Wood Nymph and the Cranky Saint- Wizard of Yurt - 2 by C. Dale Brittain, Brittain Page B
Authors: C. Dale Brittain, Brittain
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“I should have known I couldn’t hide it from you indefinitely,” he said with a broad smile. “When did you figure it out?”
“So you did make the horned rabbits?” I said, wanting to be sure of this point.
“Of course I did. Pretty good, weren’t they?”
“It was something you learned in that class you took with Elerius,” I said casualy, not mentioning that it had taken me the better part of a week to work it out. “That class on the old magic. Did al the students make horned rabbits? I don’t like to think of the western kingdoms overrun with those things.”
“No, we al made something different. I thought of the rabbits myself,” he added proudly. “It’s hard magic, too! Elerius had to work with us individualy to make sure we got the spels right and, as it is, the horns kept faling off mine. So when the duchess said she wanted me to make her magical creatures, I thought of the rabbits at once.”
“Wait,” I said sharply. “The duchess asked you to make them? You mean she’s been chasing them across the kingdom these last few days, but they re something she wanted specificaly?” I knew Diana loved hunting, but making something magical just for the purpose of hunting it seemed excessive, even for her.
“And she and I had to chase them earlier, too,” Evrard said with a rueful expression. “I’d made three and gotten the horns to stay on fairly wel. I wanted to test them to see if they’d move and hoot properly out in the wild. This was several days before I met you. We went up to a plateau a few miles from her castle and they moved so wel, they escaped!”
“Escaped? And what did you dor” If strange magical creatures had been loose in the kingdom even
longer than I thought, then I had clearly been derelict in my responsibilities as Royal Wizard.
“The duchess was terribly upset,” said Evrard. “She said she didn’t dare let anyone see them for a few more days—I don’t know why. We managed to catch two of the three horned rabbits, though it took al afternoon. They’d gotten down into that deep valey that’s cut into the plateau.”
The valey of the Holy Grove. This must be what had made Saint Eusebius cranky enough to want to leave. The king had gone on vacation, the duchess had asked Evrard for horned rabbits, Nimrod had come out of the forest offering to hunt them, and the Cranky Saint had decided to leave Yurt, al within a very short period of time. At least some of these events had to be related.
But the more I thought about it, the less sense this made. The saint, with his relics in a grove shared with a wood nymph, must certainly have seen stranger magical creatures than Evrard’s rabbits during the last fifteen hundred years. And I didn’t think there had been enough time, between when the rabbits escaped and when Joachim first heard from the bishop, for the priests in the distant city to have had a vision of the saint, write to our bishop, and for him to write the chaplain.
Another thought struck me. “You didn’t make any other magical creatures besides the great horned rabbits?”
“Of course not,” said Evrard, his blue eyes round in innocence.
“But what did the duchess want the rabbits for?” I demanded.
“I wish I knew,” said Evrard. For a moment, he actualy looked troubled. “She never told me. Since they were my first assignment from my first employer, I didn’t want to ask a lot of questions. Then, the afternoon before I met you at the count’s castle, she said I should set free the ones we’d caught.”
The day the king and queen left Yurt, I thought, the day before I had seen them hopping through the nymph’s valey. The duchess had already told me she had wanted to wait until after King Haimeric had gone on his trip before letting the royal court know she had a wizard of her own. I hoped her only motive was not wanting to distract the king from his vacation.
“The count had sent us a message the same day, saying he’d seen
“So you did make the horned rabbits?” I said, wanting to be sure of this point.
“Of course I did. Pretty good, weren’t they?”
“It was something you learned in that class you took with Elerius,” I said casualy, not mentioning that it had taken me the better part of a week to work it out. “That class on the old magic. Did al the students make horned rabbits? I don’t like to think of the western kingdoms overrun with those things.”
“No, we al made something different. I thought of the rabbits myself,” he added proudly. “It’s hard magic, too! Elerius had to work with us individualy to make sure we got the spels right and, as it is, the horns kept faling off mine. So when the duchess said she wanted me to make her magical creatures, I thought of the rabbits at once.”
“Wait,” I said sharply. “The duchess asked you to make them? You mean she’s been chasing them across the kingdom these last few days, but they re something she wanted specificaly?” I knew Diana loved hunting, but making something magical just for the purpose of hunting it seemed excessive, even for her.
“And she and I had to chase them earlier, too,” Evrard said with a rueful expression. “I’d made three and gotten the horns to stay on fairly wel. I wanted to test them to see if they’d move and hoot properly out in the wild. This was several days before I met you. We went up to a plateau a few miles from her castle and they moved so wel, they escaped!”
“Escaped? And what did you dor” If strange magical creatures had been loose in the kingdom even
longer than I thought, then I had clearly been derelict in my responsibilities as Royal Wizard.
“The duchess was terribly upset,” said Evrard. “She said she didn’t dare let anyone see them for a few more days—I don’t know why. We managed to catch two of the three horned rabbits, though it took al afternoon. They’d gotten down into that deep valey that’s cut into the plateau.”
The valey of the Holy Grove. This must be what had made Saint Eusebius cranky enough to want to leave. The king had gone on vacation, the duchess had asked Evrard for horned rabbits, Nimrod had come out of the forest offering to hunt them, and the Cranky Saint had decided to leave Yurt, al within a very short period of time. At least some of these events had to be related.
But the more I thought about it, the less sense this made. The saint, with his relics in a grove shared with a wood nymph, must certainly have seen stranger magical creatures than Evrard’s rabbits during the last fifteen hundred years. And I didn’t think there had been enough time, between when the rabbits escaped and when Joachim first heard from the bishop, for the priests in the distant city to have had a vision of the saint, write to our bishop, and for him to write the chaplain.
Another thought struck me. “You didn’t make any other magical creatures besides the great horned rabbits?”
“Of course not,” said Evrard, his blue eyes round in innocence.
“But what did the duchess want the rabbits for?” I demanded.
“I wish I knew,” said Evrard. For a moment, he actualy looked troubled. “She never told me. Since they were my first assignment from my first employer, I didn’t want to ask a lot of questions. Then, the afternoon before I met you at the count’s castle, she said I should set free the ones we’d caught.”
The day the king and queen left Yurt, I thought, the day before I had seen them hopping through the nymph’s valey. The duchess had already told me she had wanted to wait until after King Haimeric had gone on his trip before letting the royal court know she had a wizard of her own. I hoped her only motive was not wanting to distract the king from his vacation.
“The count had sent us a message the same day, saying he’d seen
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