The Last Days Of The Edge Of The World Read Free Page A

overlaid a gryphon-skin rug with her slipper.
    “The powers I have are no match for those that made our world what it is,” said the enchanter meekly. “Only Jeahawn the Judge could begin to sort things out after the war, and he could do no more than put all the released forces under check. He couldn’t undo the damage which had been done—that would have taken more than a hundred years, and the most powerful spell ever written. There’s none alive now who could ever make such a spell. The decay will have to run its course, and in likelihood these lands will be sick for ever and ever.”
    “I know,” she said. “You remember it all as if it were tomorrow. There’s no hope. What will be will be.”
    Now he was close to tears, too. She realized this, and relented.
    “I don’t mean to be unkind,” she said. “I’m sorry, I really am. But you don’t realize how much you’re asking of me. What’s this prince like? I might not like him. Why is the king of Caramorn suddenly offering me his son anyhow? It’s been three generations since a king of Caramorn last talked to you, and that was to tell you to get out of his kingdom or else.”
    “He didn’t put it quite like that,” said Sirion Hilversun, trying hard to remember. “He was decent enough, as kings go. It wasn’t his idea, really, though he had no love for magic in himself. It was popular demand. The peasants were always prejudiced against us—too many hedgewizards and charlatans making a pest of themselves, I suppose. I dare say the common people never got much joy out of magic—none that they could count in their wallets. And they were always afraid. Rufus made himself very popular by expelling us all, as I remember it. He always did want to be remembered as a king the people loved.”
    “All right, then,” said Helen. “So why is his great-grandson trying to re-import magic into the realm?”
    The enchanter shrugged. It didn’t seem to him to be a very important question. The important question was how to persuade Helen that this really was all for the best.
    “I’m going to invite the king, and the prince, and his ministers over for a banquet,” declared the enchanter. “It’s the only thing to do. You can see Damian and he can see you. And if all is satisfactory arrangements can commence. That’s what we’ll do. And it will all come out right____Just you see if it doesn’t.”
    Helen shook her head, but decided that it was wiser to say no more. Time would tell. There was no harm in having a look at the prince. And then… Well, she would think of something.
     
    You have got to be joking,” said Damian to his father. It was not a wise remark. King Rufus Malagig IV was not in a good temper, and the crown prince always seemed to bring out the worst in his temper, even when it was
    at its best.
    “This is no joke,” said the king, through gritted teeth.
    “The future of the kingdom depends on this. My future; Your future. Just for once you are going to do as you are told and you are going to do it right.”
    “I don’t want to marry a witch,” said Damian. “I’d rather marry a kitchen-maid than some horrible hag with magical powers. I don’t care if we are bankrupt. I’ve been bankrupt for years, since you cut off my allowance I’m used to it. Furthermore, dear father…”
    “Shut up!” roared the king.
    A group of starlings sitting on the palace roof took flight in panic, although the king and the prince were in the throne room three floors down. Rufus Malagig had often been complimented on the magnitude of the royal roar.
    Damian sniffed. “There’s no need to be like that about it,” he said. Although he was a rather sickly youth, and puny to boot, he had long since given up cowering before his father. He had grown used to the roar over the years and he knew that the king was too soft of heart to back it up with any real action. Damian had long since learned that endurance was all that was required to win family