The Wizardry Quested. Book 5 of the Wizardry series. Rick Cook

The Wizardry Quested

Book 5 of the Wizardry series

Rick Cook

The Wizardry Quested

Book 5 of the Wizardry series

Rick Cook

CONTENTS

PART 1: QUEEN OF THE FAIR

ONE – WINTER FAIR

TWO – FOULNESS AT THE FAIR

THREE – THE FAIR AGAIN

FOUR – THE LADY AND THE DRAGON

FIVE – A QUESTION OF COMPANY

SIX – DUNGEON REDUX

SEVEN – TROUBLE IN THE TUNNELS

EIGHT – UNDER SIEGE

NINE – KILLER VEES

TEN – ENTER THE LOBSTER

ELEVEN – LATERAL TO THE REAL WORLD

PART II QUEEN OF THE STRIP

TWELVE – ANOTHER QUEST

THIRTEEN – MAKING A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

FOURTEEN – FUDWARE, FANTASY AND AREA 51

FIFTEEN – BIPLANE BYE-BYE

SIXTEEN – LORD OF THE FLIES AND THE LORD OF THE FLIERS

SEVENTEEN – HOMECOMING

PART III: QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

EIGHTEEN – LIFE AS WE WISH WE DIDN’T KNOW IT

NINETEEN – OPERATIONAL PLAN

TWENTY – SKY ZOMBIES

TWENTY-ONE – STAND TO YOUR GLASSES

TWENTY-TWO – FINDING A PLACE

TWENTY-THREE – ENTER THE DWARVES

TWENTY-FOUR – OPERATION WINTER STORM

TWENTY-FIVE – THE FLIGHT OF THE OLD CROW

TWENTY-SIX – THE EXECUTIONER

TWENTY-SEVEN – SNEAK ATTACK

TWENTY-EIGHT – THE END OF THE BEGINNING

PART 1: QUEEN OF THE FAIR

ONE – WINTER FAIR

It was high winter and beyond the town the world lay under a blanket of white. Wiz and Moira stood outside the outer gate of the castle and looked down the long sloping High Street to the scene beyond.

“Oh Wiz! Look at the fresh snow! Isn’t it beautiful?” “If you say so,” Wiz Zumwalt told his wife. “I’m a California boy and this isn’t my style.” “Oh you just don’t like snow.” “It’s not that I don’t like snow. But I hate slush.” “Still,” Moira said firmly, “it’s beautiful.” Wiz reached out and circled her waist with his arm. “You’re beautiful.”

Even an objective observer—which Wiz most definitely was not—would have agreed. Moira was wearing a heavy cloak of dark green wool lined and trimmed with dark fur. Her red hair, sparkled by diamond drops of melted snowflakes, hung down over the collar. The cold brought roses to her pale cheeks and her green eyes were bright under lashes the color of brushed copper. He had loved her from the first moment he had seen her, but that had been a magic spell. What had grown between them since then needed no spells.

She clung to him for an instant and then broke away. “Oh, come on,” she said breathlessly, “I want to see my domain.”

Wiz sketched a mock bow. “Lead on, Your Majesty.”

Moira struck a regal pose. “Not until tomorrow. After Our coronation you may address Us as Your Majesty. Meanwhile you may give Us your arm.”

Ever since the fair committee had announced its choice it had been a joke between them. When the fair officially opened tomorrow Moira would be crowned with holly and mistletoe and proclaimed Winter Queen to reign over the fair. Normally the queen was one of the women of the town, but this year the townsfolk had chosen Moira. If the truth be known this was due to a deadlock between the two logical candidates, but Wiz and Moira had chosen to ignore the politics and concentrate on the honor.

“What? You don’t want the rest of me?”

Moira opened her green eyes wide and gave him one of her patented 10,000-volt looks. “There are other parts of you that are useful,” she said, “but let us leave that for later.” Side by side they started down the icy street toward the fair.

The Wizards’ Keep stood on a great bluff that jutted up at the joining of two rivers. The town known simply as the Capital tailed down the sloping back of the rock to the flatlands below. From where they stood they could see over the roofs and walls of the Capital down to the fairgrounds.

Two days ago the water meadows beside the rivers had been as plain and white as the fields beyond. Now, as if by magic, a city had sprung up. Brightly colored canopies spilled carelessly against the fields of white. Along the dark river, boats lay ashore. Here and there campfires burned against the midwinter’s chill and everywhere people bustled like ants, erecting tents and stalls, unloading and setting up to display their wares.

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