Heaven Cent Read Free Page B

inquired.
    “Magic. And you?”
    So much for that conversation! Evidently skeletons were not strong on imagination. That wasn't surprising, considering their empty skulls.
    “I'm hungry,” Dolph said.
    “That's why your mother packed sandwiches.”
    That reminder did not thrill him either. “I could change into a dragon and catch myself something to eat.”
    “I have never understood why living folk like torn flesh,” Marrow remarked.
    Suddenly Dolph wasn't hungry. He continued walking in his human form.
    “If I may inquire . . .” the skeleton said.
    “Who's stopping you?”
    “Why are we walking?”
    How stupid could a creature get? “How else can we get to the Good Magician's castle?”
    “I thought you might change into a bird and fly there.”
    “Mother said I have to have adult company,” Dolph said witheringly. “And you can't fly.”
    “Can you change into a big bird?”
    “Sure. Any size. Even a roc. So what?”
    “I thought you might become such a bird, and carry me directly to the castle.”
    Now there was an idea! Dolph stopped, removed his pack, then hesitated. “I have to get out of my clothes because they don't change.”
    “I shall be happy to hold your pack and your clothes,” Marrow said.
    “But Mother doesn't like me to run around naked.”
    “That's odd. I don't see your mother here.”
    “Of course she isn't here, numbskull! She's back at Castle Roogna!” Then Dolph made a connection. “You mean—she can't say no?”
    “That had occurred to me.”
    Maybe the skeleton wasn't so stupid after all. Dolph scrambled out of his clothes, bundled them up, and handed them to Marrow with the knapsack. Then he changed to a roc.
    Now he was monstrously hugely big! He clucked with satisfaction. Rocs couldn't talk in human fashion, but they hardly needed to. Nobody backtalked a roc!
    “But perhaps—” Marrow began.
    Was he chickening out now? Well, it was too late.
    Dolph picked up the skeleton with one claw, spread his wings—and whacked his feathers into the trees on either side. Ouch!
    “—we should look for a suitable clearing first,” Marrow concluded.
    Good point. Dolph reverted to human form, recovered his clothes, dressed, and resumed motion down the path. Why did things always have to get complicated?
    In due course they came to a glade that seemed big enough. Dolph changed again, spread his wings cautiously, and verified that there was room.
    “Still—” Marrow said.
    Dolph picked up the skeleton again, pumped his wings and sailed into the trees at the edge of the glade. He suffered a horrendous crash, and the trees seemed hardly more pleased than he. A small shower of leaves came down.
    “—we should look for a longer runway,” Marrow concluded.
    Dolph reverted to boy form and picked himself up. His left little finger was hurting. Then he saw a broken feather on the ground, and realized that he had lost it in the crash. Part of his fingernail was missing. The injuries suffered in one form carried over into the other. He stuck his finger in his mouth, displeased.
    They marched on, and before long came to a broad expanse of fields. Dolph changed again, spread his wings, sighted ahead to make sure he had sufficient runway, and picked up the skeleton.
    “Yet—” Marrow said.
    This time Dolph paused.
    “—perhaps we should check for the wind,” Marrow concluded.
    The wind? Dolph lifted his beak. He felt a nice stiff breeze blowing in exactly the direction he wanted to fly. No problem there! He began to flap his wings.
    “Because—” Marrow said.
    Dolph pumped harder, and hopped into the air. Immediately he was moving, borne by the breeze. But though he flapped hard, somehow he could not rise very far. In a moment a low hill came up and scraped his legs, throwing him out of control. He skidded to a stop, losing another feather.
    “—a tailwind can make it difficult to gain elevation,” the skeleton concluded.
    Dolph resumed boy form. There was a gash on his right