Archer's Quest Read Free Page A

nothing more. Kevin waited, his eyes wide. He felt as if there were question marks shooting out of his brain, like in the comics. But after a few moments, he went back to work—just to have something to do. He swept up the glass, emptied it from the dustpan into the garbage bag, and tied the bag shut. He thought he should probably vacuum, too, but he'd do that later.
    Kevin had figured some things out by now. Archie had to be from somewhere really remote—deep in the jungle, maybe. A place where there wasn't much technology. No glass and no TV news, since he'd never heard
of America; probably no electricity, either. Kevin thought the vacuum cleaner would make Archie nuts—he might even try to shoot it full of arrows.

    Besides, Kevin wanted the room quiet. Archie was still standing motionless by the window, but Kevin had the feeling that he was getting ready to talk.
    He decided to help Archie along a little. He cleared his throat. "Your father tried to kill you. That must have been scary." There, he was already getting good at this business of asking questions without asking questions.
    Archie looked at him. "It happened more than once," he said. "In truth, I do not remember the first time. I was very young—no more than an infant."
    "He tried to kill you when you were just a baby?" Kevin asked, too horrified to keep the question out of his voice.
    Archie went back to the bed and sat on it, this time without bouncing. He spoke slowly. "I was born a prince, son of the ruler of a Chinese province. At my birth, a fortuneteller predicted that in manhood I would become a great leader. But I was not my father's firstborn son. I was not even second born, or third. I was the fifth born. It would have broken the sacred tradition of our land if I were to become king.
    "So my father tried to kill me. First he put me in a pen with wild boars. Fierce ones, with deadly sharp tusks.
He thought they would gore me to death. But they did not. Instead, they lay down on their sides in a circle around me, to keep me warm."

    "Wow," Kevin said. "That's amazing."
    "There is more amazement to come," Archie said. "My father was very angry when he saw what the boars had done. He had me taken from their pen and left in the forest at night, in a place where wild dogs roamed. He thought the dogs would tear me to pieces. When morning came, I was found playing with the puppies, while the head dog himself kept watch over me.
    "My father tried one more time. He put me into an enclosure full of horses. Spirited stallions and prancing mares, huge beasts with great huge hoofs. He thought they would trample me to death."
    "But they didn't," Kevin said eagerly.
    Archie looked cross. "Who is telling this story, you or I?"
    "Sorry," Kevin said at once. "Go ahead—er, please, it would be great if you kept going."
    Archie nodded. "He thought the horses would trample me to death. But the stallions breathed gently on me, and the mares dripped milk into my mouth. They took care of me for a night and a day. When my father returned, he found me laughing and waving my hands as the biggest stallion knelt before me."
    "That must have made him
really
mad," Kevin said.

    "Worse than that—it made him afraid. He decided that heavenly spirits must be protecting me. So he let me live. But he was always fearful that I would take over the throne, so he had his men keep constant watch over me. My childhood was like growing up in a prison."
    He shook his head. "And all for naught. You see, although the prophecy stated that I was to become a great leader, it said no more than that. My father assumed that I would one day unseat him or my eldest brother. He made the mistake of believing that the way to the future was but a single road, and failed to consider any other path—that I might one day be the leader of
another
country."
    Archie looked at Kevin sternly. "So you see, it
is
possible that a man would want to kill his own son. Is your father a