The Viper's Fangs (Book 2) by Robert P. Hansen Read Free Book Online

stepping just
as close to the edge and leaning over in much the same way. He half-smiled as
he realized that a stiff breeze would easily upset his precarious center of
balance, and an even lighter one would do the same to the gangly little thief.
    “There’s one,” Giorge said after a moment, flinging his hand
to the left. “You can’t see much of it from here, though; the bulk of it is in
the crack. That’s how to find them. Look for the cracks and outcroppings. They
use the same ones every spring, and the locals know where they are. It makes it
easier for them to find the eggs. Most of the aeries will be lower down than
that one.” He paused and pointed again, this time further down and to the
right. “Like that one. It looks like a big aerie. We’ll have to work our way down
to it later this afternoon. It might even be a shared roost; the fletchings do
that sometimes when the crack is big enough. We’ll have a better chance of
finding eggs in it if it is a shared roost. It’s still early in the breeding
season, and a lot of the fletchings haven’t laid any yet.”
    “We?” Angus asked.
    Giorge nodded. “You and I. We’re going to collect the eggs.”
He grinned. “But not right away. You’ll need to get some lessons on climbing
first, and that big nest is a good starting point. It will be fairly easy to
reach; the crack comes almost all the way up to the top, and there will be a
lot of handholds and toeholds. We’ll have to get started pretty soon, though;
the fletchings return just before dusk.”
    Angus frowned. “How do you find the aeries if you can’t see
where they are?” If I could fly, it would be simple , he added to
himself.
    Giorge shrugged. “Trial and error, mostly. We’ll go down
about fifty feet and then move horizontally. I’ll go one way and you’ll go the
other. We should be able to see the cracks above and below us for a good
portion of the cliff, and then we’ll drop down another fifty feet and come back
together again.”
    “We’ll what?” Angus asked, standing up straight again. He
frowned but didn’t move away from the edge.
    Giorge straightened up and grinned at him. “Surprise!” he
said as he laughed and abruptly turned toward the others. “Let’s get set up!”
he shouted. “If Angus is a quick learner, we’ll be eating fletching eggs this
evening!”
    Angus watched him scurry back to the others, and then turned
back to the cliff. He stared down its near-vertical face for a long moment
before walking back to the group. Ortis handed him the reins to Gretchen, but
he didn’t climb into the saddle. Instead, he turned to Giorge and said, “That’s
the surprise? You want me to climb down that cliff with you to get some of
those eggs?”
    “Yes,” Giorge grinned. “Isn’t it exciting?”
    “I’m not sure I would say that,” Angus said, shaking his
head.
    “If you don’t want to do it,” Hobart said, “we won’t force
you to. Giorge is an old hand at climbing, and he can gather the eggs on his
own. It will just take longer.”
    Angus closed his eyes, sighed, and slowly opened them again.
When he did, he looked at Giorge and said, “You know, if you had told me about
this, I would have primed for my Flying spell and we would already have eggs to
eat.”
    Giorge’s grin never wavered. “I know,” he said, “but what
fun would that be?”
    “More fun than falling to my death,” Angus said.
    “That’s not going to happen,” Hobart said. “We’ll be using
ropes and harnesses. There is a winch by the trees, and if you slip, you won’t
fall far.”
    “You’ll do it then?” Giorge asked, his voice hopeful, almost
childlike with anticipation.
    Angus rolled his eyes, mounted his horse, and looked at
Giorge again. Then he tilted his head to the side and half-smiled. “Yes,” he
said, “I think I will.” As soon as he said it, though, he began to wonder why he had agreed to do it. He wasn’t a mountain-climbing egg-thief; he was a
wizard. He