Diana Wynne Jones - Derkholm 01 by Dark Lord of Derkholm

Author:Dark Lord of Derkholm
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-09-08T19:54:20+00:00

Fourteen

Querida sat alone in the conference hall of the University, working at the long table. Today she had managed to get from her house to this building by supporting herself on one real crutch and a magical one that she could handle with her broken arm. But it had been hard work, and the stairs up to her study had defeated her. The bones were a long way from healed yet. She had become pretty weak during her healing coma, too, and the effort tired her. She wished now—as she had wished last time she had broken a bone—that she had not insisted on the coma. But she was so bad at bearing pain.

She wished she could find someone to bring her a hot healing drink. The janitor had said he would do what he could, poor fellow, but it was not really his job, and he did not know where cups or kettles were kept. There was no one else about. The healers and the male wizards were all out with the Pilgrim Parties. Normally during tourtime the place would be abuzz with female wizards, who usually took this opportunity to use the equipment, but this year they were away on urgent business as well. In fact, the silence and emptiness of the University were a very satisfactory sign that the hasty arrangements Querida had made before she insisted on the coma were being acted upon.

She considered her plans. Querida’s feeling had always been that Oracles helped those who helped themselves. The tours were not going to end just like that. So, in order to help the prophecies along a bit, she had all the women wizards out around the continent organizing mistakes, failures, and trouble for Pilgrim Parties. She was trusting Derk to make a thoroughly bad job of being Dark Lord, and it was always possible that if things went badly enough wrong, Mr. Chesney might decide the Pilgrim Parties were unworkable. But there was that demon of his. Querida’s plans there hinged upon the fact that demons were very legal-minded. For this reason, the women wizards were also looking for anything—any small thing— that the tours were doing which was not in the contract. Querida could then confront the demon and tell it that Mr. Chesney had broken the law and it was free to go. If Mara did her part as well, then Mr. Chesney would be faced with three ways the tours had broken down. Surely that would be enough to make even Mr. Chesney give up.

Anyway—she pulled forward pen and paper—this accounted for the way the place was so strangely quiet and empty. Better get on.

Almost the only people in town were the bards. But they had flatly refused either to join the tours or to help Querida stop them. Their college was out on the edge of town, and they were presumably all inside it sulking.

“And we can do without artistic tantrums,” Querida murmured.

Her small, dry voice rang through the great silence of the building.

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