Gardner, Craig Shaw - Ebenezum 01 by A Malady of Magicks

Author:A Malady of Magicks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-04T00:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

“There are those who claim that magic is like the tide; that it swells and fades over the surface of the earth, collecting in concentrated pools here and there, almost disappearing from other spots, leaving them parched for wonder. There are also those who believe that if you stick your fingers up your nose and blow, it will increase your intelligence.”

THE TEACHINGS OF EBENEZUM, Volume VII

After that, of course, our luck got worse. It wasn’t just the assassins, although Urfoo’s paid minions kept appearing with greater and greater frequency. It was probably all those minstrels that made us so easy to, find. When one’s fame is being sung in every village in the kingdom, it is difficult for one to travel incognito. Before our present arrangement, we seemed to be always on the run.

Then the earthquakes began.

At first, they were only small tremors, a moment’s shifting of the earth beneath our feet. But they grew greater day by day. I worried that Prince Tork had recovered from his inherited malady and would soon visit the Forxsnagel upon us again. When I told my master of my fears, he dismissed them, at least as far as so inept as wizard as Tork was concerned. Yet as to the earthquakes being caused by the Forxsnagel

. . . well, there might be some truth to that. He would speak no more on the subject until we were free of our present company. Until then, he only scratched the hair beneath his cap.

Our conversation was cut short by a commotion in the distance.

There must have been twenty of them, each one attempting to scream louder than his or her companions, all running full tilt down the dirt path that passed for a road in this rural clime. On my master’s instructions, we stepped to one side of the lane and watched them pass.

“Indeed,” Ebenezum intoned as the cloud of dust caused by the commotion settled down again upon the road. He allowed a hand to stroke his beard and made clicking sounds deep in his throat, a sure sign of wizardly thought.

“I do believe they would have run us over!” Old Oame Sniggett quivered, her pale hands fluttering amongst her black robes. “They can’t be from around here! Not civilized at all!”

“Now, now, Auntie.” The beautiful Ferona took her elder’s hands in her own steady grip. In the two days that the women had been our traveling companions, I had been repeatedly impressed by the young woman’s ability to remain calm in the face of any crisis.

“I’m sure there is some logical explanation for their behavior,” she continued. “Perhaps they are some sort of religious order, making a hasty pilgrimage to their holy shrine. Whatever their purpose, it is not for us to worry about. Not when we are so close to the safety of our home.”

The wizard turned to regard the two women. “We are almost there?”

Ferona smiled, an expression so brilliant on her freckled face, surrounded by her red hair, that if you watched her long enough, you might forget the sun.

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