The Lazy Dragon and Bumblespells Wizard by Kath Boyd Marsh Read Free Book Online

his head and made contented growly noises.
    â€œYou weren’t here to see what I just did. You are going to be so proud of me. I’m on my way to being a great and mighty wizard,” Moire Ain said.
    The raven cocked his head at her and made his threatening noise.
    â€œNo. Don’t worry, Raspberries. Not like Hedge-Witch. Truly. I promise I will never kill anyone. Or make people sick or their animals die. I will only be a nice wizard and a great one.”
    Raspberries growled out, “Great and Mighty Wizard.”
    Moire Ain laughed. “You can talk! Hedge-Witch tried at least three spells to teach you to speak, but you never did.”
    â€œGreat and Mighty Wizard,” Raspberries said again, and butted his head against her chin.
    â€œYou believe in me? You think I’m great and mighty?”She felt like a beginner, but maybe she was on her way to being great and mighty. If she could rescue herself with a magick rope, it was time to believe in herself. It was time to change her name to Great and Mighty Wizard and become what she wanted to be. She’d begin her future.
    â€œGreat and Mighty Wizard it is.” She rested her head against her raven’s side. “We’re going to do great and mighty things, you and me, and my book.”
    For a few moments, she stood imagining all the magickal good things they would do. Raspberries tugged on her hair, bringing her back to the present and the riverbank.
    She took a deep breath. “But first we need a good hiding place for the night. We may have a river between us and Hedge-Witch, but she’ll find a way to get to us. We need a safe place so I can get started learning some of
Magicks Mysteries’
lessons.” She tucked the book into her pouch.
    â€œRsssppp!” Raspberries said, and flew off her shoulder.
    Moire Ain watched him fly high around the trees, circle, go low, then fly back to her shoulder. “Rsssppp!” He ducked his head, turning and pointing at the deep woods behind them.
    â€œLead on.” Moire Ain started to walk while Raspberries grumbled. They hiked through the woods for only ten minutes before they came to a cliff. Moire Ain looked along the cliff face and then up it. She spotted acave with a lot of shrubbery growing on either side of the opening.
    Raspberries growled.
    â€œIn that cave?” she asked. “It was awfully easy for us to find this cave. Surely it will be at least as easy for Hedge-Witch to find it.”
    Raspberries snorted and hopped off her shoulder. He flapped up to one of the shrubs and tugged it over the cave opening.
    â€œHide the entrance! Good idea!” Moire Ain said.
    She climbed the short distance up the cliffside. Once she was inside the cave opening, she broke off branches from the bushes and wove a covering to hide the entrance.
    â€œThat’ll hide us. Plus from up here we should hear Hedge-Witch and be able to get inside before she can see us.”
    With Raspberries perched on her, she sat down in front of the cave covering and dug out the bread and cheese Goodwife Greenfield had given her. The food had been meant to last a few days, but she decided to eat it at once. She was so hungry, and she knew Raspberries would be too, since Hedge-Witch fed him so little. She hoped the book would help her find more food.
    After their meal, the raven napped, and Moire Ain opened her book. She skimmed through
Magicks Mysteries,
figuring out that it was divided into lessons,thirty, about how to become a true wizard. When she learned to read from Goodwife Greenfield, she’d hoped learning the common language of Albion was all she’d ever need. But most of the book was filled with funny scratching that seemed sometimes to move.
    â€œHow do I get started if you’re written in some kind of magick words?” She thumped her book closed. Staring over the woods below the cave, she tried hard not to let the tears come back. She’d escaped