The Sorceress of Karres Read Online Free PDF

go," he said. "But I can't let you pay for me. We don't need charity," he said stiffly.
    Looking at him in his old, patched clothes, Goth reckoned that he probably did. He also looked like he could use a few more meals. But she was experienced enough with people from other places besides Karres to recognize the last phrase as a direct quote. Suddenly she was very glad that she'd taken the Egger Route back to Captain Pausert's childhood. She had needed him a good few times during their adventures. And it looked like he really needed her now. Besides, he was rather cute. She could see that she was going to be a very busy young Karres witch for the next while, besides fulfilling her mission to prevent Captain Pausert's untimely demise.
    And then she had to stifle a chuckle that he probably would have taken the wrong way. To think that she'd been jealous of Vala!
    He saw her smile anyway, and smiled back. That did odd things to her. Whoever gave him that black eye was going to suffer!
    "And this kit?" was all she said, though.
    "Oh. There are lockers under the plant-beds. Most of them are empty. Here. This one will do."
    He pulled it open, reading from the label. "You just have to remember which plant. This one's Mularina tremblence from Coolum's World. Big maroon leaves. Easy to find."
    He seemed totally uncurious as to why she would have a full-length miffel-fur coat. He simply helped her to push it in, along with the bulky sweater, and closed the locker.
    They went down a corridor between the huge beds of vegetation from various alien worlds. Squat little robot tenders trundled around constantly. A taller, stilted robot was trimming a tree with heavy basketball-sized fruits.
    "It's all automated. That's why the place is still running, I guess," said Pausert, when she asked if there were any human gardeners. "The robotics must have cost a fortune, my mother says. It's a pity uncle Threbus didn't leave us the fortune instead."
    "There's some pretty valuable stuff here," said Goth, looking at the tillipwood tree and the berry-hung bushes that she was sure came from Margoli.
    Pausert shrugged. "I suppose so. But it all goes into the laboratories. My mother works in one of them. There's not much new stuff coming in, but there's years of work still, mother says."
    They had arrived at a small doorway. Pausert produced an elderly looking key, and unlocked it.
    Several boys came bundling in through the doorway. "I told you we just had to wait for him!" shouted one of them.
    They were all quite a bit bigger than the scrawny Pausert. Goth wasted no time. She head-butted the first one in the stomach, kicked the next one. Pausert was already fighting, but they had plainly not expected him to have any help. She 'ported a small object inside the shirt of the boy Pausert was wrestling with. It was a fleshy and very thorny leaf from a nearby cactus. He yowled most satisfactorily.
    "Quick!" she shouted, pulling at Pausert's sleeve, seeing there were at least another four of the gang still pushing their way in through the door. "There are too many of them. We'd better run."
    So they did, dodging the little maintenance robots, sprinting along the corridors between the raised beds, as the boys chased them. Goth spotted the tree she had been looking for, with its spreading branches and large basketball sized spiky fruits. "Up there," she panted. Toll had taught all her children: if you're in trouble, go up until you're above it. It was always easier to deal with it from up there. And if she had recognized the tree correctly, dealing with it could be a lot of fun.
    They climbed into the growing-bed and then up into the tree. Doing this had set off some kind of alarm—but that didn't seem to worry the seven boys. They were into the growing-bed and starting to climb the tree too, when Goth 'ported one of the fruits down on their leader. It was near the limits of the weight she could manage, but the effect was well worth the effort. The Leewit would