Brooks, Terry Landover 03a Wizard at Large

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Tell me about you and Michel, Elizabeth asked, eyes lifting once more.
Abernathy sat back stiffly. Michel Ard Rhi is part of the reason that I am a dog, he said. He thought
for a moment. Elizabeth, I honestly don t know if I should tell you this or not.
Why, Abernathy?
Well... because much of it is going to be very hard for you to believe.
Elizabeth nodded. Like what you told me about the wizard changing you from a man into a dog? Like
you being from another world? She shook her head and looked very solemn. I can believe things like
that, Abernathy. I can believe there are things most people don t know anything about. Like magic. Like
make-believe places that really aren t make-believe. My dad tells me all the time that there are all kinds
of things people don t believe just because they don t understand them. She paused. I don t tell anyone
this except for my best friend Nita but I think that there are other people living out there somewhere
on other worlds. I do.
Abernathy regarded her with new respect. You happen to be right, he said finally. This is not my
world, Elizabeth. It is not Michel Ard Rhi s world either. We are both from a world called Landover, a
kingdom really, not very big, but very far away. It is a crossroads for many worlds besides yours, all
leading into the mists where the fairy people live. The mists are the source of all magic. The fairies live
entirely in the magic; other worlds and peoples do not at least, not for the most part.
He stopped, trying to think how to proceed. Elizabeth was staring at him with amazement, though not
disbelief. He reached up and shoved his glasses further back on his nose.
What happened to me happened more than twenty years ago. Michel s father was King of Landover
then. He was in the final year of his life. I was his Court Scribe. Michel was about your age but other
than that, he was nothing like you, of course.
Was he bad? Elizabeth wanted to know.
He was.
He s not very nice now, either.
Well, then, he has not changed much from when he was your age. Abernathy sighed. The memories
came flooding back, painful images that lingered and refused to go. I played with Michel while he was
growing up. His father asked me to and so I did. He was not a very pleasant child, especially after
Meeks took him under his wing. Meeks was the old Court Wizard, a very bad man. He made friends
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with Michel and taught him bits of magic. Michel liked that. He was always pretending he could do
anything he wanted to do. When I played with him, he always pretended he had a castle called Graum
Wythe, a fortress stronghold that could stand against a hundred hostile armies and a dozen wizards. He
liked the idea of having so much power at his command.
Abernathy shook his head. He played at this and he played at that, and I went along with it. It was not
my place to question what was happening to the boy or what I thought was happening. The old King
did not seem to see it as clearly as I did... He shrugged. Michel was quite a little monster, I m afraid.
Was he mean to you? Elizabeth asked.
He was, but he was much meaner to others. I had some protection because I was Court Scribe. Others
were not so fortunate. And Michel was really cruel toward animals. He seemed to take great delight in
tormenting them. Particularly cats. He really hated cats for some reason. He was always finding strays
and throwing them off the castle walls...
That s horrible! Elizabeth exclaimed.
Abernathy nodded. I told him so. Then one day I caught him doing something so unspeakable that even
now I cannot bear to talk about it. In any case, that was the end of my patience. I picked up that boy,
turned him over my knee, and beat him with a switch until he howled! I did not think about what I was
doing, I just did it. When I was finished, he ran screaming from the room, furious at me for what I had
done to him.
Well, he deserved it, Elizabeth announced, certain of it even without knowing what it was he had done.
Nevertheless, it was a terrible mistake on my part, Abernathy continued. I should have left well
enough alone and simply advised the King on his return. The King was gone, you see, and Michel had
been left to the care of Meeks. He went immediately to Meeks, therefore, and demanded that I be
punished. He wanted my hand cut off. Meeks, I learned later, laughed and agreed. Meeks never cared
much for me, you see. He felt I influenced the old King against him. So Michel summoned his guards and
they came looking for me. There was no one to protect me. Meeks was acting regent in the King s
absence. I would most certainly have had my hand removed had they found me.
But they didn t. Elizabeth was anxious to help the story along.
No. Questor Thews found me first. Questor was Meeks s half brother, a wizard as well, albeit a lesser
talent. He was visiting for the week, hoping the old King would find him a position somewhere or other.
We were friends, Questor and I. He did not care much for his half-brother or Michel either, and when he
heard what was happening he came to warn me. There was no time for me to escape from the castle and
no place to hide within it. Michel knew them all. So I allowed Questor Thews to change me into a dog so
I would not be harmed. I wasn t, fortunately, but afterward Questor was unable to change me back
again.
So it wasn t a bad wizard who changed you after all, Elizabeth said.
Abernathy shook his head. No, Elizabeth just a poor excuse for one.
Elizabeth nodded solemnly, her freckled face lined with thought. And you ve been a dog all these
years? Sorry. A... a soft-coated Wheat Terrier?
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Soft-coated Wheaten Terrier. Yes. Except for my fingers and my voice and my thinking, which are still
the same as they were when I was a man.
Elizabeth smiled a sort of sad child s smile. I wish I could help you, Abernathy. Help change you back,
I mean.
Abernathy sighed. Someone tried that already. That s how I ended up here, scrunched up in that
display case. Questor Thews again, I m afraid. He is not any more adept at his art now than he was thirty
years ago. He thought he had finally found a way to change me back. Unfortunately, the magic failed him [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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