Sebastian Darke: Prince of Fools Read Online Free PDF Page B

nature.' He got up and strode off into the bushes, where he quickly disappeared from sight.
     
Max waited a few moments and then spoke in a whisper. 'I didn't hear anything calling.'
     
'It's just an expression,' said Sebastian.
     
'Hmm?'
     
'He's gone for a wee!'
     
'Oh. Well, why didn't he say so? Listen, are you sure we should be encouraging him to travel with us?'
     
'Yes, why not? He'll be useful – and he's just provided us with the best meal we've had since we left Jerabim!'
     
'There are more important things than a full stomach, you know.'
     
'Oh, I'm surprised to hear you say that. You carnivore, you!'
     
'I'd really rather you didn't go mentioning that to people.' Max frowned. 'Some of my more zealous brothers and sisters might not understand. They maintain that the eating of flesh is a sin.' He thought for a moment. 'But seriously, young master, this Cornelius – I don't know. There's just something about him I don't trust.'
     
'You don't trust anybody,' said Sebastian, as he untied his bedroll.
     
'We don't know anything about him. He wanders in out of the night with a javralat over his shoulder,' offers to share it with us, and we're supposed to believe that makes him a nice chap.'
     
'He is a nice chap. You know we elvish people pride ourselves on being able to judge a man's character at a glance.'
     
'Oh yes, like that Berundian who charged us a small fortune for lamp oil and lied to us about finding water. According to you, he was a nice fellow too. You can't always—'
     
'Shush. He's coming back!'
     
Cornelius emerged from the bushes, strolled over to the fire and laid himself down on the other side of it. He slid his sword from its scabbard and set it down on the ground beside him.
     
'Well, my friends, I'll bid you good night,' he said. 'And I'm sorry you don't trust me, Max, but there's not really very much I can do about that, is there?'
     
Max winced. 'Trust you? Who said I didn't?'
     
'Voices carry a long way at night, my friend.'
     
There was a particularly awkward silence.
     
T think there's a spare blanket in the caravan,' ventured Sebastian. 'It gets quite chilly at night.'
     
'No need,' Cornelius assured him. 'After all my years in the army, I could fall asleep naked on a block of ice. In fact, come to think of it, I have, several times!' And with that, Cornelius turned onto his side and, after a few moments, began to snore gently. Sebastian noticed that he slept with one hand on the handle of his sword; and when he looked closer he saw that the manling was quite literally sleeping with one eye open.
     
'Amazing,' he murmured. He glanced at Max and saw that he was lying there with a peeved expression on his face.
     
'What's wrong now?' he asked.
     
'You've never offered me the spare blanket!' said Max huffily and he turned his back on Sebastian. The movement caused a big blast of wind to emerge from his rear end.
     
Sebastian shook his head and the bells on his hat jingled. He took it off and set it to one side, laying it down carefully as though it was some precious relic. He wriggled into his bedroll and lay for a moment, gazing up at the millions of stars glittering in the night sky. Somewhere, far off, a luper howled, a remote and lonely sound.
     
Sebastian sighed contentedly, relishing the feeling of having a full stomach for the first time in ages. Then he closed his eyes and was fast asleep in moments.
     

CHAPTER 6
SKIRMISH

     
Sebastian opened his eyes and lay blinking up at the morning sky. A moment earlier he had been dreaming that he was performing his act for the court of King Septimus. His audience had sat there dressed in their finery, staring at him expressionlessly as his attempts to elicit a response became ever more frantic. All in all, it was a relief to be awake.
     
He sat up, stretched, yawned and then turned to look across the still-smouldering embers of the fire, where Cornelius had slept. But he wasn't there.
     
'Not a sign of him,' said