Wand of the Witch Read Online Free PDF Page A

arrow after arrow, her eyes narrowed and her purple skin glowing. Romy flapped her wings, hovered in the air, and stabbed her pitchfork down onto the beasts.
    A grunter slashed claws at Jamie. It tore into her thigh, drawing blood. She screamed and stabbed it.
    "Do you work for Dry Bones?" she shouted.
    The grunter snarled and drooled. "We serve the great witch Madrila. This town will be hers. Burrfield will fall."
    It tried to bite her. Jamie leaped back, swung her sword, and its blood splashed. The grunter fell dead.
    Silence fell. Ten warty, green bodies littered the road. The battle was over.
    Cobweb rushed to Jamie's side, eyes wide with concern.
    "J-j-jamie! You'we huwt."
    The spiderling took a handkerchief from Scruff and wrapped it around Jamie's wound. Green grunter blood covered the forest around them. The bodies stank, tongues hanging from their mouths.
    "You know," Romy said, "everybody says wood elves are all graceful and friendly, but they're really not ."
    Jamie sighed. "Those were no wood elves, Romy. Whatever they were, they knew we're the Bullies. They knew this is Burrfield. They were not wandering here aimlessly; they were looking for us."
    Neev knelt by one and examined it. Donkey ears grew from his head. The young warlock still hadn't outgrown his jinx; whenever he cast spells, some animal part sprouted from him. He pulled his hood over his ears and frowned.
    "The grunters spoke of serving a witch named Madrila," he said. "I wonder if...." He shook his head. "No, impossible. And yet...." His frown deepened.
    "What is it, Mommy?" Romy asked. She knelt beside him and hugged him.
    Neev growled. "Romy, I summoned you from Hell almost a year ago. Must you still call me Mommy?"
    She nodded. "Uh huh. Now what do you know about these grunting things?"
    Neev straightened and smoothed his robes. Romy stood with arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.
    "I've never heard of grunters," he said, "but I've heard the name Madrila. She was legendary back at the Coven. Apparently, a year before I joined, a young woman stormed into the Coven's tunnels. She called herself Madrila. They say she was beautiful, with long blond hair and green eyes."
    Romy pouted. "My hair and eyes are prettier."
    Neev mussed her hair of flames and continued. "In any case, Madrila marched right into the class Dry Bones was teaching his pupils. She shouted that she was Dry Bones's daughter, and that he must acknowledge her and teach her magic. But Dry Bones only shouted that he had no daughter. He banished her. Nobody saw her again. All the apprentices assumed she was a disgraced former student Dry Bones had flunked. Now it seems she's collected monsters and wants to avenge her father."
    Jamie limped forward. Her wound throbbed. She grasped Neev's shoulder and stared at him.
    "Neev," she said, "Dry Bones banished her. He denied being her father. Why would this Madrila care that we killed him? Why would she want us dead?"
    He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe she thinks that, by killing us, she can finally earn her father's respect... even if that father is dead now."
    "And maybe she's just a nut," Romy said and flapped her lips with her finger, making blubbering noises.
    In any case, Jamie thought, she now worried a lot less about John Quill, and a lot more about witches and monsters in the dark. The wind moaned, the trees creaked, and Jamie shuddered.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Neev smoothed his robes and pointed at the largest dead grunter.
    "We're taking this fellow straight to Lord Bramblebridge," he said. "If monsters are planning a new attack on Burrfield, he needs to know. Scruff, pick him up."
    His older brother, a lumbering giant who towered above the other bullies, made a face.
    "I don't want to touch that thing," he said. "It stinks."
    Romy picked a flower and tossed it onto the body. "There, he'll smell better now. You can do it, Scruff!"
    Grumbling and grimacing, Scruff lifted the dead grunter and slung it over his back. The