influence on me and that I was becoming slightly less of a stuffed shirt as it were Perish the thought good Reader And so I must be for one final time Your Reluctant Narrator Quentin Q Quacksworth Esq United Federation of Narrators Raconteurs Anecdotists and General Tellers of Tales Local 42 ix
the crooked rook 1 In which the password is indeed swordfish Shade’s black curly hair whipped about in the steamy summer night as she streaked through the countryside on the back of Glatis the Questing Beast How much farther she called Glatis raised her serpentine head and squinted her slitted eyes I can see the town lights from here In just a minute for a Questing Beast at full gallop 1
in its gigantic serpent-leopard-oxen form is perhaps the fastest creature in the world Glatis came to a stop just outside the bustling goblin market town of Gypsum-upon-Swathmud Beyond and between the black silhouettes of buildings the glow of lanterns and torches held the nighttime darkness at bay instead of the silence of midnight the air was filled with laughter and haggling and cries of Come buy come buy Orchard fruits all ripe together in summer weather sweet to the tongue and sound to the eye Come buy come buy And there waiting for them was a bald pudgy old fairy with cow ears holding a lantern in one hand and a pocket watch in the other Midnight on the nose Poor Richard snapped the pocket watch shut and tucked it into his vest as Shade leaped down next to him Well done Glatis Thank you ever so much You’re welcome Glatis swung her head back and forth nervously Now if I could just well pop out into the country again while you do whatever it is you’re here to do Places like this tend to attract questers and all and 2
And you don’t want to be chased you sweet gentle thing The cowlug gave Glatis a sympathetic pat Please go If you could come back in about an hour that would be lovely As a relieved Glatis vanished into the night Shade looked to the little cowlug Is everything all right The note you sent with Glatis said there was some thing extremely important that you had to show me Everything is more than all right my dear And what I have to show you is right here Poor Richard pointed at the run-down building behind them Above its entrance hung a sign one end sagging significantly lower than the other on which a black bird wearing an eye patch peered down at them The Crooked Rook Shade frowned This stinking cesspit of an inn Stinking cesspit Oh so you know the place Yeah Shade frowned as she thought of how its bartender had cheated her the first time she came to Gypsum And I know there is nothing important and nothing that isn’t filthy and stinking in it Tonight there is Poor Richard pushed open the 3
