Suldrun's Garden by Jack Vance

Author:Jack Vance [Vance, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780575073746
Google: 5nJbAAAAMAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 40869
Publisher: Gollancz
Published: 1983-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

and thrust it into Nerulf's mouth. "Drink!"

Nerulf attempted to protest, but was allowed no choice. "Drink!"

Nerulf gulped the potion and shrank to become a burly imp about

two feet tall. Dhrun prepared to resume his ordinary size but

Glyneth stopped him. "First remove the iron rings from about our

necks."

One by one the children filed past Dhrun. He nicked the metal with

his blade Dassenach, then twisted once, twice, and broke the rings

apart. When all had been liberated, Dhrun reduced to his normal

height. With great care he wrapped the two bottles and tucked them

into his pouch. The other children meanwhile had found sticks and

were beating Nerulf with intense satisfaction. Nerulf howled,

danced and begged for mercy, but found none and was beaten until

he was black and blue. For a few moments Nerulf was allowed

surcease, until one of the children was reminded anew of some past

cruelty and Nerulf was beaten again.

The girls declared themselves willing to prepare a bountiful

feast, of ham and sausages, candied currants, partridge pie, fine

bread and butter and gallons of Arbogast's best wine, but they

refused to start until the fireplace was cleared of ash and bones:

all too vivid mementos of their servitude. Everyone worked with a

will, and soon the hall was comparatively clean.

At noon a great banquet was served. By some means Arbogast's head

had managed to raise itself to the rim of the pot, to which it

hooked its teeth and pressed up the lid with its forehead, and

with its two eyes watched from the darkness inside the pot as the

children reveled in the best the castle's larder could afford.

When they had finished their meal, Dhrun noticed that the lid had

fallen from the pot, which now was empty. He set up a shout and

all ran looking for the missing head. Pode and Daffin discovered

it halfway across the meadow, pulling itself forward by snapping

at the ground with its teeth. They knocked it back toward the

hall, and in the front yard built a kind of gallows, from which

they suspended the head by an iron wire tied to the mud-colored

hair. At the insistence of all, the better that they could regard

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