Free The Oathbound Wizard-Wiz Rhyme-2 by Christopher Stasheff Page A

dracogriff grudged. "So your magic makes fires, too, huh?"
    "Yes, but this wasn't magic," Matt explained. "Just flint and steel." The dracogriff looked down at him with a glint of respect in its eye. "For real, huh? Hey, I guess you are a fire-maker."
    "Well, sure, but so are most people."
    The dragon head turned back to the fire. "That's right. I'd forgotten that, about your kind. Maybe you can't breathe fire, but at least you can make the stuff." He looked down at Matt again. "And you can make bigger fires with magic, huh?"
    "Sizeable," Matt said carefully. It was reassuring to see Narlh coming out of his dark mood.
    "How about food?" The dracogriff turned away without giving Matt time to answer. "Miserable way to travel...nothing to eat, all the game's been killed off..."
    Matt frowned. "That's right, there is a siege going on in the neighborhood, isn't there?"
    "You betcha, boyo! And those greedy soldiers have hunted down everything larger than a mouse already. Gotta be something, though..." And he shouldered away through the brush, still muttering.
    Matt sighed and pushed himself to his feet. Time for him to forage, too--though from what Narlh had said, he wasn't going to find much. He poked around among the trees, not wanting to go too far from the camp fire, and did come up with a few fallen nuts and a bush with a scanty supply of berries. He came back to the fire, hunger gnawing at his belly, picked up a stone, and cracked one of the nuts. He pulled the shell open--and saw a shriveled, mangled bit of meat. "Worms have been here before I have," he muttered. "Well, a real warrior wouldn't need to eat, would he?" He picked up the next nut, set it against the rock, and picked up the stone...
    Something slammed down on the ground right next to him. Matt found himself staring at a haunch of venison, unskinned.
    "I didn't need it all," Narlh's voice explained. "Figured you might be able to use some. I was full, anyway."
    Matt looked up at the gruff, scaly snout above him, amazed. "I thought I was the magician, here! How did you find game where there was none?"
    "It was good at hiding," Narlh snorted. "I'm better at finding. Eat." Matt smiled, oddly touched. "Well, thank you, Narlh! But are you sure..."
    "A dracogriff can't afford to be logy," Narlh snapped. " I heard your kind needs to scorch it before you eat it."
    "Yes, it is nicer that way." Matt started skinning the haunch. "Thanks, Narlh--a lot."
    A few minutes later, the venison was roasting on an improvised spit. As soon as the outside was brown, Matt started cutting off slivers. It tasted good, very good--it had been a long time since those breakfast apples.
    When the edge was taken off his appetite, he remembered his manners and looked up at Narlh. "Want to try a slice?"
    "Don't mind if I do," the dracogriff allowed. "Must be something to be said for it, the way you're wolfing it down."
    Matt held out the chunk of meat, which took a fair amount of courage as the huge dragon's head reached down to take it from his fingers. Narlh chewed once, then turned to spit the meat out. "Yuck! Ugh! How can you stand the stuff!"
    "Sorry," Matt said, feeling sheepish.
    "I guess it smells better than it looks," Narlh growled.
    "Must be." Matt kept on trimming until he was full. Then he kept the core of the haunch roasting until it was almost charred on the outside. Well done, it should keep for a day or two--and, though Narlh seemed to be able to find game where there was none, there was no guarantee. Waste not, want not. While it roasted, Matt raked some charcoal from the fire, let it cool, then started drawing--long, straight lines. He still didn't trust the forest.

"It is certain, then?" The queen sat tight-lipped, fingers pressed deep into the plush covering the arms of her throne. "He has crossed into Ibile?"
    "Not so much `crossed,' Majesty, as having appeared on the other side of the border." The messenger clenched his hat in his fists, worried about how the queen would