Spellsinger 03 – The Day of the Dissonance by Foster, Alan Dean

“It’s all right,” she whispered. “I’m all right now.”

She turned to Drom. “I wouldn’t have been if he hadn’t

shown up. I didn’t know what to think when he came

galloping down the corridor after me. Then he told me

who he was and that he was a friend of yours and you

were all here inside the mountain with him. That you were

fighting Jalwar-Zancresta.” She ran to the unicorn and,

putting her arms around his neck, hugged him gratefully.

Drom tolerated the attention briefly before stepping back

and pulling free. “I am glad to have been of assistance,

madame, but leave us not get carried away with our

emotions.”

“But I thought…” Folly looked hurt and Jon-Tom

hastened to reassure her.

“Drom’s not being unfriendly, Folly. He’s just being

himself. I’ll explain later.” He looked at the unicorn. “It

was a fine bit of rescue work, Drom.”

“1 try.” The unicorn searched the aisle. “Where is the

evil one? And the great feline? Did you defeat him during

my absence?”

“No.” Jon-Tom smiled at the mockingbird. “This is

Charrok. When Zancresta discovered that he couldn’t de-

feat me with his own magic, he tried to do it with another

spellsinger. Charrok and I conjured up quite a musical

storm before we came to the conclusion that harmony is

better than dissonance. As for Roseroar, she’s gone after

Zancresta.”

“I should pity the ferret, then.”

“That’s the truth, mate,” said Mudge. “That’s some

broad. If she were only a fourth ‘er size.”

“You have to learn to think big, Mudge.” Jon-Tom

became serious. “Zancresta’s as fast on his feet as he is