Spell of the Crystal Chair Read Online Free PDF

they’re the closest thing to it. They’ll be plodding on when some long-legged thoroughbred would give up and quit.”
    Tam and Mat rode a single horse. Mat sat behind, clinging to Tam’s waist. No horse was big enough for Volka, but his strides were so long that he had no trouble keeping up with the horses. “Ho,” he boomed, “I will have to be careful not to walk off and leave your little toy horses.”
    Princess Fairmina led the way, and all morning long they moved along the trail northward. It was pleasant going. When the sun was directly overhead, they stopped to eat. But after only a quick break, they proceeded again.
    By the time they stopped for the night, Mat was groaning. “Get me off this horse!”
    Fairmina looked at him with a frown. “A ride likethis, and you’re ready to give up? I thought Gemini dwarfs were tougher.”
    Her remark squelched what spirit Mat had, and he complained even more vehemently.
    The Sleepers fell into their regular routines. The boys went out to gather wood and made a fire while the girls broke out the cookware and began to put a meal together. They had fresh meat, and for once Mat did not complain but ate hungrily.
    “What do you think this is?” Abbey asked. “It doesn’t taste like any meat I’ve ever had.”
    Reb, who loved to tease, said, “Maybe horsemeat. Tastes kind of like it.”
    Abbey stared at the meat and said, “Ugh!” She was about to put it aside when Dave laughed. “Don’t believe him. It’s good Nuworld beef. You’d better enjoy it, for we may really be eating horsemeat before we get to where we’re going.”
    After eating, Princess Fairmina sat off by herself. And long after the others had rolled into their blankets, she stared into the fire.
    Finally she gave a sigh and pulled up her own blanket. Her last waking thought was,
I don’t see what good these children are. My father and mother will be so disappointed. They think I’m bringing back an army—and I’m bringing back a nursery
.
    From far away a voice came to Sarah, and then a hand shook her roughly. “Wake up. It’s time to get started.”
    “But I just went to bed.” Sarah clutched her blanket and blinked against the sun, which was barely risen in the sky.
    Princess Fairmina was standing over her, an unhappy look on her face. “Are you going to sleep all day?”
    “No. I’m awake. I’m getting up.”
    Somewhat embarrassed, Sarah jumped out of her blanket. She washed her face in the stream they had camped beside and then began frying bacon and heating bread over the campfire.
    The Sleepers and their companions ate quickly and were in the saddle by seven o’clock.
    The day was a repeat of the first with one exception. The Sleepers, unused to ten-hour rides, were all sore. Sarah found that the inside of her legs were chafed almost raw. Abbey had the same problem, and the two girls tried to comfort each other. “We’ll toughen up,” Sarah said with a confidence she did not feel.
    “No, we won’t. We’ll probably die before we get there.”
    They rode hard for the next three days, and by that time all of them had gotten somewhat used to being on horseback for long stretches. Volka, of course, was as tough as an oak tree. With one smashing blow of the club he always carried, he managed to kill a huge wild hog that weighed several hundred pounds. That night they had a feast and slept better than usual.
    The next day, Princess Fairmina stopped her little army while the sun was still high in the sky—which surprised everybody.
    “We can go farther, Fairmina,” Josh said.
    “This is enough for today. There is something we have to do.”
    The something that Fairmina had in mind was to check out their skill with weapons.
    She quickly discovered that Mat and Tam, for all their short heights, were expert swordsmen. The othersseemed to have varying skills with the sword. Dave was the best. He was the strongest and had the longest reach. Fairmina nodded grudgingly after she had