Watt-Evans, Lawrence - Annals of the Chosen 01 by The Wizard Lord (v1.1) Page B

the tip, though someone had wiped away the worst of it.
    "He's packing
up," White Rose said. "Younger Priestess cleaned the wound and
started it healing, and one of those awful wizards used her magic to call a
guide, who said the southeastern road should be passable at least as f ar as Green-water;
he's on his way here from Ashgrove now. He and the old man should be ready to
go first thing in the morning."
    "He's leaving? Just like that?"
    "He got what he came for. You're the one
with the magical job now, one of the Chosen; he doesn't belong here anymore.
He's just an old man going home to his family."
    "I didn't think he had any family."
    "Well, he's going somewhere," his mother said
angrily. "He's not staying here in Mad Oak; we've had quite enough of
him."
    "I thought ... the roads ... I mean,
I still have more to learn ..." Breaker's voice trailed off as he realized he wasn't sure of the truth of his
own words.
    "Not from him, you don't. He's
leaving."
    "I need to talk to him." Breaker
sprang to his feet and flung the sword onto the bed, then marched past his
mother and out the door of the room.
    The steps to the loft
were on the line between stairs and a ladder, very steep but not quite
vertical; Breaker scrambled up them as his mother called after him worriedly,
"Is it safe to leave you r sword down here?"
    Breaker ignored the question as he clambered
up through the open trap and looked around.
    The Old Swordsman—the former Swordsman—was sitting on the edge of the bed, studying something he
held in his hand. He looked up at Breaker's entrance. "I suppose you have
more questions about how it all works, now that you know what it feels
like," he said, before his replacement could speak.
    "Those,
too," Breaker agreed, as he closed the trap behind him. "But first I
need to know something else—why did you ..." He broke off in midsentence as he noticed the lump under the old man's shirt.
"Are you all right?"
    The former Swordsman glanced down at the
hidden bandages. "Oh, I'm fine," he said. "Your pretty little priestess fixed me right up;
there's hardly even blood on the gauze."
    "I'm sorry."
    "Oh, I hope not. It's a little late to
undo any of it."
    "No, I just meant that I hadn't wanted
to hurt you that badly. A little cut on the arm would have been plenty,
wouldn't it? But you kept your guard up, you pressed me hard; I never had an
opening for your arm."
    "I know," the old man said. He
grimaced. "Believe me, I know."
    Breaker hesitated; now that he was here and
had a perfect opportunity, it was surprisingly hard to get the words out. At
last, though, he said, "Why did you fight so well?"
    "So well? I lost, didn't
I? There I was, the world's greatest swordsman, and some overconfident kid ..."
    Breaker cut him off. "You were supposed
to give me an opening. You were supposed to let me win."
    "I did let you win. "
    "The rabbit startled you."
    "I suppose it did." He set aside
the thing he had held, then turned his attention back to Breaker. "And
remember, boy, that the Wizard Lord isn't limited to rabbits. He can see and
hear and speak with other animals, as
well. Ra ts
or mice, for example—well, I'm not sure he can make a mouse speak, there may
not be enough breath there to work with, but he can see through their eyes and
hear with their ears."
    "I suppose he can," Breaker said,
unsure where this was leading.
    "I know he can—I've spoken with him that
way plenty of times over the years." "All right, then."
    "And is there
any reason to think that he can't do as well with insects, or spiders?" He
pointed at a web between two rafters. "That little eight-legged dot up
there mi ght
be listening to our every word, sending it all to the Wizard Lord in his
hilltop tower. For all I know, the air itself might carry our words to
him."
    "So he could be listening to us right
now?"
    "Indeed he might. Quite a powerful
magician, our Wizard Lord. Master of all Barokan, from the Eastern Cliffs to
the Western Isles, and most likely able to