Wistril Compleat Read Online Free PDF Page B

fight?"
    Wistril gathered his books and trundled
toward the tent-flap. "I do not intend to test that, Apprentice,"
he said. "We have evicted the hunters from our land. We shall haunt
the Lake. We shall spring his traps." Wistril paused. "Forty crowns
will last only so long, spread amid such a gaggle of brigands," he
said. "The money will run out and the Grizzly will move on,
Apprentice. You will see."
    "What if he's as stubborn as certain White
Chair Wizards?" said Kern.
    Wistril stamped out of the tent. Kern
followed, gazing up and around at the darkening sky.
    "Here they come," said Kern.
    Wistril stacked his books on the bench set at
the water's edge. "The serpentia?"
    "The spooks!"
    A long, shrill wail sounded faintly over the
trees. Kern jumped and waved and whistled. "Over here, gents! Over
here!"
    Above, a ragged patch of darkness appeared,
high and fast. The darkness slowed and thickened and spun, falling
suddenly and then wheeling away to hover over the center of the
Lake like a fat, lazy tornado spun whole out of cobwebs.
    The darkness seethed and boiled, spinning and
billowing wide enough to cover three-quarters of the Lake in the
space of ten heartbeats. Howls and shrieks, faint at first, grew in
number and volume until reaching a crescendo that sounded of
multitudes in torment.
    "Nice touch," said Kern.
    The ragged darkness exploded. Spinning off in
all directions, the ghosts of Castle Kauph soared screaming over
the waters and into the forest.
    Kern watched the bushes Sir Knobby's areal
spies had identified as hiding-places for the Grizzly's lookouts.
Sudden movement caused leaves to shake; Kern distinctly saw at
least one pair of boot-heels heading quickly away, a mob of gleeful
phantoms in close pursuit.
    "Observe," said Wistril, peering through his
brass spyglass. "The serpentia emerge!"
    Fifty feet out, the serpents broke water and
made for shore just past Wistril's tent.
    "A feathered crest!" hissed Wistril. "See,
Apprentice, how the plumage extends from eyes to mid-back? A
female. A female with young, just as I suspected."
    The female serpentia perked up her head,
turned her slitted glare toward Wistril and his spyglass, and
whistled to her young.
    "Fascinating, Master," said Kern. The
serpentia whistled again, turned, and the serpents writhed into the
forest and away.
    Kern let out his breath in a whoosh. "Lucky
us. A female sea-monster, with three hungry young mouths to feed.
Remind me to put two knots in my tent flap tonight."
    "Bah," said Wistril. "I have been observing
the serpentia with a spell," he said. "As indicated by the fossil
records, the serpentia eat only fish. The villagers and their
precious goats are in no danger, Apprentice. Nor are you."
    "You'll never convince the villagers of that,
Master."
    "I shall not try," said Wistril. The wizard
folded his glass, made a chair appear with a mumble and a
finger-twitch, and sat. "The young are molting, Apprentice.
Shedding their skins. The female parent is leading them into the
forest only to snag their old skins among the rocks and limbs. Once
the molting is complete, these nocturnal jaunts will cease."
    "For a time," said Kern. "Then what?"
    Wistril spread pens and paper. "The Lake will
only support a few such creatures for a year, perhaps two," he
said. "They will surely move on when the supply of fish runs low.
Imagine -- nomadic, nurturing, feathered reptiles!"
    Kern tilted his head. "You're sure about
this?"
    "Confound it, Apprentice, I am as sure as a
man with less than an hour of observation and a blatherskite helper
could possibly be," he said. "I have notes to make. Attend the
staff. Fetch me at midnight, and I will relieve you at watch."
    "Yes, Master."
    "And tell the staff, Apprentice," said
Wistril, as he cast a small blob of lamp-less flame to hover over
his table. "Tell the lads that if the hunters pursue the serpentia
onto Kauphish soil I want the hunters repelled. With vigor. Is that
clear?"
    "Aye, Master," said Kern. "We shall dine