Free Wistril Compleat by Frank Tuttle Page B

and rose. Kern stared;
Wistril's robes were patched and threadbare, and he bore an open,
festering sore square in the center of his bald, wrinkled
scalp.
    "Forgive me," Wistril muttered. "I only
sought to make your stay more comfortable.
    "Fetch me more wine, Master of Kauph!"
bellowed the Baron. "Fetch us all more wine, that we might be more
comfortable within the mighty walls of your splendid abode! Go, and
be quick about it!"
    "Apprentice," said Wistril.
    Kern rose, ignoring the glares and grumbles
about him, deftly stepping past the elbows and forks that sought
out his sides as he passed.
    Wistril passed through the Great Hall door,
which now hung lopsided and loose on a single squeaking hinge , and
Kern followed quickly after.
     
     
    Late that night, after the last of the
Baron's bellows had sounded, and the last of his men had stumbled
drunkenly up to their beds, Kern sought out Wistril in his study.
Finding the wizard seated calmly at his massive desk, Kern crossed
Oomish carpet and wearily sought out his own desk and chair.
    The study, unlike the rest of Kauph, was
unmarked by the new glamour of poverty and decay that marked every
room. Wistril's desk shone in the candle-light, its polished
ironwood top unblemished; the brass goblin-clock whirled away on
the corner, carefully marking off the seconds with small, precise
clicks. Kern squinted through the shadows, and found that Wistril's
face was once again his own, untouched by soil or sores.
    "Have our guests retired?" asked the
wizard.
    "If falling to the floor in a wine-sotted
stupor is retiring, then they have done so mightily," said Kern. He
yawned and stretched, weary from his night of wine-pouring and
beef-fetching.
    "Were you abused beyond tolerance?" asked
Wistril.
    "They were more interested in drinking your
wine and eating your meat than in abusing your humble, fleet-footed
apprentice," said Kern. "So the only injury done was to my
pride."
    Wistril shrugged. "Pride must often make
deference to stealth," he said.
    Kern groaned. "It's usually my pride that
makes the deference," he said. "Might I expect to defer again
tomorrow?"
    "Indeed," said Wistril. He met Kern's
inquisitive stare with a grim half-smile. "The wizard," he said.
"Has that creature retired, as well?"
    "He went first," said Kern.
    "The wine," said Wistril, lifting his hands
and putting them before him, finger-tip to finger-tip. "Did the
wizard partake?"
    "Not a drop, Master," said Kern, who frowned.
"Why? Was there something in the wine?"
    "Incaution," said Wistril, his gaze far away.
"Incaution, and imprecision. I reckon yonder wizard cannot partake
of either, even for a moment."
    "He mumbled and he stared," said Kern.
"Turned his head a lot, too. He either had bees in his hood, or he
was hearing things we weren't," said Kern. He shook his head and
pushed back his hair, then rested his chin in his hands. "But he
certainly had no trouble dispelling your glamour, Master," he said.
"Though I was surprised to find a second one beneath it."
    "Let this be a lesson to you, Apprentice,"
said Wistril. "Deception wears many masks. Take care to remove them
all, should you undertake to see the face of truth."
    "How long do you think it will take
what's-his-name to start tugging away at this mask, Master?" asked
Kern. "And why make us look like beggars? Baron Bully and his lads
will run roughshod over us, now that they think you're a
hedge-wizard and Kauph is a ruin."
    "The Baron came here seeking an enemy," said
Wistril, waggling a finger at Kern. "He came to spy us out, to test
out mettle. Now that he thinks us mere peasants, he will likely
drink our beer and loot our kitchens, but that will be the extent
of his predations," said the wizard. "A poor man's door is seldom
worth breaking down."
    "Unless you just enjoy the sound of the wood
breaking," muttered Kern.
    "Indeed," said Wistril. "Still. I believe
this Baron will move on, in a day or three," said Wistril. "Until
then, we must accompany the