Free The Secular Wizard - Wis in Rhyme - 4 by Christopher Stasheff Page B

There shall we find my would-be killer." " Majesty
    , " said the chancellor, " I will. "
    it Then do." The king waved him away. "Be about your task, Rebozo-but remember, no torture! Well, not much," he amended.
    "Only a little, Majesty," the chancellor agreed, "never fear-which, unfortunately, is what the servants and bottler and cooks shall say, no doubt. Still, I shall strive." He bowed and turned away.
    Boncorro watched the old man leave the great hall, and frowned, still brooding, till he was out of sight. Then, with an effort of will, he threw off the mood, tested a whole pitcher of wine, then filled his own goblet and drank deeply. A duke's daughter came by below the table, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Boncorro laughed and sprang down off the dais, crying, "Fiddlers! A dance tune! We shall caper be-fore we taste the next course!"
    The fiddlers struck up a gay, lively tune, and Boncorro began to dance with the beautiful young lady, devouring her charms with his eyes. She blushed demurely, lowering her gaze, but glancing up at him through long lashes. All about them courtiers left their meat and came to dance, quick to ape their king, quick to join in the attempt to cheer him, ever quick to curry favor.
    Rebozo slammed into his private exchequer, muttering darkly under his breath. LoClercchi, his secretary, looked up in surprise.
    "Good evening, Lord Chancellor."
    "Not when some amateurish idiot seeks to poison our king," Rebozo snapped, "who commands me to find the culprit without delay."
    "Ah." The secretary nodded in sympathy. "Not a good evening, in-deed. I fear I must make it worse."
    " Worse?" Rebozo swung about, glaring. "How is this?"
    "A message." The secretary held up a scrap of parchment. "A car-rier pigeon landed in the dovecote, just as the sun set."
    "News from a spy?" Rebozo snatched the message and sat down to puzzle out the tiny letters. At last he threw it down on the desk.
    "Oh, a pox upon it! Your eyes are far younger than mine, LoClercchi-what does it say?"
    5I The secretary took the tiny parchment, but
    did not look at it, so Rebozo knew that he had already read it. "It is from your peasant SPY on the estates of the Duke of Riterra, my lord. He writes from a market in Merovence-though not very far into Merovence - - ."
    "Far enough!" Rebozo's eyes kindled. "What does he find that is worthy of report?"
    "He writes that a wizard is nosing about the market," the secretary said, "eavesdropping on conversations, and particularly interested in those who tout the virtues of Latruria. Our spy tested the man and thinks he may be the Lord Wizard himself." Rebozo rubbed his hands, nodding vigorously. "I had thought he must take notice of the remaking our young king is doing!"
    "Especially since our folk have been boasting and bragging of it whenever they cross the border," LoClercchi said with irony. "It is marvelous to have agents who work for free, my lord, and without even realizing they do our work. I do not know how you managed it." "Bosh!
    You know well enough that I sent one man about the border farms, gloating on the bragging he would do in Merovence, on the next fair day! Does our peasant informer say what manner of test he gave the wizard?"
    "No, my lord, there was no room on so small a parchment-and, frankly, I do not think he could write quickly enough. His letters are horribly clumsy, and his spelling atrocious."
    "Still, it was worth the cost of a teacher, to gain this report!
    Well, we shall have to wait till the man comes home, for his reeve to question him more closely. if it is her Majesty's wizard, though, we shall not have long to wait till he seeks to cross the border and stop the un-rest at its source!"
    The secretary looked up in alarm. "He could set all of King Boncor-ro's plan awry, my lord, and your own as well!" The chancellor waved a hand to dismiss the notion. "The king's plans are my plans, LoClercchi, no matter how I may caution him and plead the course of prudence."
    "And your