Spell of the Crystal Chair

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Book: Spell of the Crystal Chair Read Online Free PDF
Author: Gilbert L. Morris
gone victoriously through a bout with him. “You do very well, Dave.”
    Dave shook his head. “I never thought I’d be bested by a woman.”
    “You have not crossed blades before with any woman that has practiced every day of her life since she was six years old.”
    She found some of them practically helpless with a sword. These included Wash and Abbey.
    Finally she said, “We’ll test you out with a bow.”
    All of them were armed with bows except for Volka, whose only weapon was his terrible club.
    Finding an open place, Fairmina attached a target to a tree and then marched back some thirty paces. “Now, each one of you shoot at that mark.”
    Josh’s heart sank. The target was a small card no bigger than a playing card. Nevertheless, he drew his bow and launched an arrow. It missed the whole tree, and Josh flushed. “I guess I’m out of practice.”
    “I can see that,” the princess said. “Now, the rest of you.”
    As with the sword, there were varying skills.
    Sarah loosed one arrow that hit the edge of the card, and Fairmina exclaimed, “A good shot! You are a fine archer, Sarah!”
    Reb Jackson grinned. “I’m not much with one of these things. I could do better with a .44.”
    “What’s a .44? Never mind. We don’t have any here. Take your best shot, Reb.”
    Reb managed to hit the tree, although his arrow was two feet lower than the card.
    Fairmina was not happy. “I think most of you would starve in my country. Our lives depend upon our skills with a bow. Except for Sarah, all of you are in need of practice.”
    The weapons session was a humiliation to the Sleepers. It was also humiliating that, except for the huge boar that Volka had killed, most of the game that they fed on was brought down by the princess. She would ride on ahead, and later they would find her with a bird or a squirrel or a rabbit.
    Sarah, especially, felt humiliated. She said to Josh, “I’m going to help with the hunting.”
    “I wish just one of us could do something right,” Josh said. “The princess doesn’t think much of us.”
    That night, after they had eaten fried rabbit and the last of the bread they had brought with them, the boys withdrew to their section of the camp. By common consent, they gave the girls plenty of room.
    Princess Fairmina sat watching Sarah and Abbey take turns brushing each other’s hair.
    “You spend a lot of time making yourselves look nice,” she commented. She herself simply put her hair into braids and then coiled them in a crown around her head. “Why do you do it?”
    “Why, I guess every girl wants to look as good as she can,” Abbey said with surprise.
    “You don’t spend much time on your appearance, do you?” Sarah observed. “But I’ll bet you have lots of boyfriends.”
    “What do you mean? I have friends who are boys and friends who are men and friends who are girls and friends who are women.”
    “No. I meant—well, suitors. Young men that come
courting
you,” Sarah said.
    Princess Fairmina threw a chunk of wood onto the fire and watched the sparks climb upward. There was something like sadness in her strange green eyes. “I have no time for such things,” she said simply.
    “But surely you want to marry someday and have children—be a wife and mother.”
    “I will be the chieftess of the Lowami. They will look to me to lead them forth in war. I will have no time for such things as suitors.”
    “But don’t you want a sweetheart?” Abbey persisted. Puzzled, she studied Fairmina’s face. Apparently she could not understand this young woman at all.
    The fire crackled and snapped, and the smell of smoke was rich and strong.
    Princess Fairmina seemed to consider Abbey’s question. But then she shook her head and spread out her blanket. “I have no time for such foolishness!” she said firmly. She lay down and seemed to go to sleep instantly.
    “I never saw a girl that didn’t want to get married,” Abbey whispered.
    “I guess it’s hard trying to
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