Avon Fantasy Reader No. 9 — page 113: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

slopes of the highest of the mountains. This city, marked “DRACO,” was elaborately and painstakingly developed with the little India ink symbols. A truly magnificent palace was at its very heart; and around the palace, cun- ningly enough, were strong barracks, each with a watch-tower. Beyond these, again, was a very wide, bare, circular road, completely surrounding barracks, palace, gardens and all. Apparently the ruler of this kingdom had a healthy distrust of his subjects, or else expected, but was prepared for, an invasion. ms The remainder of the map bore out the second theory; for Draco was the ss heart of a whole system of smaller cities, or states. Since each city had a Ph palace (though none as impressive as the one in Draco), the effect was that of a feudal overlord, surrounded by lesser rulers. So, in fact, was the case. Henry, who dragged out a dreary existence with his aunt and uncle— an existence complicated by the limp which he would always have, as a souve- nir of the accident in which his mother and father had been killed—had found that in order to make life with the other boys of his age bearable, he would have to make himself superior to them. Since any physical superiority 2 was out of the question, his quick mind had found the way out. As Kirwan, ruler of Draco and its subject states, Henry held a position of unquestioned authority among his fellows. More—the game had captured their imaginations to such an extent that former, and possibly healthier, pas- times were neglected. Billy Daniels (Fiero, Prince of Maglar); Donny Clark (Andrus of Ghuria); Joe Domenico (Horvath of Balcur); and Robin John- son (Duke Shira, of Friya), lived only for the campaigns against the Dog- Men of the Outer Mountains, the internecine wars that troubled Draconia with scarcely a let-up, and, of course, the political strife that was one of its chief raisons-d’etre. In turn, each one had tried to out-maneuver Henry; but Kirwan, King of Draconia, had maintained his power against each of them, and his ascendancy over their minds at the same time. “The game,” however, | held even more sway over Henry than over the others. More and more, his life as Henry Booth seemed the game, and a very unpleasant and dull game, at that; while, as Kirwan, he lived in a dangerously brilliant world, of which | every corner was twice as familiar to him as the drab surroundings of his = ~~ Aunt Martha’s and Uncle Joe’s house. ; Aunt Martha and Uncle Joe were not fond of Henry, to start with. He didn’t act nicely at all to their dear little Charley (about to become ruler of Thorvia); and Charley such a bright little fellow—and so healthy! Imagine— 100 pounds, and only eleven years old! That, of course, was one way of looking at it—the Anderson’s way. Henry’s way was, quite simply, that Charley was a big overgrown slob of a boy, and a nasty little sneak and bully besides. Henry’s views were actually far less biased than those of his aunt and uncle. In fact, the only reason for the crea- tion of “Thorvia” was that Charley had prowled, and sneaked, and opened _bureau-drawers, and listened in corners to too good effect. Briefly, Charley knew too much, and, in his inimitable way, could break up the game with 111 comiclbooks.co