C. Dale Brittain_Wizard of Yurt 02
Page 29
"I think you'll be a very good wizard someday," I said, hoping I did not sound patronizing.
"I don't want you to feel you've failed me," he continued, looking down at the closed book in his hands. "I've learned a tremendous amount from associating with you, Daimbert. And of course, if I'd never come to Yurt, I would never have met the wood nymph!"
"I'll miss you," I said, entirely truthfully.
"There's one thing I do feel badly about," he said, looking at me fully for the first time since I had come in. "When I go, you won't have anyone here to talk to but the chaplain. Who will you tell your jokes to? Who will put illusory frogs on your pillow?"
I smiled, glad he could not stay serious for long. "I'll be all right. Joachim and I have been friends for a long time. Though I haven't taught him how to do illusions, I have hopes of giving him a sense of humor someday. But if you can get away from the school sometimes, I'd very much like you to come visit."
Evrard opened the first of the books and frowned at it as though he had never seen it before. "If you don't mind, I'd like to stay here in Yurt until my leg is a little better. With all those young wizards, the school is no place for the wounded. And maybe by the time I go back, my beard will have grown out properly."
"Of course, of course. Stay as long as you like."
"I'll telephone the school, to tell them what's been happening, and find out if there's a particular branch of magic they think they'll need there so I can brush up."
But before Evrard could call the school that evening, our glass telephone rang. It was King Haimeric, calling us.
The constable answered, and the king asked first about his roses, but then we all gathered around to talk to him. "I just got the message the duchess sent from her castle, via the pigeons, that she'd gotten married!" said the king.
"She and her husband left for his principality today," said Dominic. "But they plan to be back in a month or so."
"Well, then," said the king cheerfully, "I can look forward to meeting him when they return. Has anything else happened?"
Dominic and I looked at each other. "The retired wizard, my predecessor, has died," I said.
"Oh, dear," said the king, sounding genuinely sorry, while also conveying the sense that this news would not trouble him for long. "Well, he'd already served, what was it, five generations of kings of Yurt?"
"He left me the ring you gave him," I said. "I hope you don't mind."
"Of course not, Wizard. Well, is that all the news? I hope things haven't been too dull in Yurt for you while we're gone!"
There was a short pause while Dominic and I looked at each other again. The regent, for one minute, came very close to smiling. Before either of us could speak, the queen appeared beside her husband in the tiny image in the telephone's base. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. She held the baby prince by the hand; he clung tightly but was indubitably taking steps on his own.
The queen's Aunt Maria smiled from behind them. "Did we tell you Baby Buttons has started to walk?" she asked.
"Dromnick! Gizward!" said the little prince, looking toward us with a broad smile. I hoped he never found out what chaos his birth had caused here in Yurt.
"Yes, sire," said Dominic, when the king's face appeared again, "a few other things have happened, but we can tell you all about them when you're back. Do you know yet when that will be?"
"Probably another week or two," said the king. "So nothing's happened that you can't handle?"
Dominic nodded slowly. "Nothing that the wizard and I can't handle."