Read The Quest for the Trilogy: Boneslicer; Seaspray; Deathwhisper for Free Online Page A

yet face more opposition.” He waved his arms to usher Juhg and Raisho into motion.
    â€œMayhap if we were to split up,” Raisho suggested to the wizard. “Ye can go one way. Me an’ Juhg, we’ll go another.”
    â€œNo,” Craugh said.
    Raisho gave a disappointed frown. “I thought not. But I’m tellin’ ye now, if ’n ye get me ship busted up somewheres, ye’re gonna be responsible for replacin’ ’er.”
    Together, they ran out of the building as the flames leaped higher.
    â€œToo bad about your hat,” Juhg told Craugh.
    â€œEh?” the wizard said. Then nodded. “Right. My hat.” He snapped his fingers and suddenly the hat was sailing through the air toward them. Effortlessly, Craugh caught the hat and clapped it onto his head. He smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “This hat has gotten me out of several tight spots over the years. One day, mayhap, I’ll tell you the story of how I acquired it.”
    Intrigued as he was by the story of the wizard’s hat, Juhg glanced overhead, spotting the two moons that circled the world. Bright red and speeding on the first of his trips across the night sky, Jhurjan the Swift and Bold was full and close now, occupying fully a tenth of the sky. Farther to the south, glowing a demure pale blue, Gesa the Fair made her way more sedately, with grace and self-control.
    There were, thankfully, no dragons in sight.
    They ran on, racing down the hill toward the harbor, then down the steep, crooked steps, and—finally—across the swaying bridges that connected the decrepit docks. When they reached Moonsdreamer , Raisho hailed his crew, who were already crowded at the railing with weapons to hand.
    In minutes, they cast off and Moonsdreamer ’s sails scaled the masts and belled
out from the ’yards. Juhg stood in the bow. Before he knew it, his personal journal and a piece of charcoal were in his hands. By Jhurjan’s light, he quickly blocked out the shapes of the bog beasts. Despite the danger, it was what Grandmagister Lamplighter had trained him to do. He wrote his questions for Craugh in the margins while Raisho got his ship into the wind with all due haste.
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    Unfortunately, Craugh didn’t intend to answer many questions.
    Seated in the galley with a hot cup of spiced choma at the table before him, Juhg looked at the wizard. “Who sent the bog beasts?”
    Craugh scowled. “I told you I wouldn’t influence your reading of Wick’s book. I meant that.”
    â€œThose were bog beasts,” Juhg said. “I’ve never seen creatures like them.”
    â€œSee? Even more reason I shouldn’t answer your idle curiosities.”
    Not believing what he was hearing, Juhg said, “They tried to kill us. I’d say that I’m motivated by more than idle curiosity.”
    â€œStill,” Craugh said, “your neutrality in the matter of decoding the book is important, Grandmagister. You have a duty to do the best that you can.”
    Using his title as he did, Juhg knew that Craugh sought to motivate him. However, knowing the wizard was a manipulator negated that maneuver. Unfortunately, Juhg also saw the truth in Craugh’s words, so it may well have been that the pronouncement wasn’t a manipulation. Thinking like that made Juhg’s head hurt.
    In the end, he knew what Grandmagister Lamplighter would have done: seek out the mysteries the book held.
    â€œAll right, all right.” Juhg sighed. “I understand all that, and mayhap I even agree that you might be correct in your assessment of how things should be handled.”
    â€œThank the Old Ones,” Craugh replied with a small smile that he didn’t truly mean.
    â€œThat said,” Juhg went on, “what can you tell me?”
    Craugh counted off answers on his fingers. “That we are arrayed against a powerful enemy. That Lord Kharrion’s Wrath truly