Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 1 - Anubis Murders by Gary Gygax Read Free Book Online Page A

for that. It was safer and faster than trying to ride through the various kingdoms of Iberia and through Francia and then cross the Channel of Avillon, or the Albish Channel as some called it, to reach Lyonnesse's southern shores. He turned to the Behon and Tallesian, who were conversing in low tones a few paces distant. "The winds will be foul, most likely. Can we freely employ countering forces?"
    "Odd that you should mention that, Magis-ter." The elderly magus smiled. "Tallesian and I were just considering the question."
    "We think it a poor idea," the druid told Setne. "If we wish to keep our whereabouts, and yours, secret, then we mustn't disturb things too much. The castings we might employ would certainly lessen our chances of going unnoticed."
    "I concur," the ^Egyptian said. "Yet I assumed that we have stringent time constraints. How will we avoid endless delays in the Lantlan Ocean—especially near the great bay?"
    The Behon nodded. "The Bay of Aquitania can be very dangerous in this time approaching the Winter Solstice. Fortunately, we have our bard, and his particular power is usable, for it is not connected to arts such as ours—not directly, anyway. Although each bard, skald, or troubadour has his or her own signature, and their manipulation of heka traceable and identifiable, it is unlikely to occur."
    "You mean it won't be noticed?" Inhetep inquired.
    "It isn't because it won't be noticed," the druid replied, "but because it will seem minor and different to any other sort of practitioner seeking information from the heka currents, directions, and flows."
    Inhetep seemed uncertain. "We have no great spellsingers in Egypt, albeit many castings are employed with the aid of chants and the like. What little I know comes from the Grecians and Latins. They contradict what you have just told me, Tallesian."
    "That isn't surprising. With all due respect to all older cultures, the Kellts are the commensurate bardic folk. Even though the Skandian, Teutonic, and Frankish peoples work their best to rival us, their skalds and troubadours are still unable to rival the bards of Avillonia. We slip magical energy away so softly and quietly that only one who intimately knows the bardic art can have any inkling of just what power is being drawn and directed. Isn't that right, Behon?"
    "Quite so," the ovate agreed. "Only the rhyme-singers of the furthest north, the folk of Kalevala and Pohjola, might know when a Kelltic bard is at work and what is being done by whom."
    "How so?" the wizard-priest queried.
    "The great ones in Kalevala, for instance, are what one might call wizard-skalds. If any heka-craefter is able to meet the Egyptians on their own terms in the art of magick, it is those great practitioners of Soumi—Kalevalan, Finn, Lapp or otherwise. It is similarly true, despite what Aldriss will ever admit, and Tallesian too for that matter, that those weavers of dweomers are certainly more than on a par with the greatest of our bards."
    The druid harrumphed. "Perhaps, perhaps . . . But in days of yore, it was a different story. The young ones today are not what bards once were!"
    "True," the Behon said. "Perhaps Cairbre, Finn, and Ossian were greater than the Waino . . ."
    Inhetep had been keeping an eye on the two who were still chatting together near the bow. "Well, my fine Kelltic philosophers, then I think you had better round up your able bard and set him to work. Otherwise, he might dawdle the whole of the journey away," Setne added with a little testiness. Tallesian and the Behon still remained gaunt and pale-looking—magickally assumed guises, of course. Aldriss, on the other hand, had allowed himself to return to his natural appearance—young, muscular, with fair skin, flashing white teeth, and bright blue eyes. Too handsome, too foppish in his ways, the shaven-headed Egyptian thought sourly. No. He had to be honest with himself. It was that the bard was too forward, self-assured, and altogether too flirtatious