The Stranger's Magic: The Labyrinths of Echo: Book Three Read Online Free PDF Page A

talking to myself often proves to be very helpful. Having yelled at myself, I realized that I was quite capable of putting off my hysterics until later. Not until
morning—in the morning I would still behave myself. I would hold off on my hysterics until I was in Juffin’s presence. The boss would probably bestow upon me two or three of his highly
theoretical yet thoroughly pacifying explanations. I would then pretend that I understood them, and I would feel great.
    I found the courage not to wake up. Instead I walked for a long time up and down the barren beach, trying to find any trace of the presence of the evil stranger Shurf had been talking about. I
had found nothing and I was already dead tired. Each step required an enormous amount of effort. I don’t recall ever experiencing anything more dispiriting in any of my dreams than what I
felt on this walk.
    Having expended all my energy, I woke up. Peace and quiet reigned in the cozy bedroom built by the magical hands of Filo Melifaro. Outside everything was dark and quiet—even the birds
hadn’t woken up yet. The runes on the beams in the ceiling were doing their magic: it took them only a few seconds to calm down my restless hearts, and then a few minutes more to lull me to
sleep. This time, the switchman angels that watch over dreamers as they arrive at their destinations took mercy: I dreamed some meaningless but very sweet nonsense. I couldn’t ask for
more.
    I woke up at dawn, happy and content. Unsolved mysteries did not spoil my mood. It was even pleasant to think that the barren sandy beaches that I had grown to love did indeed exist, and that I
might have the chance to see them in real life one day. Something similar had once happened to me: while walking around the mountains near Kettari, I discovered the town from my childhood dreams.
It turned out that the sandy beach was good news rather than bad—that is, if the news was ever amenable to such primitive terms, and the usual morning grogginess notwithstanding.
    “Sir Filo,” I said in a tender voice, addressing the ceiling, “I adore you. I don’t know what I would do without you, and so on and so forth. Just keep me in mind when
you begin recruiting new grandchildren.”
    Naturally, the ceiling was silent, yet after this insane tirade, my mood improved even more. I had to go down the narrow stairs leading to the bathroom sideways—otherwise my smile
wouldn’t fit.

    Moments later, I was flying down to the dining room. I had the rare opportunity to have breakfast alone, then wake up my colleague and observe his suffering, deriving a sadistic pleasure out of
it. Generally, Sir Melifaro Junior was no keener to get up in the morning than I had been as a schoolboy. That was strange, though, considering he was going to be spending another great day in the
House by the Bridge rather than meeting the principal.
    Today, however, my colleague had gotten up all by himself and was feeling not too bad, to put it mildly. I had the presence of mind not to be upset about it.
    “Well, does everything please Your Majesty?” he said when he entered the dining room.
    “Yeah, I think I’m not going to execute you this year,” I said. “After that, we’ll see about it.”
    “Dream on. I’m not one of your subjects yet, praise be the Magicians.”
    “We’ll see what tune you’re singing when my boys are galloping down the streets of Echo on their antlered nags. I’ll let you in on a big secret: my personal plan for the
unification of the Barren Lands and the Unified Kingdom differs somewhat from the official one. I figured it’d be better if I annexed the lands of His Majesty Gurig VIII to mine rather than
the other way around.”
    “Is that so?” said Melifaro, shoving an enormous sandwich in his mouth. “I think I’m going to denounce you then, if that’s okay with you. I’ve never done this
before, but better late than never, I guess.”
    “Please don’t. I’ll make you my prime