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shoulder and pointed; Kern followed the claw, to a
place far out on the Lake where the calm waters stirred.
    The stirring intensified. While Kern watched,
the Lake swelled and heaved as though something large rose swiftly
toward the surface. "What is that?" whispered Kern.
    The Lake exploded. A full-grown serpentia
arced and rose.
    "Another adult!" said Kern.
    The serpentia surged forward, racing for the
shore. Behind it, the waters rolled again, and another serpent's
snout emerged and followed in a spray.
    And another. And still the water boiled.
    Kern stepped away from his tent. There, on
the shore, stood Wistril, full in the path of the emerging
serpentia.
    The fat wizard's arms were raised. In his
right hand the short silver staff glowed and cast lazy bolts of
silent lightning down into the lake. In Wistril's left hand the
wizard gripped --
    -- a sausage?
    The first serpent halted at Wistril's feet.
Blue-green scales, still awash with crystal waters, gleamed in the
moonlight; as Kern watched, the serpent fanned its feathered indigo
mane, raising a spray that wrapped around wizard and serpent like a
long, twisting veil.
    The serpent raised its head to tower above
Wistril. It regarded the wizard with cold yellow eyes and tested
the air with a long, forked tongue.
    Wistril made a small nod, took a bite of his
sausage, and waved the serpent away. It heaved itself onto the
shore and made for the trees, following the well-worn serpentia
path.
    The second serpent halted at Wistril's feet
and was absently waved ashore. A third and a fourth serpent
followed, and still the Lake boiled and rolled.
    Kern grinned. The silver staff, the Sproggin
bottles, the lake water -- come sunrise, Kern knew, these new
serpentia would fade to nothing but a heavy dew and a thick
fog.
    But until then, the Grizzly wouldn't know
ensorcelled water from genuine serpent.
    "Good hunting, flea-beard," said Kern, with a
bow to the trees. "I hope the new ones bite."
    Serpent after serpent arose. Wistril waved
them ashore and nibbled at his sausage. Kern went back into his
tent, sank wearily into his cot, and slept until well after
sunrise.
     
     
    "Apprentice! Awaken!"
    Kern rolled to his feet, tripped on a boot,
rose again, and fumbled for his pants. Wistril's fat shadow
billowed against his tent.
    The wizard put his hands on his hips.
"Apprentice Kern! Rise!"
    "I'm risen," said Kern. "I'm coming. What's
happened?"
    Wistril was silent for a moment. "The mature
serpentia," said the wizard at last. "She did not return with her
young this morning. I fear the worst."
    Kern pulled on a shirt and stumbled outside
to squint in the sun.
    Wistril was haggard and grim. "The staff are
combing the woods. I expect a report any moment."
    A young serpent's head broke water in the
shallows just behind Wistril. The serpent whistled, chirped, and
vanished, only to be replaced by both of its siblings.
    Kern pointed with a nod. "I see the young
ones made it."
    "Indeed," muttered Wistril.
    "I also saw the fake serpents you loosed into
the woods last night," said Kern. "How many did you conjure
up?"
    Before Wistril could answer, Sir Knobby and a
half-dozen of his elite guards glided hooting over the tree-tops.
Sir Knobby waved his companions back into the air and then dropped
heavily to the grass before Wistril and Kern.
    "He isn't smiling," said Kern. Sir Knobby's
wet, brown eyes locked with Wistril's, then sought out the
ground.
    "Hoot," he said, softly.
    Wistril's face went white.
    "The adult female is dead," growled the
wizard. "Dead, and butchered as we speak."
    "How?" said Kern. "We sprang the traps. We
filled the woods with decoys."
    "A catapult," said Wistril. "Specifically, a
wyvern-killer. Mounted on a covered wagon. The scouts -- and myself
-- assumed this wagon was full of provisions or supplies, like all
the others. It was not. This infernal contraption fired some three
dozen steel-tipped spears. The adult serpentia died instantly,
shielding her young."
    "The