The Book Without Words_ A Fable of Medieval Magic - Avi [18]
“Does your master’s death mean that you don’t want me anymore?” said Alfric. “That I must go?”
“Come here, both of you,” Sybil snapped at the boys.
The two eyed one another. Alfric came forward. Damian stood his ground. “What for?” he demanded.
“It’s gold!” shouted Sybil, her frustration bursting forth. “The secret of gold-making is in this book. But Master told us it can only be read by someone with green eyes.” She flung the book on the table. Some of the apparatus flew off and smashed.
“God in heaven,” screamed Odo. “You’ve told them.”
“Well, then,” said Damian, a smile on his lips, “if that’s what it is, perhaps I may be of use.” He swaggered forward. Pushing Alfric aside, he bent over the book. After a few silent moments he looked up. “Nonsense” he said. “There’s still nothing here. Nothing.”
“You try,” Sybil said to Alfric.
Alfric wiped his face with his grubby fingers and leaned over the pages, staring hard. In a few moments he looked up. “Please, Mistress, there’s nothing more than last time.”
“Fooled,” screeched Odo. “Tricked. Deceived.”
Sybil, biting her lip to keep from screaming, went to the window and stared out. Bashcroft was lurking in a doorway, moving his feet up and down, beating his chest with his hands to keep warm.
“If your master,” Damian announced, “is dead, there’s little point in my staying. Anyway, there’s something grossly unnatural here. A dead man. A bird that talks.” He smirked. “There is nothing to stay for. I am leaving.” He moved toward the stairs.
“If you go,” said Sybil without looking at him, “I won’t share any of Master’s magic with you.”
Odo, opening his beak with surprise, looked around at Sybil from the bed.
“Ah!” said Damian, grinning. ‘Then you do know magic. I thought as much.”
“Of course I know magic,” cried Sybil, so upset she didn’t care what she said. She was glaring out the window, arms folded over her chest. “Haven’t I been the alchemist’s servant for … years? How could I not learn his secrets?” She turned to face him. “You may think I am nothing.” She gulped back tears. “I may not have been his kin, but he treated me with … great kindness. Love.”
“I don’t care how he treated you,” said Damian. “I’ll stay, but only if you show me some of your magic.”
Sybil darted a panicky look at Odo, who was sitting on Thorston’s head. He shrugged, lifted a claw, and muttered, “Risan … risan.” Next moment, the skull—Odo’s customary perch—rose into the air a few feet. Momentarily, it hovered, only to drop and shatter into bits.
As the boys stared with amazement Sybil darted a ferocious look at Odo. But after taking a deep breath, she turned to Damian and said, “There, you see, my magic. Now you are perfectly free to leave.”
“Did you truly do that?” exclaimed Damian, who had been watching Sybil, not Odo.
“Who else would?” said Sybil. Unwilling to look at Odo, she spun about and stared out the window. “And when you leave,” she called, “be free to greet Master Bashcroft. He’s waiting right outside.”
“Bashcroft?” said Damian. “Out there?”
“He watched you as you came.”
The boy paled. “He did? The reeve is the most despicable man in Fulworth,” he said. “I’ll have nothing to do with him.”
“He seems to be spying on you,” said Sybil.
“Please, Mistress,” said Alfric, “Let me stay. I’ll do whatever you ask. Just don’t send me back to that man.”
Damian shoved Sybil aside and looked down into the courtyard at the reeve. “He bullies Mistress Weebly,” he said. “Which makes her bully me.”
“Sybil,” said Odo, “may I remind you: if Bashcroft discovers Master is dead, he will walk right in and take possession of everything. Including us.”
“Can’t you do something to keep him away?” Damian said to Sybil. “You’re a magician.”
Sybil peered down into the courtyard before turning back to Odo. “There is something we can do: we can bury him.”
“Bury the city reeve?” cried Odo.
“Don’t be silly,” said Sybil. “Bury Master Thorston.”
7
“What are you saying?” shrieked Odo.
“Did I not say it simply enough?” said Sybil. “We must bury Master in the cellar.”
“In the cellar?” cried Damian.