by Terry Brooks
“Welcome home,” he said.
She waited for more, but the dragon simply sat there, blocking her way. It was a massive beast, its weight something in the area of four or five tons, its body sheathed in leathery skin and armored with bony plating, its spine ridged with spikes, its triangular head encrusted with horns, and its legs as big as tree trunks. One yellowish eye fixed on her with determined intent while the other closed with languid disinterest. Neat trick, she thought, and wondered if she could learn how to do it.
“We have a small problem, Princess,” Strabo rumbled after a long few minutes. “You have engaged in behavior that is forbidden to you. Are you aware of what that behavior might be?”
“I am not,” she declared, wondering suddenly if it had something to do with Rhonda Masterson.
“You used your magic to create an image of me to frighten someone,” the dragon said, confirming her suspicion. “This is not allowed. This is never allowed. No one is ever, ever, ever allowed to use an image of me, in any form whatsoever, for any purpose whatsoever, without my permission. Perhaps you did not know this?”
She took a deep breath. “I did not. I thought it was a perfectly acceptable usage.”
“Think again. More to the point, don’t do it again. I don’t know what kind of manners they teach you at the castle, or what sort of behavior you have been led to believe is acceptable, but labeling all dragons as scary beasts is way out of line. Consider this fair warning. If you ever create an image of me again without my permission, you shall hear from me much more quickly than this and you will be made to answer for your foolishness. Am I clear?”
She tightened her lower lip to keep it from trembling as the dragon bent over her like a collapsing rock wall and she got a clear whiff of its incredibly rancid breath. “You are very clear,” she managed.
“Good,” he declared. When he straightened he was as tall as a three-story building and with his wings spread he was twice as wide. “I shan’t keep you longer. It is good to see you again, and I wish you well. I have always liked and admired you and your mother; your father, of course, is a different story. Please do yourself a favor and don’t take after him. Now, farewell. Take care to remember my warning.”
Huge wings flapping with enough force to knock her sprawling, Strabo rose into the sky and soared away, flying east until he was little more than a dwindling black speck against the horizon. Mistaya stared after him from where she sat sprawled on the ground, aware of how close she had come to finding out a whole lot more about dragon breath than she cared to.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TERRY BROOKS is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-five books, including the Genesis of Shannara trilogy: Armageddon’s Children, The Elves of Cintra, and The Gypsy Morph; The Sword of Shannara; the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara trilogy: Ilse Witch, Antrax, and Morgawr; the High Druid of Shannara trilogy: Jarka Ruus, Tanequil, and Straken; the nonfiction book Sometimes the Magic Works: Lessons from a Writing Life; and the novel based upon the screenplay and story by George Lucas, StarWars®: Episode I The Phantom Menace.™ His novels Running with the Demon and A Knight of the Word were selected by the Rocky Mountain News as two of the best science fiction/fantasy novels of the twentieth century. The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest.
www.shannara.com
Terrybrooks.net
The Magic Kingdom of Landover, volume 1 is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales,
or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! copyright © 1986 by Terry Brooks
The Black Unicorn copyright © 1987 by Terry Brooks
Wizard at Large copyright © 1988 by Terry Brooks
Excerpt from A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks
copyright © 2009 by Terry Brooks
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of
The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon
is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in three separate volumes in the United States by
Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
a division of Random House, Inc., as Magic Kingdom for Sale—Sold! in 1986,
The Black Unicorn in 1987, and Wizard at Large in 1988.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book A Princess of
Landover by Terry Brooks. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and
may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
Map by Russ Charpentier
eISBN: 978-0-345-51673-2
www.delreybooks.com
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