Wizard at Work by Vivian Vande Velde Read Free Book Online Page A

being haunted by?"
    "A ghost."
    The wizard sighed. "Who has died recently?"
    "That's just the problem," the man said. "Or one of them: Nobody has. Well, I mean, I suppose
some
body
some
where in the whole wide world has died in recent weeks, but none of the people from the castle. Will you come?"
    The wizard sighed again. It probably wasn't a real ghost—ghosts are actually quite rare. And there were things he needed to do around here before his students returned from their summer holiday, but he was intrigued. That, and he wanted to keep the king safe. "All right," he said.
    "Good," the man told him. "Can I stop watching my feet now?"
    The wizard resisted the temptation to see how long this could last and said, "Yes."

    Though the wizard had been to the region of Northrup, he hadn't ever been to Duke Snell's castle, so he couldn't transport himself directly there. He had the duke's messenger name off nearby landmarks and recognized Standish Wood as a place he
had
visited. So he saved himself three days of traveling on Farmer Seymour's ill-natured horse by using his transportation spell to get to the town of Frisbane, which sat between
where Standish Wood ended and the great northern plains started. He also saved himself the company of the duke's man, claiming—though it wasn't true—that his spell only worked on himself.
    In Frisbane he cast the spell to make himself look more wizardly, then he hired a boat. This took half a day to get him east a fraction of the distance he had traveled instantly by spell. It was late afternoon before the boatman announced, "The duke's castle."
    The castle sat on an island in the river. The wizard saw the way was blocked by two water gates, one before and one beyond the castle, and there was a guard at each gate, and a mechanism to raise and lower the gates.
    The nearer guard approached and motioned them to come in toward the shore. He was bearing a tally sheet and a bored expression. As though he'd proclaimed this a thousand times a day, the guard called to them: "One-silver-penny toll for traveling through the moat area." A silver penny was enough to buy a good sanding and painting for this boat, which it could probably use, and
some nice soft seat cushions—which it definitely needed.
    "I'm not traveling
through
the moat area," the boatman said. "I simply need to row up to the castle mooring area to drop off this gentleman here."
    The guard made a check mark on his tally sheet. "Two-silver-penny toll for lingering in the moat area," he said.
    The wizard leaned forward and explained, "Duke Snell asked me to come."
    The guard waited a few seconds before saying, "And your point is?..."
    Surely this shouldn't be so complicated, the wizard thought. "The point is: If I'm the duke's guest, we shouldn't have to pay a toll."
    "Yeah," the guard agreed in a mocking tone. "And dogs shouldn't get fleas, apples shouldn't have worms, and new shoes shouldn't pinch."
    The wizard considered transforming himself into a bird that could fly over the water to the castle, but he didn't want to cause a scene because he didn't know if the duke wanted people knowing he had hired a wizard. Sometimes, when one works for royalty, one needs to be discreet. Besides, there was probably a three-silver-penny toll for using airspace.
    The boatman was obviously waiting for the wizard to pay the toll, for which the wizard couldn't blame him; otherwise the man would lose half the fare he'd just earned.
    The wizard took two coins from what the duke's messenger had paid for him to come, and handed them over to the guard.
    The guard checked off something else on his sheet, then turned the cogwheel that raised the gate.
    The gate rose, creaking and dripping.
    Once they were through, the guard drew yet another mark on his sheet. "Proceed directly to the mooring area," he warned sternly. "There's a fine for loitering."
    "Why is that not a surprise?" the boatman muttered as he pulled on the oars.
    "Careful," the wizard