Part 17 (2/2)
Madouc's jaw dropped. ”I wanted to know my mother! I thought all the time she was dead.”
Twisk gave an indulgent laugh. ”The error is absurd. I am surcharged with vivacity, of all kinds!”
”So I see! I regret the mistake, but I was given false information.”
”Just so. You must learn to be more skeptical. But now you know the truth and I will be returning to Thripsey Shee!”
”Not yet!” cried Madouc. ”I am your beloved daughter, and you have only just met me! Also, I need your help!”
Twisk sighed. ”Is it not always the way? What then do you want of me?”
”I am lost in the forest! Two murderers killed Pymfyd and stole my horse Tyfer. They chased me and caused me a great fright; they wanted to kill me as well; also they called me a 'scrawny red-headed whelp'!”
Twisk stared in shock and disapproval. ”You meekly stood by and allowed these insults?”
”By no means! I ran away as fast as possible and hid.”
”You should have brought them a waft of hornets! Or shortened their legs so that their feet adjoined their b.u.t.tocks! Or transformed them into hedgehogs!”
Madouc gave an embarra.s.sed laugh. ”I don't know how to do these things.”
Twisk sighed once more. ”I have neglected your education; I cannot deny it. Well, no time like the present, and we shall make a start at this instant.” She took Madouc's hands in her own. ”What do you feel?”
”A quiver came over me-a sensation most strange!” wisk nodded and stood back. ”Now then: hold your thumb and finger thus. Whisper 'Fwip' and jerk your chin toward what ever nuisance you wish to abate. You may practice on Zocco.”
Madouc pressed thumb and finger together. ”Like this?”
”Just so.”
”And: 'Fwip'?”
”Correct.”
”And jerk my chin-like this?”
Zocco uttered a screech and jumped four feet from the ground, twirling his feet rapidly in mid-air. ”Hai hai kiyah!” called Zocco. ”Put me down!”
”You have worked the spell correctly,” said Twisk. ”See how he twirls his feet, as if dancing? The spell is known as the 'Tinkle-toe Imp-spring'.”
Madouc allowed thumb and finger to separate and Zocco returned to the ground, sea-green eyes bulging from his head. ”Hold hard on that mischief, and at once!”
Madouc spoke contritely. ”Excuse me, Zocco! I think that I jerked my chin a bit too hard.”
”That was my own thought,” said Twisk. ”Try again, using less force.”
On this occasion Zocco jumped less than three feet into the air, and his outcries were considerably less shrill.
”Well done!” said Twisk. ”You have a natural bent for such work!”
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