Robert Charrette - Arthur 01 - A Prince Among Men Read Online Free Page A
Author: Robert N. Charrette
Tags: Fiction, General, Fantasy
classroom."
"I'll bet."
"You'll win." Yael waggled his eyebrows and grinned foolishly. "Hey, just got the word. Zephyr Scream is gonna be playing down at the student center. We can drop over there after practice Tuesday night and catch the second set. And maybe, just maybe, you'll meet the elusive mystery woman."
"Who's Zephyr Scream?"
"Who's Zephyr Scream!" Yael smote his brow with broad theatricality. "They were right, you must be from another planet. No, wait. I know! Your brain has rotted from too many books. But don't worry, I'll save you from intellectual despair and share with you my secret knowledge of Earth's darkest secrets. Zephyr Scream is nothing less than the hottest buzz-rock band this side of Boston. When they play, it's like communing with the infinite. They pump, man."
"Sonic shock." John tapped the side of his head with a long, slender finger. "Cuts out all the higher functions of the mind."
"At least it's music." Yael pointedly looked at John's autographed Bard Taliesin poster and held his nose. "They don't do that retro downer stuff you listen to. This crew is alive. Crest of the wave."
"Last month you said those neomonowave shriekers were the crest."
"Yeah. Too true. But that was last month. World's a happening place, happening all the time. Not frozen like these books of yours." Yael kicked a dog-eared copy of The Two Towers, sending it sliding under the desk. The book connected with a pile of papers and disks, which promptly collapsed upon it and buried it. The shifting debris plowed into the table leg, the shock setting a Lego castle tower to teetering. The toy castle rocked, almost overbalancing before settling back to sit firmly again on the desktop. John shook his head. A little bit harder and it would have gone over, and no one would have been able to do anything about it. The old plastic was too brittle to survive the fall.
Barbarian.
Not really. Just ignorant of the finer things of life. Books, even secondhand ones, weren't cheap anymore. And the castle—they just didn't make those anymore. At least it hadn't been part of the Robin Hood set; that was truly irreplaceable. Still, friend or not, the incident couldn't pass unremarked.
"Watch the merchandise," John said with a growl. "Men have died for less than that."
Yael started as though John had made a real threat. "Hey, easy, freund. Nothing happened."
No thanks to him.
John chuckled. No, not to him.
"That tower is built from a prerecall, first pressing of the 1995 Earl's Keep set. My mom got it for me two years ago. It took her months of scouring the antique shops."
"Hey, like I'm sorry. Okay?" Yael's apology sounded only half sincere. "Look, I, uh, gotta go. Thanks for the assignment. See ya in class."
"Yeah. See ya."
John heard his mother saying good-bye as Yael let himself out. He should have been polite and seen Yael to the door, but he didn't feel very polite. Yael was difficult to get along with, and this latest interruption had almost cost John one of his favorite pieces. The guy could have phoned. John fished The Two Towers out from under the desk. Yael had no respect for anything important. Abandoning the homework assignment in his reader, John settled back on his bed and opened the book.
The Orcs were closing in on Frodo.
CHAPTER 2
Charley Gordon sat on the railing and watched the crime scene crew do their work. The body hadn't been in very good shape when Charley found it. No surprise there; the death had been violent, and the victim had lost a lot of blood. Up here in the mountains there still were wild animals to be drawn to the smell of blood. Scavengers, he told himself. He shivered a little and blamed it on the morning chill. What the wild animals had done was no worse than what rats did, he supposed. But you expected things like that in the city. Out here things were supposed to be cleaner, nicer.
Manuel Salazar was a good partner; he brought an extra cup of coffee when he came to sit next to Charley.
"I'll bet."
"You'll win." Yael waggled his eyebrows and grinned foolishly. "Hey, just got the word. Zephyr Scream is gonna be playing down at the student center. We can drop over there after practice Tuesday night and catch the second set. And maybe, just maybe, you'll meet the elusive mystery woman."
"Who's Zephyr Scream?"
"Who's Zephyr Scream!" Yael smote his brow with broad theatricality. "They were right, you must be from another planet. No, wait. I know! Your brain has rotted from too many books. But don't worry, I'll save you from intellectual despair and share with you my secret knowledge of Earth's darkest secrets. Zephyr Scream is nothing less than the hottest buzz-rock band this side of Boston. When they play, it's like communing with the infinite. They pump, man."
"Sonic shock." John tapped the side of his head with a long, slender finger. "Cuts out all the higher functions of the mind."
"At least it's music." Yael pointedly looked at John's autographed Bard Taliesin poster and held his nose. "They don't do that retro downer stuff you listen to. This crew is alive. Crest of the wave."
"Last month you said those neomonowave shriekers were the crest."
"Yeah. Too true. But that was last month. World's a happening place, happening all the time. Not frozen like these books of yours." Yael kicked a dog-eared copy of The Two Towers, sending it sliding under the desk. The book connected with a pile of papers and disks, which promptly collapsed upon it and buried it. The shifting debris plowed into the table leg, the shock setting a Lego castle tower to teetering. The toy castle rocked, almost overbalancing before settling back to sit firmly again on the desktop. John shook his head. A little bit harder and it would have gone over, and no one would have been able to do anything about it. The old plastic was too brittle to survive the fall.
Barbarian.
Not really. Just ignorant of the finer things of life. Books, even secondhand ones, weren't cheap anymore. And the castle—they just didn't make those anymore. At least it hadn't been part of the Robin Hood set; that was truly irreplaceable. Still, friend or not, the incident couldn't pass unremarked.
"Watch the merchandise," John said with a growl. "Men have died for less than that."
Yael started as though John had made a real threat. "Hey, easy, freund. Nothing happened."
No thanks to him.
John chuckled. No, not to him.
"That tower is built from a prerecall, first pressing of the 1995 Earl's Keep set. My mom got it for me two years ago. It took her months of scouring the antique shops."
"Hey, like I'm sorry. Okay?" Yael's apology sounded only half sincere. "Look, I, uh, gotta go. Thanks for the assignment. See ya in class."
"Yeah. See ya."
John heard his mother saying good-bye as Yael let himself out. He should have been polite and seen Yael to the door, but he didn't feel very polite. Yael was difficult to get along with, and this latest interruption had almost cost John one of his favorite pieces. The guy could have phoned. John fished The Two Towers out from under the desk. Yael had no respect for anything important. Abandoning the homework assignment in his reader, John settled back on his bed and opened the book.
The Orcs were closing in on Frodo.
CHAPTER 2
Charley Gordon sat on the railing and watched the crime scene crew do their work. The body hadn't been in very good shape when Charley found it. No surprise there; the death had been violent, and the victim had lost a lot of blood. Up here in the mountains there still were wild animals to be drawn to the smell of blood. Scavengers, he told himself. He shivered a little and blamed it on the morning chill. What the wild animals had done was no worse than what rats did, he supposed. But you expected things like that in the city. Out here things were supposed to be cleaner, nicer.
Manuel Salazar was a good partner; he brought an extra cup of coffee when he came to sit next to Charley.
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