The Dastard by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online

her. It was small but marvelously shiny. She threw it toward the cloud, and it skated along, whirling, and when it struck the cloud it compacted the cloud flat. Fracto went whoosh and became a big spinning disk. But that didn't stop him long; he whirled so fast he flew apart, and then reformed as a larger, fiercer cloud. Now he was annoyed.
    “NNNNOOO MOOOORRE MIISSTTER NNNIICCCEEE GGUUYYY!”
    Rhythm knew she needed something more effective. She conjured something she had barely heard of. It looked like a line of obscure numbers.
    “What do you have?” Melody asked.
    “It's a Dow Jones.”
    “What does it do?” Harmony asked.
    “It's supposed to make things rise or fall when certain magic words are spoken.”
    “What are the words?” Melody asked.
    “I can't remember!” Rhythm wailed.
    Meanwhile, Fracto was looming almost over them. In a moment he would fog them, wet them, and blow them away.
    They guessed desperately at words. “Hello and good-bye,” Melody said, but nothing happened.
    “Eye Scream and chocolate sauce,” Harmony said. Nothing happened.
    “Hugs and kisses,” Rhythm said. Nothing.
    Fracto surrounded them, marshaling his fog.
    “Joy and grief.”
    “Buttons and bows.”
    “I think it's animals,” Rhythm said, almost remembering.
    Fracto filled a bowl-shaped cloudlet with water, sailed it directly over them, and began to tilt it. They were about to be wet on. This wasn't exactly a fate worse than spinach for supper, but they hated to let the mean cloud win.
    “Dragons and griffins,” Melody cried.
    “Werewolves and night mares,” Harmony called.
    “Spiders and bugs,” Rhythm shouted.
    The water came down on their heads, soaking them. “Eeeek!” Melody shrieked, putting all the E's into it her age allowed. Next year she would be able to manage five.
    “We're all wet!” Harmony cried, pulling off her soaking brown dress.
    The others did the same. “We're all bare,” Rhythm said, shivering. Then a light bulb flashed over her head. “Bear!” she exclaimed.
    The carpet dropped toward the ground. She had found one of the words. Bears crunched down.
    Fracto pursued them, pouring more water.
    “What's the other word?” Melody asked as she clutched the sinking carpet.
    “Yes, what makes things rise?” Harmony asked as she hung on to their loose dresses.
    Rhythm remembered. “Bull! It leaps up!”
    The carpet stopped falling and started to rise.
    Fracto blew at them. The Dow Jones flew from Rhythm's hand and disappeared into the boiling mist. They had lost it.
    But now they had the word. Quickly they got together. Melody hummed, Harmony played her harmonica, and Rhythm beat her drum. “BULL!” they sang together.
    Fracto suddenly rose straight up, trailing cloudlets of fog. He rose so high that the weird magic of perspective came into play, making him small. The bright sun was uncovered, and shone down warmly. They sang and played to enhance the warmth, drying their dresses, and soon everything was all right.
    “I guess that blew him away,” Melody said with satisfaction.
    “I guess that parade dried up his rain,” Harmony agreed.
    “I guess that fogged his bottom,” Rhythm said, and they all burst out laughing.
    Much cheered, they resumed their flight to the Good Magician's castle. They had proven once again that while any one of them might be bested despite being a Sorceress, the three of them together were something else.
    Soon the castle came into sight. They landed and let the magic carpet fade away.
    The Good Magician's residence was familiar in its unfamiliarity; each time they saw it, it was different. Oh, it had the usual turrets and spires and parapets and all; they were just in a different arrangement. The moat was there, but this time it was surrounded by a garden of S-shaped flowers. A sign identified it: NATURE. There was a fierce looking animal chained before the drawbridge. A sign there said ITION. A woman relaxed on a deck chair at the edge of the garden. A