Heaven Cent Read Online Free Page A

of that!
    “—that we are ready to proceed,” Marrow concluded.
    Good enough! Dolph jumped and pumped, and they were airborne. The wind helped him rise, though he did not make much forward progress. Soon he was above the trees. Then he circled, getting his bearings. Rocs had good eyesight. He forged into the wind.
    “But it is possible—”
    What now? Dor cocked his head and listened.
    “—that the wind might shift, above.”
    Good notion. He resumed his climbing. Sure enough, at a higher elevation the wind changed, and a cold current bore directly toward the Good Magician's castle. Now that he was airborne and satisfied to fly level, he did not need its lift; he could fly with it, and make better speed with less effort.
    He flew, pleased with himself. His belly was full, and he had plenty of energy, thanks to the skeleton's timely advice. It wasn't so bad having an adult along! Dolph still stopped short of the notion that his mother might actually have been right, however; there were limits.
    As evening approached, and the sun ducked down to hide behind the horizon so that it wouldn't be caught by the dark, Dolph glided down toward the Good Magician's castle. He couldn't land right in it because he was too big, but there was a nice field a short distance from it. He coasted to an almost perfect landing. They had saved a whole day!
    But now it was dusk, and he was tired. Marrow's caution had been good; he was hungry again, and would have been horribly famished if he had not eaten before flying.
    “I think—” Marrow began.
    “We had better spend the night here,” Dolph concluded.
    The skeleton nodded. “You may sleep; I have no need of it. Would you like shelter?”
    Dolph looked around. The trees that had seemed so pretty by sunlight seemed sinister in shadow. Odd, unfriendly sounds were starting up. He had not thought about this. He did not relish the notion of sleeping out on bare ground, not even in animal form. He was accustomed to his warm, safe bed in Castle Roogna, with Handicraft, the monster under the bed, lurking guard. He was, after all, only nine years old. “Uh, yes,” he agreed pensively.
    “Kick me in the tailbone.”
    “What?”
    “Give me a good kick. I require that initial impetus.”
    “Well, okay, if you say so.” Dolph stood back, swung his foot, and delivered a wonderful kick to the skeleton's posterior.
    Marrow flew apart. His bones exploded, flying in every direction. Then they came down—and landed in a pattern. When the last one fell into place, there was the shape of a small house, fashioned of bones. The skull was the front door, upside down.
    “Pull me open,” the skull said. “Crawl in, and pull me closed. No one will bother you in here.”
    Dolph could believe that. He paused for a call of nature (nature called in an almost inaudible but most persistent voice, until there was nothing to do but answer her), then hefted his knapsack and approached the house of bones. He got on his hands and knees and hooked one finger into the nose socket. The door swung open, supported by a neck bone that was now mounted on the top. Dolph wriggled in feet first, finding the interior snug but just big enough. He hauled his pack in after him and set it up as a headrest. He swung the skull down, and it clicked into place. The square eye sockets looked out, watching for any danger in the night.
    It was dark in here, and comfortably warm. He felt quite secure. Marrow was really quite a fellow!
    He had wanted to travel with Grundy Golem. It had always seemed to him that Grundy should be considered a Magician, because he could speak to any living thing. After all, King Dor couldn't do that; he could only speak to dead things. But Ivy had explained (not that he had asked her) that anybody could talk another language if he just took the trouble to learn it, while nobody could speak the language of the inanimate except King Dor, so Dor was a Magician and Grundy was not, dummy! That last word bad