Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
Swords Against Wizardry by Fritz Leiber ...
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slope they were crossing was becoming quite steep.<br />
"Fafhrd," the Mouser protested quietly, "we're heading for Stardock's top, not<br />
the White Waterfall."<br />
"You said, 'Very well,'" Fafhrd retorted between chops. "Besides, who does the<br />
work?" His ax rang as it bit into ice.<br />
"Look, Fafhrd," the Mouser said, "there are two goats crossing to Stardock<br />
along the saddletop. No, three."<br />
"We should trust goats? Ask yourself why they've been sent." Again Fafhrd's<br />
ax rang.<br />
The sun swung into view as it coursed southward, sending their three<br />
shadows ranging far ahead of them. The pale gray of the snow turned glittery<br />
white. The Mouser unhooded to the yellow rays. For a while the enjoyment of<br />
their warmth on the back of his head helped him keep his mouth shut, but then<br />
the slope grew steeper yet, as Fafhrd continued remorselessly to cut steps<br />
downward.<br />
"I seem to recall that our purpose was to _climb_ Stardock, but my memory<br />
must be disordered," the Mouser observed. "Fafhrd, I'll take your word we must<br />
keep away from the top of the ridge, but do we have to keep away so _far_? And<br />
the three goats have all skipped across."<br />
Still, "'Very well,' you said," was all Fafhrd would answer, and this time there<br />
was a snarl in his voice.<br />
The Mouser shrugged. Now he was bracing himself with his pike<br />
continuously, while Hrissa would pause studyingly before each leap.<br />
Their shadows went less than a spear's cast ahead of them now, while the hot<br />
sun had begun to melt the surface snow, sending down trickles of ice water to wet<br />
their gloves and make their footing unsure.<br />
Yet still Fafhrd kept cutting steps downward. And now of a sudden he began<br />
to cut them downward more steeply still, adding with taps of his ax a tiny<br />
handhold above each step -- and these handholds were needed!<br />
"Fafhrd," the Mouser said dreamily, "perhaps an ice-sprite has whispered to<br />
you the secret of levitation, so that from this fine takeoff you can dive, level out,<br />
and then go spring to Stardock's top. In that case I wish you'd teach myself and<br />
Hrissa how to grow wings in an instant."<br />
"Hist!" Fafhrd spoke softly yet sharply at that instant. "I have a feeling.<br />
Something comes. Brace yourself and watch behind us."<br />
The Mouser drove his pike in deep and rotated his head. As he did, Hrissa<br />
leaped from the last step behind to the one on which the Mouser stood, landing<br />
half on his boot and clinging to his knee -- yet this done so dexterously the<br />
Mouser was not dislodged.<br />
"I see nothing," the Mouser reported, staring almost sunward. Then, words<br />
suddenly clipped: "Again the beams twist like a spinning lantern! The glints on<br />
the ice ripple and wave. 'Tis the flier come again! Cling!"<br />
There came the rushing sound, louder than ever before and swiftly mounting,<br />
then a great sea-wave of air, as of a great body passing swiftly only spans away; it<br />
whipped their clothes and Hrissa's fur and forced them to cling fiercely to their<br />
holds, though Fafhrd made a full-armed swipe with his ax. Hrissa snarled. Fafhrd<br />
almost louted forward off his holds with the momentum of his blow.<br />
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