Read Lord Toede for Free Online

     mud-spattered. A beaming smile dimpled her cheeks, and her fine-boned face was framed in a
     halo of auburn-red hair. She carried a large wicker basket at her side. Toede hated her at
     once. “Mister Groag, I see you're feeling better,” she said, her voice a chirping warble,
     which to Toede sounded like a sliding cat trying to get purchase on a slate roof. “And
     your friend is in good voice, too, though he sounds a tad grumpy. Does he want to come
     berry picking with us?” Toede's face flushed to the color of overripe tomatoes. “His ...
     friend would rather have himself stripped naked and fed to wild tigers than spend one
     moment in kender slavery! If my hands were free I'd stretch your poaching little neck far
     enough to hang draperies on it! How dare you imprison me like this!” Toede expected the
     kender to back up, like a tentative courtier daunted by a superior's anger. Instead, the
     kender held her ground, such that Toede was straining at the end of his leash, his chains
     taut from his outstretched arms. The kender did not seem daunted in the least. In fact,
     she wore a small smile. “Now, that attitude is not going to help,” chided the kender
     merrily. “Your companion has come a long way in the time he has been with us, haven't you,
     Mr. Groag?” Toede heard a mumbled agreement behind him. Toede spat and cursed, “I am not
     like Mr. Groag. I am a great and powerful lord, bound for ever greater greatness! Do you
     have any idea, any idea whatsoever of whom you are ... you are ...” Toede hesitated. He
     was close enough to examine her jewelry in detail, and part of his mind was already
     involved in estimating its net worth and use. One item caught his attention and began
     sending messages, marked 'urgent' to the section of his mind that controlled his ranting.
     Finally, the rant-section of Toede's brain took a look at the message, and then at the
     item hanging around her neck on a small silver chain. “Pardon me for a moment,” said Toede
     with sudden calmness, turning back to his companion. He hissed at the other hobgoblin.
     “Mister Groag, this wouldn't be by any chance Kronin's daughter that I am now addressing?
     The one that took you captive?” Groag nodded. Toede continued in a low mutter. “And is
     that a key she is wearing right here?” He motioned to his
    sternum, trying not to clatter his chains. Groag nodded again. “And would that be the key
     to these locks?” he whispered between clenched teeth, motioning as gently as possible to
     his wrist manacles. Groag nodded again. “Aha,” he said, and Groag saw his former master's
     smile widen to the point it seemed to split his face. That had always been a bad sign in
     the past, so Groag began to back away from the highmaster. Toede turned to the kender
     girl, his smile softening slightly, his face becoming a placid plate of contentment. “I
     must apologize, my dear kender. I have been under a great deal of stress recently and
     sometimes lose my temper. I say things I do not mean, and, well, hurt the feelings of
     others. I'm sorry. Very sorry. Perhaps I do merely need a change of lifestyle.” The
     kender's smile lit up the room. Toede felt his stomach tighten in a spasm of pain at the
     very sight. Instead, he locked his teeth together, fought his own rising gorge, and
     continued. “Do you have any idea how much I truly enjoy berry picking? Why, I'm an old,
     seasoned hand at it. And perhaps, if I could be so bold, might there be some poetry as
     well?” “If you wish.” The kender smiled with genuine excitement. “Though I thought we
     might go easy your first time out.” “Oh, of course,” said Toede. Groag shook his head,
     wondering, not for the first time, if Toede were dead, and this was some strange and
     bewildering spirit that had moved into his body. The young kender pulled the key from its
     silver chain and began unlocking their fetters from