The Wizardry Consulted (Wiz, #4)(76)
Wiz licked his lips, took a tighter grip on his staff and nearly died in an eyeblink.
With a pop of displaced air Jerry, Danny, Moira and Bal-Simba flashed into existence in Wiz’s workroom. A quick glance showed them the room was empty but the sound of cursing downstairs told them there were people about. As one they dashed for the door.
Malkin was standing at the sink, sponging the wine out of her dress and describing in lurid detail all the things she was going to do to Bobo, when Bal-Simba and the others came pounding down the stairs with Jerry in the lead.
“You’re Malkin, aren’t you? Where’s Wiz?” he got out in a single breath.
Malkin’s mouth fell open.
“My Lady, please,” Moira said as she pushed around Jerry. “Where is Wiz?”
“Where, Lady?” Bal-Simba demanded over Jerry’s shoulder.
No one argued with Bal-Simba. Not only did he have the presence and voice of a mighty wizard, he was nearly seven feet tall with bulk to match his height. For the first time in her adult life Malkin found herself dwarfed and intimidated by another person.
“Tell them, girl!” shrieked Widder Hackett.
Over in the corner Anna gaped at what had invaded the kitchen.
“At the dueling field,” Malkin stammered. “You take the west road . . .”
“No,” Bal-Simba commanded. “No time for words, just think of the place.
Think clearly.”
“Got it!” Danny shouted. “Let’s go.” The four gestured as one and vanished.
There was a pop of inrushing air and the kitchen was empty again save for its normal inhabitants.
“Fortuna!” muttered Malkin. The stains on her dress forgotten, she reached for an empty wine cup, eyed it, tossed it back on the drainboard and took a beer tankard down from its peg. She filled it to the brim from the wine keg and downed nearly half of it without taking the tankard from her lips.
“Excuse me, My Lady,” Anna quavered when Malkin came up for air, “but who were they?”
“Friends of the master’s.”
“How did they get here?”
Malkin shrugged.
Bobo sauntered into the kitchen looking pleased with himself. But since Bobo always looked pleased with himself neither woman noticed.
Malkin took another long pull on the wine. “Best prepare the spare bedrooms, girl. We’re going to have company this night.” Either that or dragon fire ere sundown, she thought as she turned away. But no sense in saying that. Nothing they could do about it and the poor child was already frightened near out of what little wit she had.
Twenty-five: We Who Are About To . . .
The essential difference between a consultant and an owner is that it’s not the consultant’s butt on the line.
The Consultants’ Handbook
And if it is your butt on the line you’ve screwed up big time.
Marginalia in a copy of The Consultants’ Handbook
Wiz sensed rather than heard the movement behind him and flung his staff out in an instinctive warding gesture. A wall of flame washed over him, charring the grass and scorching the earth beneath. The sky darkened for an instant and then the shock wave nearly knocked Wiz off his feet.
Shaking his head to clear it, Wiz realized Ralfnir had come in behind him right at ground level and very fast. His instinctive guard was the only thing that had saved him. Looking the way the shadow had gone he sought Ralfnir. At last he saw the dragon, so far away it was only a speck in the blue. The dragon hauled around in a tight turn, mighty wings beating the air. Then he seemed to drop down on Wiz like a stooping hawk. Again Wiz raised his staff and this time he didn’t let the dragon close.
Bolt after bolt of lightning struck Ralfnir square on and splattered harmlessly off his armored chest. The dragon replied in kind and Wiz’s anti-fire spell glowed dull red around the edges. Wiz turned his head away from the blast of heat radiating off the shield and countered with a rainmaking spell. The dragon steamed and sizzled in the sudden downpour, but shook off the water like a dog and kept coming.
Wiz raised his staff and gestured again. Four things like old-fashioned beehives made out of steel appeared at the cardinal points around Ralfnir. As soon as they winked in they exploded, releasing a horde of steel bees aimed straight for the dragon. Ralfnir shot a great gout of flame, slewing it back and forth to play over the oncoming metal insects. Most of them glowed red, then yellow, then fell from the sky like a rain of molten steel. The few that penetrated Ralfnir’s defenses bounced harmlessly off the beast’s armored hide.
Now he swooped close and reached out with gaping jaws. Wiz dropped flat on the ground and heard the dragon’s jaws close above him like a rifle shot. The pressure from the wingbeats made Wiz’s eardrums ring and then the dragon was gone again with a lashing of lightning bolts to speed him on his way.
Ralfnir winged over and dived behind the hill. For an instant Wiz thought he had gotten him, but the dragon popped up seconds later, spraying Wiz with fire from close range and jinking down again before the human could get a spell off.
backslash spindizzy exe! Wiz muttered. A blue haze enveloped him and he rose, a hundred, two hundred, three hundred feet straight into the air. The ground fell away from him and the hilltop where he had stood became a black smear on the rolling green meadow.