The Dastard Read Online Free PDF Page A

ONE. CAN YOU HELP?
    “Certainly I can help,” the Dastard said. “But I won't. Go away.”
    The dog walked sadly on. It was momentarily satisfying to frustrate him, but hardly worth the effort.
    In due course he came to the nexus. It was at a statue of the Sea Hag, a Sorceress he had always admired. She took the bodies of young pretty girls and used them until they got worn and ugly, then moved on to others. She must have a fabulous history! She was old, in spirit if not in current body, and must have been around since the dawn of Xanth.
    Then he saw a girl standing there by the statue. She was sort of halfway pretty, with blonde hair and brown eyes, but young. The Adult Conspiracy could get after a man who tangled with too young a girl; he had had some experience, and didn't need any more. So she was of no personal use to him. Still, she was at the nexus, so this needed to be investigated.
    She saw him, “Did you see a big dog? I thought I saw one not long ago, maybe looking for a home.”
    The Dastard ignored this. “Who are you?” he asked her.
    “My name is Becka,” she said. “Who are you?”
    That set him back. The Dastard was not used to people asking him questions. “Why do you want to know?”
    “Because I'm supposed to wait here until a certain man comes, and then I'm supposed to go with him and help him in whatever way he wishes. I need to know whether you are that man.”
    This was interesting. She was at the nexus, and she wanted to help him. Maybe she was what he was looking for, despite her youth. If she didn't tell, who would ever know? So he gave it a try. “Kiss me.”
    “No.”
    “If you're supposed to help me--”
    “Not that way.”
    “How do you know?”
    “I'm too young.”
    “Maybe not,” he said. He grabbed her and sought to kiss her.
    Suddenly he was holding on to a dragon with purple-tinged bright green scales.
    He backed off five minutes and tried again. They went through the introduction, and this time he answered her question. “I am the Dastard, because I do dastardly deeds. Do you have a problem with that?”
    “I guess not,” she said. “You must be going to do something good for Xanth, that I'm supposed to help you with. Otherwise the Good Magician wouldn't have sent me.”
    “The Good Magician! He sent you to meet me?”
    “Yes. Didn't you know?”
    “No. Why should that little old wizened gnome want to do anything for me?”
    “I don't know. My guess is he wants to do something good for Xanth.”
    The Dastard pondered. This was a curious business. He hadn't known that Magician Humfrey even knew about him, let alone wanted to help him. Maybe it would be better to slide back through limbo and nullify that connection. But he hesitated, because he knew the Good Magician was a sharp old codger with a lot of information, and if he changed Humfrey's action once, he would not be able to change it again thereafter, because of the rule of paradox. Maybe the Good Magician was counting on that, to mess him up. So he would play along, and learn more about it, not acting until he was sure. Having a good magic talent was one thing; using it effectively was another.
    Meanwhile, here was this girl who could become a flying dragon. She was obviously no prospect for any romance, and not just because she was too young. She could defend herself. He hated that. But she might indeed be useful, if he could figure out how.
    “Very well,” he said. “Tag along for a while. And if you don't like what I do, then you can depart.” And that would get rid of her without putting him into any paradox bind with respect to the devious Good Magician.
    “Okay,” she agreed.
    It was definitely a nexus, but not one he properly understood. Yet.

Xanth 24 - The Dastard
    Chapter 2: THREE LITTLE PRINCESSES
    They were four years old, and they were bored. It wasn't all that easy to be a princess. Their mother, the Sorceress Ivy, had the talent of Enhancement, and she certainly had been using it