Spell of Catastrophe | Page 4

his feet. Haddo whistled something at the bird, letting Max
scratch under its neck. After a moment, Max gingerly straightened.
"Okay, Haddo," he said. "Thanks for the flight. Now what about
Karlini?"
Haddo gave a final remark to the bird. "Here wait," he said to Max, and
staggered off through a doorway. Someone passed him coming out, the
someone wrinkling his nose fastidiously.
"Wroclaw!" Max said. "Nice to see you again."
"Very good to see you, sir." Wroclaw' s gaunt skin was an olive-drab
green, and his bones were of not quite human proportions. His
ancestors had been conjured, one way or another, but that wasn't
something usually discussed in polite company. "Are you fit, sir?"
"That remains to be seen. I suspect it depends on what Karlini wants
out of me."
Wroclaw coughed discretely. "Very good, sir. Will you see the master
now?"
"I hope so, Wroclaw, I really do."
"Ahem, yes," Wroclaw said, "sir. Will you follow me, please?"
Crossing the doorway, Max's hair crackled with static and he caught a
whiff of ozone. Inside the corridor, though, the air was much cooler and
the tang of salt was much less apparent.
"Do you know what I'm doing here, Wroclaw?" Max said.

Wroclaw rounded a corner and came to a stop at the entrance to a
cramped circular staircase. "Any idea I might possess," Wroclaw said,
"would undoubtedly be less than the complete truth. The master is, as
always, the best person with whom to raise the matter."
A raven cawed faintly seven times, somewhere off in another wing.
"Oh, goodness," Wroclaw said. "Time for dinner already. Please wait
here, sir, the master will be along shortly. Alas, I find myself also
serving as the cook."
"Very well, Wroclaw." Max leaned on a stone windowsill across the
staircase and watched shadows creep up the hills. One hill had gone
into total eclipse by the time a figure bounded down the stairs toward
him, running one hand through its hair. "The Great Karlini, I presume,"
Max said, "and if you don't tell me what's up very quickly I'll turn you
into a carp and eat you, raw."
"Oh, good, Max, it is you," said the Great Karlini, pushing hair out of
his eyes. "Haddo is certainly faithful, but his eyesight isn't quite perfect
and we're never too sure what he'll bring back."
"That robe needs to be washed."
Karlini looked down and started, apparently noticing the cluster of
fresh stains for the first time. "Good old Max," he said. "How do I
manage without you?"
"That depends on what you've gotten yourself into this time."
Karlini dropped an arm across Max's shoulders and led him down the
stairs. "So, Max, how have you been?"
Max stopped. "That's it," he said. "I'm out of here. See you later."
"Max, now don't -"
Max crossed his arms. "Look, Karlini, you get me dragged all the way
out here, ruining a perfectly good if somewhat arid caravan trip, and

then you won't tell me why. Haddo won't talk, Wroclaw won't talk, you
won't talk. You know what that says to me? What that says to me is that
you want me to do something that probably involves human sacrifice,
and I bet we both know who's the relevant human."
Karlini sat down next to him on the stair. "Don't glower at me like that,
Max. It's not that bad, but it is a long story. Actually, it's not that long a
story, but it's sort of -"
"Karlini."
"All right, all right. You noticed the castle?"
"Yeah, sure. Looks like a nice place."
"Well … it's okay."
"So, what's wrong with it? It have rats? Things?"
"It's not what it has," Karlini said, "it's what it does. It moves."
"Moves."
"Not like earthquakes, I mean, or settling ground. I mean you wake up
in the morning and the whole castle's jumped somewhere else. It's been
here for almost two weeks, but before that, it was bounce, bounce,
bounce. Just enough time to get an idea where we are, and then, poof!,
another hemisphere. Last month we spent six days somewhere around
the North Pole. We almost froze. I'm just waiting for this thing to head
for the open ocean."
"I assume we'll get to the real point when you tell me why you can't get
rid of the place. You got a problem with the landlord?"
Karlini looked suspiciously at Max. "You sure you haven't heard about
this before?" Max shook his head, no. Karlini sighed. "Well, that's the
problem, all right. It won't let me get rid of it. I can't even walk out the
door."2. THE CREEPING SWORD

AT THE SAME TIME Haddo was flying Max toward Karlini's castle I
was sitting at my desk minding my own business, the major thought on