[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
downed the contents gratefully.
He was about to put it back on the dressing table when the bowl filled with a pulsating blue smoke.
Knoweth all that I am the One True Goblet. Knoweth all who standeth before me that I will provide
sustenance for the thirsty of mind as well as throat.
Interesting. Jon-Tom turned the empty goblet around in his fingers. I wonder what it means,
sustenance for the mind ? He looked into its depths anew and they heard the voice a second time.
Beware the Moqua plants.
The blue smoke dissipated. In its wake it left a fresh drink of water.
Now ain t that somethin , said Mudge. Beware o the Moqua plants.
What s a Moqua?
The otter formed a circle with thumb and forefinger. Got little bells on it about like this that fill up with
tiny bugs. Got nasty bites, they do. There was contempt in his voice. I didn t need no talkin utensil to
tell me that. But I do need a drink. Pass er over.
Jon-Tom handed the otter the goblet and Mudge drained it in a single long swallow. Water s good even
if the advice leaves somethin to be desired.
It spoke again. Avoid the lugubrious lescar.
Mudge made a face. That one s got me stumped. Any you lot know wot a lugubrious lescar is?
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Weegee and Cautious shook their heads.
Hurry up in there. Teyva sounded genuinely impatient.
Just another minute. Jon-Tom glanced at his companions. Nobody knows what a lugubrious lescar
is?
Never card o it, confessed Mudge.
Well we d better stay out of its way, whatever it is. He studied the vessel, peered over the rim at the
lady of the troup. Weegee?
Strange, but I feel a sudden thirst. She smiled at him as she took the goblet.
At least we come out o this with somethin useful. Mudge watched her as she sipped. Melted down,
there must be a quarter pound o gold in that cousin to a tankard.
Jon-Tom was shocked. Mudge, how can you think of melting something so unique and magical just for
its monetary content?
Because I think o just about everythin in terms o its monetary content, that s ow.
You could be dying of thirst in the desert and that bottomless water supply could keep you alive.
Aye, and I could be fallin down broke in Polastrindu an* the gold in it would keep me drunk forever.
Jon-Tom s right, Weegee chided him. You don t melt magic. She d finished draining the goblet. As
it refilled itself for the third time they heard the voice again.
Buy IBM at 124.
Jon-Tom blinked. Could it be that the goblet s range extended to his world as well? He took the goblet
from Weegee and stowed it carefully in his pack.
We ll decide what to do with this later, but I think it definitely has its uses. Let s go before Teyva
decides to depart without us.
They crawled back beneath the fallen beam. Teyva s nostrils flared. I smell water. I could use a drink.
Jon-Tom sighed. Cautious, would you get him the goblet? The raccoon obliged, held it for the stallion
while he drank, and then repacked it. As he was putting it away Jon-Tom thought he heard it again.
The solution to the national debt is to... but the remainder was smothered by the supplies in his pack.
Easy come, easy go, he thought. Better it should tell them how to get to Strelakat Mews.
By the morning of the next day Teyva s wing beats had slowed considerably and the flying horse was
beginning to show the strain of carrying four passengers for hundreds of miles. If the stallion were to give
out unexpectedly they would land in the ocean. How much farther was it to Chejiji?
I m sorry, said Teyva, but all of a sudden I don t feel so good. Uh, you wouldn t happen to have any
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
more of that white powder on you, would you?
It wouldn t matter. What your system needs now is food. You re coming down, Teyva. At this point
another jolt would do real damage. Can you go on?
I don t know. The stallion was shaking his head repeatedly. Real tired all of a sudden. Weak. He
dipped sharply, fought to regain altitude. Going down. His voice was slurred.
Look! Cautious was leaning out over nothingness and pointing. Is that real or am I blind?
Just ahead a narrow strip of land protruded into the sea. A wide beach lined the green peninsula like lace
on an old lady s collar. The far side of the peninsula was dotted with irregular brown and red forms.
Buildings, Jon-Tom thought excitedly. It could only be fabled Chejiji. It had to be Chejiji.
We ll have to swim for it. Teyva continued to lose altitude.
Like hell. We ve haven t come all this way and overcome everything we have to arrive soaking wet.
Lock your wings, Teyva. Just lock them out straight. You don t have to work to fly. We can glide in.
I ll try. The vast multicolored wings slowed and extended fully. They descended in a slow curve,
soaring on the hot air rising from the warm bay below.
For a few minutes Jon-Tom feared they d land in the shallow water on the near side of the peninsula.
Then Teyva struck a thermal rising from an exposed section of reef arid they lifted like a hot-air balloon,
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]