knock him out of the air. To make matters worse, there was a third attacker out there somew here who had been delayed at the start of the chase, but would certainly be back into the fray by now.
    Martin only had himself to blame. He had gotten so caught up in the excitement of having a trainee that he’d forgotten that there were people who would attack him on sight.

    The day had started on such a positive note. Martin awoke to find that Roy was already up. Martin produced breakfast for them, and while Roy was amusingly disturbed to eat food that had been pulled out of a wizard’s hat, he was clearly equally disturbed that the breakfast consisted of a McDonald’s bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and a solid slab of hash browns.
    Once breakfast was done, Martin set about getting Roy up to speed.
    Martin showed Roy his top-of-the-line 2012 laptop, which, since Roy was from 1973, was as astonishing to him as any magic trick Martin had done. Martin explained that until recently the wizards from farther in the future had tried to keep later technology from the earlier wizards in the interest of not messing up the timeline more than they had to, but that recent events had shown that this put earlier wizards at an unfair disadvantage, and that the timeline didn’t seem to care what they did.
    Roy asked Martin to explain that last part, and Martin explained that most wizards went back to their original time on a regular basis, and that nobody had found a single change, no matter what the wizards did in the past. He briefly explained the two predominant theories: that they existed in a separate timeline created by whatever program used the file, or that at some point in the future something would happen to clean up the mess they were currently making. Martin trailed off when it became clear that Roy had lost interest in the philosophical discussion and just wanted to play with Martin’s computer.
    Maybe we’ll get along after all , Martin thought.
    Once Roy was done boggling over Martin’s laptop, Martin explained about the shell program, the interface that Phillip and the former chairman, Jimmy, had developed to make it easy to utilize the file that brought them all here. He explained to Roy the powers that the shell could bestow upon anyone who knew that it existed and took the time to learn how to use it. He told Roy that he need not age. He’d never be too cold or too hot again. He could speak any language fluently. Most important, he explained that while he still needed food, water, and air, he was impervious to physical damage.
    If Roy wore a robe and hat that met certain measurements exactly, the shell would recognize him as a wizard and he’d have the powers of flight and teleportation, and the ability to create food, money, and almost anything else out of thin air. Martin also promised Roy that when