Free The Wizard's Secret by Rain Oxford Page A

knock it down.”
    “Why not? No one could actually live there.”
    I sighed and moved along. We didn’t get very far before
we came upon a block house. “Well, at least that one looks like it can stand up
to an attack.”
    “What kind of attack?”
    “Werewolves maybe?”
    “Weird. Where are we going, anyway?”
    “Out. You’re right, though. We should find someone
and ask for directions. We’d better be quick, too; it’s going to be dark soon.
I would like to reach Veronica before it’s completely dark.” I got down from
the unicorn. “Maybe there’s someone in the house who can give us directions.”
    I approached the house, half expecting some monster
to jump out at me, and knocked on the door. There was no answer. I went to the
window, which was just a circular hole in the wall. There was nothing inside
but a cot, a table, and three mops. I gaped, for the mops were mopping the
floor on their own.
    I returned to Kirin without a word.
    “What did you see?” Asiago asked.
    “Nothing. Nothing at all. The next person we see,
whoever it is, we’ll ask them.”
     
    *          *          *
     
    It didn’t take long for us to come across… something.
It looked like a little fairy, but it was more like a shapeless figure, glowing
bright blue. “Hello, there,” I said cautiously. “Do you know where we can find
a sorceress named Veronica?” The little creature darted off into the woods and
stopped. “It must not understand.”
    “Or it wants us to follow it.”
    “You want to follow a glowing ball into the
darkness?”
    “It’s not like we’re going to get lost.”
    “I have a feeling we’re both idiots,” I said as we
followed the glowing creature. It kept darting away and then stopping to wait
for us, so it wasn’t afraid. It could change direction very abruptly, which
clearly irritated both Kirin and Sam. Unfortunately, the creature kept getting
faster, until both the unicorn and griffon were fully galloping.
    Just as the sun was setting, Kirin and Sam stopped so
suddenly that I nearly went flying off Kirin’s back. Asiago did actually lose
his grip around Sam’s neck and hit the ground, pulling out a few of Sam’s
feathers.
    In front of us was a thick, knee-high wall of fog. I
could easily see over it; there were no trees across it. At the edge of the fog
was a sign, stating that it was Nightmare Valley. “That’s a little ominous,” I
said.
    Asiago climbed to his feet and shot Sam a glare
before reading the sign. “It’s just a bit of fog.”
    “Actually, we don’t know that. It could be a lake,” I
argued.
    “It’s called Nightmare Valley .”
    “It’s called Nightmare Valley. Besides, I
definitely don’t want to go in there this close to night. Let’s find somewhere
safe to sleep. I can’t help but think there’s a monster or something in there…
probably with tentacles.”
    Agreeing with me, Kirin backed up, turned, and walked
away from the fog. Sam followed without his rider and Asiago had to run to keep
up. It was very dark by the time we reached a stream and large tree that looked
as good as any place to rest.
    I patted Kirin’s neck. “Should we stop here for the
night?” I asked. Both the unicorn and griffon stopped. I got down and stretched
while Kirin and Sam drank from the stream. “Do you think you can call Sonya
here, or do you need to rest first?”
    He sat down on a large boulder, untied the herb band
from his wrist, pulled the drawing out of his pocket, and studied it closely.
After a moment, he went around to the other side of the tree. “I need privacy
for this.”
    “You’d better be using that only to summon her.”
    “It’s got to be quiet, too.”
    I pulled out some of the edible clay from my bag and
transformed it into bread, then peeked around the tree to see what the
necromancer was up to. I had met necromancers before, but I never got a chance
to watch them work. The drawing was placed between the two lit