Free Her Majesty's Wizard #1 by Christopher Stasheff Page B

challenge?"
       "Oh ... I wouldn't say that." Matt remembered the heat, the feeling of being inside a dynamo. "But what else could I do?"
       "Aye, I was quite confident thou wouldst play rash fool and take the risk." The dragon eyed him, brooding. "Yet thou art here; his spell is broken. I must think, then, thou didst work a spell unknown."
       "Unknown to Malingo, you mean?" Matt pursed his lips, thinking it over. "Yeah, quite probably, now that you mention it. All the poetry I have in my head is old stuff, where I come from; but it would probably be brand new, here."
       Stegoman seemed to shy away a little. "A new spell! 'Tis strange, and vastly dangerous!"
       Matt stopped, rooted to the spot. Now Stegoman had his full attention. "Oh! Do tell!"
       "I do indeed. Magic is elusive; it hath no principles, no rules of trade. It is an art, but one whose power shows in moments. Therefore good wizards cull old books for practiced but forgotten spells; all their world is a searching through of musty manuscripts. Their end-all and their be-all is in learning. 'Tis the search that they enjoy, the finding of old knowledge, new to them. They care little for its use."
       "True scholars," Matt said thoughtfully. "They wouldn't happen to be on the scarce side; would they?"
       "Extremely rare. But sorcerers sprout from every bush."
       Matt looked up, frowning. "Sorcery is easier to learn?"
       "Aye; ye've but to find a grimoire. And they never seem in short supply. I believe the powers of Darkness see to that."
       Matt had a brief, dizzying vision of a rotary press churning furiously in the bowels of Hell. "That's all Malingo did? Just memorized a book?"
       "One book, or two-it matters not. He will not take much time in seeking out new spells, unless he's challenged by a stronger; his tine is fully occupied in gathering wealth and seeking out new enemies, before they garner power enough to challenge him. And ever and anon, he plucks some victim for the torture, to amuse his idle hours. But thus it is with sorcerers; they see their Power only as a means of gaining their desires. They will not take the time to seek new spells."
       "And all the wizards do is research." Matt scowled, shaking his head. "It doesn't fit. Someone has to think up a new spell now and then-or there'd never be any change in the power structure!"
       Stegoman regarded him quizzically. "A strange thought, that. Yet thou hast the way of it aright; each century or so, a man appears who doth work out a spell anew. Yet from all that I hear, the forging of new spells is like the walking on a knife's edge, o'er a pit of flames and vipers mixed."
       "You use such picturesque similes." Matt swallowed thickly as he realized he'd been running just the risk Stegoman described every time he'd worked a spell-for, by local standards, all his spells were new. More to the point, he didn't know any of the old ones. Remembering the buildup of forces on his escape from Malingo's prison, he could easily believe what Stegoman had said; it wasn't hard to imagine that force shorting through him, leaving a charred and reeking husk ... He shuddered and put the thought behind him. "If a guy let himself think about that, he'd very quickly lose his taste for magic."
       "He would indeed," the dragon said. "Yet thou no longer hast the choice."
       "What? Hey, hold on!" Matt's head snapped up. "I'm a free agent here, I'll do, or not do, as I please!"
       "Assuredly," Stegoman agreed drily. "And I'm certain Malingo will respect thy freedom."
       Matt dropped his eyes and shuddered. "Committed! The one thing I've been working to avoid most of my life!"
       Then he froze, hearing the echo of his own words. Did I say that?
       Why had he never known that before? More to the point, why could he suddenly admit it to himself?
       Because now he was committed.

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    CHAPTER 5
       Gibbering goblins crawled up Matt's spinal column