Read The Oathbound Wizard-Wiz Rhyme-2 for Free Online Page B

wizards! How could there ever be a right one?"
    "Look," Matt said, trying for patience, "you've got the definitions reversed. Wizards are good guys--their power comes from research and right living. The sorcerers are the ones who get their power from evil."
    "The Devil you say!"
    "That's right. Only I don't--I swear by the saints. And I'm trying to break the habit."
    "I'll bet. And you didn't make this rock fall on me while I was sleeping, to make sure I'd still be here when you caught up, huh?"
    "That's right--I didn't."
    "Sure you didn't! Just like you haven't been chasing me all across Merovence and through these mountains for the last four years!"
    "No, now that you mention it. I spent the last three at the queen's castle."
    "Oh, yeah? Then how'd you just happen to be coming this way right when I was anchored down, huh?"
    "Well..." Matt swallowed. "You remember that `swearing by the saints' I told you about?"
    "Yeah..." The monster was beginning to sound puzzled.
    "I, uh, kinda got carried away the last time I did it."
    "Carried away where?"
    "To Ibile. I mean, I swore to kick the king of Ibile off his throne, or die trying."
    There was a sudden and total silence. Then the other side of the boulder erupted into a coughing, cawing sound. It was a minute before Matt realized it was laughter.
    Scowling, he stepped around the boulder. "All right, it's not funny!"
    "Not to you, maybe! But from here? It's a hoot and a holler! Eeee!" The monster blinked away tears. "Boy, you sure wanna die young!"
    "Yeah." Matt swallowed heavily. "I, uh, wasn't thinking too clearly."
    "I'll say you weren't! Didn't it kinda sink in that the saints wouldn't let you off?"
    "Well, not at the time..."
    "Not much of a wizard, are you?"
    That stung. Matt drew himself up to his full height. "I'll have you know I'm the Lord Wizard of Merovence!"
    "No fooling?" The dracogriff stared, impressed. "Hey, if you're so high and mighty, how come you made a dumb mistake like that?"
    "Reflexes," Matt mumbled, deflating. "I didn't grow up here, see. I was born in another universe."
    "Universe?" The dracogriff frowned. "How can there be more than one?"
    "Search me." Matt spread his hands. "I only know that there is. I grew up there, where we don't quite believe in religion as strongly as you do."
    "Believe?" The dracogriff reared its head back, eyeing Matt strangely.
    "What's to believe? There's a good One, and a bad one, and they each give off magic power. Everybody knows that."
    "I know." Matt sighed. "It's like saying you `believe' that when you throw something up in the air, sooner or later, it'll come down again."
    "Yeah." The dracogriff growled, looking uncomfortable for some reason. "Or like saying you `believe' in the wind--or in ghosts."
    "Right. Anyway, I started trying to translate a booby-trapped poem..."
    " `Booby trapped'?" The dracogriff frowned
    "Yeah--it was a spell in disguise. But we don't believe in spells, either..."
    "Kinda dumb, aren't you?"
    Matt flushed. "You could put it a little more delicately. Anyway, when I managed to translate the poem well enough to recite it, I looked up and found myself in the middle of Bordestang."
    The dracogriff just stared. Then its mouth lolled open, and it began to make the noise again.
    "Please." Matt held up a hand, looking pained. "I feel dumb enough as it is."
    "Awright, awright," the dracogriff grunted, throttling down its amusement.
    "So how'd you turn out to be such a big-shot wizard, if you didn't believe in magic?"
    "Maybe that's why. Because I wasn't raised with it, see, I could look at it from the outside--and I had to try to figure out how it worked."
    "So you could dope it out better than any of the locals." The dracogriff nodded. "That's so stupid, it almost makes sense."
    Matt eyed the boulder. "You might say you're not in any position to throw stones."
    The monster's good humor vanished on the instant. "Oh, shut up," it growled, turning to glare at the rock. "A guy's got to sleep some time,