Free Witch Doctor - Wiz in Rhyme-3 by Christopher Stasheff Page A

meet him?"
    "On the other side of the pass, and a long way down, before the climbing became really steep."
    " 'Tis well; his horses could not follow. What manner of welcome did they give you?"
    "None at all; they used me for a punching bag, until I got mad and started hitting back."
    "Mad? You are a berserker, then?"
    "No, no!" I closed my eyes, then looked up at him with a forced smile. "I meant 'angry.' I knocked down a couple of them, and the knight decided to flatten me-but his horse crumpled underneath him, and the fall knocked him out' "Sheer happenstance?" The commander frowned. "I trust it not.
    What spirit wards you?"
    That brought a chill trickle of familiarity through my vitals, but I shrugged and said, "Just the usual guardian angel, as far as I know.
    " "Then it must have been something you said," the commander mused.
    "Are you a wizard?"
    Again, that cold trickle-I couldn't think why. "Not as far as I know." I didn't bother mentioning what had happened to Sobaka; surely that must have been my guardian angel at work. Or my hallucination ... Hallucinations that happen to somebody else?
    "It may be that you have an inborn talent for magic," the commander said, brooding. "If so, walk very carefully! The merest misstep might cast you into the power of the Evil One-for folk who have such gifts draw either on the power of Satan, or the power of God, though they know it not. Beware, lest you evoke a power you wish not to worship."
    That got my back up. I wasn't about to worship any source of power, no matter where it came from. After all, who'd worship Niagara Falls, just because it produced electricity? "Thanks for the advice," I said, though. I've always tried to be polite, but at the moment, I had extra reasons.
    " 'Tis scarcely a matter for astonishment, that you had so ill a greeting," he said, "since you were coming out of Allustria. In truth, I am amazed you could walk through that benighted land with no i-nore unpleasantness than such as they gave." He stopped by a stack of leather buckets and handed me a couple. I braced for another scene, but he picked up two himself and started walking toward the stream that was gurgling nearby.
    Mollified, I followed. "I wasn't in Allustria very long." That much, at least, was true.
    He nodded. "You came through the Balkans, then?" I didn't want to tell a real lie, so I said, "I wasn't about to ask for hospitality there." I looked up sharply at a sudden thought.
    "Wait a minute! That's why you insisted on that wrestling match, wasn't it?
    To see if I'd pull any tricks!"
    "We did test you," he admitted. "Think not harshly of us, I prithee. You were coming from Allustria-we marked you as soon as you came forth from the pass-and you wear outlandish garments . Who knew but you might be a sorcerer come amongst us?" I stopped, frowning. "How do you know I'm not?"
    "Why, a sorcerer would have used foul magics to best his opponent, before ever the man had struck him-or, at least, would have used foul blows and no slightest mercy. You accorded your opponent first strike and did what you could to lessen the impact of his
    fall."
    So he had noticed why I'd held on to the kid's arm. I nodded slowly; for the first time in my life, starting with a fight made sense.
    Almost.
    Suddenly, I felt bad about deceiving him, especially if I was going to accept his hospitality. What had happened to my obsession with truth? "Actually," I said, "I didn't go into Allustria by my own
    choice. I was in my homeland, thousands of miles away, and a very large spider bit me. I blacked out, and when I came to, I was on the other side of that mountain." I gestured behind us. The commander stopped in his tracks, staring at me. "Were you truly? Then you have been transported hither by some great magical power! "
    "One that works through spider bites?"
    He glanced to either side and lowered his voice. "I have heard of such-of a Spider King, whom no one knows to be either good or evil. " Instinctively, I liked