Diana Wynne Jones - Howl's Moving Castle 02 by House of Many Ways

Author:House of Many Ways
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-09-08T19:54:26+00:00

clutching the pot and laughing. T h e lubbock laughed too, standing in the middle of the meadow and waving its insect arms.

"It's just laid its eggs in Rollo," Charmain whispered, "and he didn't even notice!" She felt ill. T h e same thing had so nearly happened to her. Peter looked quite green, and Waif was shivering. "You know," she said, "I think the lubbock may have promised Rollo a crock of gold for making trouble between the kobolds and Great-Uncle William."

"I'm sure it did," Peter said. "Before you got here, I could hear Rollo yelling that he needed to be paid."

He opened the window to listen, Charmain

thought. T h e silly fool.

"I have to declare war," Calcifer said. He had gone rather wispy and pale. He added in a small hiss that trembled slightly, "I have to fight that lubbock or I won't deserve the life that Sophie gave me. O n e moment." He stopped speaking and hung in the air, long and stiff, with his orange eyes closed.

" A r e you the fire demon?" Peter asked. "I've never seen one bef—"

308

" Q u i e t , " said Calcifer. "I'm concentrating. This has to be right."

T h e r e was a slight rumbling from somewhere.

T h e n , overhead and across the window from behind, came what Charmain at first took for a thundercloud. It threw a large, black, turreted shadow along the meadow, which very quickly reached the rejoicing lubbock. T h e lubbock looked round as the shadow fell across it and froze for an instant. T h e n it started to run. By this time the turreted shadow had been followed by the castle that was making it, a tall black castle built of huge blocks of dark stone, with turrets on all four corners. They could see the big stones it was made of shaking and grinding together as it moved. It came after the lubbock faster than the lubbock could run.

T h e lubbock dodged. T h e castle swerved after it.

T h e lubbock spread its small fuzzy wings for more speed and went bounding in furious strides to the tall rocks at the end of the meadow. As soon as it reached the rocks, it turned round and came rushing the other way, toward the window. It must have 309

hoped that the castle would crash into the rocks.

But the castle reversed itself with no trouble at all and came after it faster than ever. Big puffs of black smoke went belching from the castle's turrets and floating away across the fading rainbow. T h e lubbock swiveled one of its multiple eyes as it ran, then put its insect head down and pelted, feelers flapping, wings beating, in a big curve that took it along the very edge of the cliff. Although its wings were now purple blurs, it seemed not to be able to fly with them at all. Charmain understood why it had not tried to follow her down from the cliff: it would not have been able to fly back up.

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