Free A Bad Spell in Yurt - Wizard of Yurt - 1 by C. Dale Brittain Page B

old wizard, but I realized it was not something I had said but something I reminded him of. "His predecessor was just the same. Accusing honest wizards of pacts with the devil. As though I didn't know better than to deal rashly in black magic!"
    In spite of what I had told the chaplain, wizards do in fact talk among themselves of "black magic." There is no evil in magic itself, only in the intention of those who practice it, but in the few cases ( very few, I hope) where a wizard has summoned a demon to add supernatural ability to his evil intentions, we refer to him as practicing black magic.
    It is of course always difficult to draw the line. No one at the wizards' school would cal it black magic to summon a demon (and a very smal one at that) to demonstrate to the class what to do if you meet one, but I hardly found it appropriate to discuss this with the old wizard any more than I had with the chaplain.

    "Interfering old busy-body! Frustrated old maid!" The old wizard sank back in his chair with a snort. He was apparently referring to the old chaplain.
    I tried to think of something to say to change the subject and decided silence was best. Besides, my head was starting to ache fiercely. There are magic spel s to minimize pain, and I decided to try one, very delicately and surreptitiously, hoping that he wouldn't notice.
    But I couldn't help wonder why the old chaplain had thought the wizard had been practicing black magic, and in what he had tried to interfere.
    The old wizard went back to rocking, the cat asleep in his lap. What seemed like several hours passed. The fire kept on burning steadily, though he added no more wood. If he noticed that the smoke from his hearth had given his guest a headache, and that the guest had had the poor taste to practice magic in his face, he didn't deign to mention it.

    I roused from a reverie to notice the rain had stopped. My head felt fine. I stood up from next to the table where I had been sitting, stiff in al my joints. Horizontal rays from the sun came through the narrow window, lighting up the piles of herbs and making the swirls of light and il usion seem rather insignificant.
    Almost sunset, I thought, suddenly ravenously hungry. The old wizard was looking up at me, a half smile on his dry lips. The cat was no longer on his lap.
    Then I realized what was wrong. The sunlight was coming from the wrong direction. Even a city boy like me knows that the sun rises and sets on opposite sides of the sky. I wasn't seeing the sunset but the sunrise. I had passed al night in the old wizard's house without even realizing it.
    "I'd better get back to the castle," I said, hoping I'd be able to make it back in time for breakfast. "I was very glad to be able to meet you, and I'm sorry if I overstayed my welcome."
    "You think you passed the night here, don't you," said the old wizard with a chuckle. "In fact, you spent two. Maybe your friend the chaplain wil be worried about you."
    Two nights! Whatever magic powder he had put on his fire must be powerful indeed. "Goodbye, Master," I said and rushed out the door. My mare, cropping grass contentedly, seemed no worse for having spent two nights under the wizard's tree. I saddled her without looking back. As I led her out into the grassy clearing and mounted, the calico cat came bounding after us, dropped down to lurk behind a clump of grass, and lashed its tail. "Goodbye, cat," I said gravely and rode as quickly as the mare would go back up the val ey.
    At first I was worried that I would have upset them at the castle by being gone for so long, but then I decided it was probably time anyway that I started seeming mysterious in my movements. I was more concerned about the old wizard's motives, and what I might find when I got back. Was he just showing off his power to me again, or had he had some reason for keeping me away from the castle?

    IV
    The queen was coming home.
    I looked at myself critical y in the mirror. In the month I had been at