The Eye of Zoltar Read Online Free PDF

contest.’
    ‘Water under the bridge,’ I said diplomatically.
    ‘Your forgiving air does you credit,’ came a melodious voice close at hand. It was Queen Mimosa, who was as elegant a figure as I had seen anywhere. She held herself with poise and quiet dignity, and whenever she moved it was as though she were walking on silk.
    ‘Your Majesty,’ I said, bowing again.
    The King and the Queen could not have been more different. The sole reason the Kingdom of Snodd enjoyed a better-than-normal reputation these days was Queen Mimosa’s guiding hand. Popular rumour said she agreed to marry the King and bear his children in order to give a better life to his subjects, and if true, this would be a very noble sacrifice indeed. Before marriage she had been just plain Mimosa Jones, a medium-ranked sorceress in her own right, and it was rumoured that the Queen was a Troll War orphan herself, which might explain the large amount of charity work she did on their behalf.
    ‘Now then,’ said the King, eager to get down to business as he had, apparently, an execution to witness at midday, and didn’t want them to start without him, ‘since you and the rest of those irritatingly disobedient enchanters have the odd notion that magic should be for the good of many, I am having to come to terms with the fact that my relationship with sorcerers cannot be as one-sided as I might wish. Wife? Translate.’
    ‘He means,’ said Queen Mimosa, ‘that he knows he can’t boss you around.’
    ‘Exactly,’ said the King, ‘but there is a matter of extreme delicacy that we need to speak about.’
    He turned to where his daughter the Princess was waiting for her homework to be done for her.
    ‘Peaches, would you come over here, please?’
    ‘What, now?’ she asked, rolling her eyes.
    ‘If it’s not too much trouble, sweetness.’
    The Princess walked over in a sultry manner. I was the same age as her, but we could not have had more different upbringings. While I spent my first twelve years eating gruel and sharing a dormitory with sixty other girls, Princess Shazine had been indulged in every possible way. She wore clothes cut from the very finest cloth, bathed in rainwater imported at huge expense from Bali, and had her food prepared by Michelin-starred chefs. In short, her every whim satisfied in the most expensive way possible. But while extremely obnoxious she was undeniably very pretty with glossy raven-black hair, fine features and large, inquisitive eyes. Although I’d never met her, she was very familiar. She could barely catch a cold or be seen with an inappropriate prince without it becoming front-page news.
    ‘Yes?’ said the Princess in a pouty kind of voice, arms folded.
    ‘This is Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Shazine Blossom Hadridd Snodd,’ announced the King, ‘heiress to the Kingdom of Snodd.’
    The Princess looked me up and down as though I were something considerably less important than garbage, but made quite certain she did not make eye contact.
    ‘I hope this interruption to my valuable time has a purpose.’
    ‘Pay attention, Princess,’ said the Queen in the sort of voice that makes you take notice, ‘This young lady is Jennifer Strange. The Last Dragonslayer.’
    ‘Like totally big yawn,’ replied the Princess, looking around her in a bored fashion. ‘Magic is so last week.’
    ‘She is also manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and a young lady of considerable daring, moral worth and resourcefulness. Everything, in fact, you are not.’
    The Princess looked shocked, not believing what she had heard.
    ‘
What?
’
    ‘You heard me,’ replied the Queen. ‘Soft living has rendered you spoilt and obnoxious beyond measure – a state of affairs for which I admit I am partly responsible.’
    ‘Nonsense, Mother!’ said the Princess haughtily, ‘everyone loves me because I am so beautiful and charming and witty. You there.’
    She pointed to one of the King’s servants whose job it was