In his life of observant wandering, John had seen many wonders, but nothing to compare with what had just revealed itself before him.
“Magic. There can be no other rational explanation.”
“Rationality’s somethin’ I find is frequently overused by way o’ explanation.” Malone indicated the temple of silent redwood giants beneath which they stood. “Now, these trees, this here place—that be a true definition o’ magic.” Rising from his crouch, he put a hand on the other man’s shoulder, his leathery open palm completely covering it. “Will you be all right now, John-friend?” He shook a chiding finger at his new acquaintance. “No more climbin’ trees in thunderstorms?”
Behind his impressive beard, the other man grinned. “Not without first asking permission of the tree in question, anyways. I thank you for my freedom, Mr. Malone. I think I shall write about you in my journal.”
The mountain man let out a grunt. “Waste o’ time, methinks. Nobody’d believe such a story. Doesn’t make no sense.” His face broke out in a huge grin.
“Until their existence was witnessed and reported upon,” John murmured reverently, “no one believed that such trees as these endured, either.”
Malone nodded once in solemn agreement. “Kin I give you a ride somewhere, John o’ the mountains?”
Having turned, the other man was already striding off toward the north. “Thank you, but no. My kit is nearby and hung well out of the reach of wandering bears. Also, I confess that the thought of being in any closer proximity to your steed unsettles my stomach even more than does spending time atop a tree in a Sierra thunderstorm. Good traveling to you, Mr. Malone, sir.” Halfway to the nearby ridge, he looked over at the singular sequoia that had imprisoned him, and for a while also, at Malone. “I can, however, assure you that in these mountains there is at least one tree that I will not be ascending again any time soon.”
Swinging himself up and into the saddle on Worthless’s back, Malone gripped the reins loosely in his right hand. At a gentle flick of the leather strands, the enigmatic steed started forward, a clutch of purple lupine hanging incongruously from his mouth. Raising a hand, Malone waved at the rapidly disappearing form of the other man and called out to him.
“I wouldn’t be too hard on the woody old grouch,” he shouted. “Even if his bark was worse than his height.”
Other Titles by Alan Dean Foster
Relic
Mad Amos Malone (ebook)
For Love of Mother-Not
The Tar-Aiym Krang
Orphan Star
The End of the Matter
Flinx in Flux
Mid-Flinx
Reunion
Flinx’s Folly
Sliding Scales
Running from the Deity
Bloodhype
Trouble Magnet
Patrimony
Flinx Transcendent
Strange Music
Phylogenesis
Dirge
Diturnity’s Dawn
Icerigger
Mission to Moulokin
The Deluge Drivers
Nor Crystal Tears
Voyage to the City of the Dead
Midworld
Drowning World
Quofum
The Howling Stones
Sentenced to Prism
Cachalot
A Call to Arms
The False Mirror
The Spoils of War
Lost and Found
The Light-Years Beneath My Feet
The Candle of Distant Earth
The Human Blend
Body, Inc.
The Sum of Her Parts
About the Author
ALAN DEAN FOSTER has written in a variety of genres, including hard science fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He is the author of several New York Times bestsellers and the popular Pip & Flinx novels, as well as novelizations of numerous films, including Transformers, Star Wars, the first three Alien films, and the most recent one, Alien: Covenant. Foster and his wife, JoAnn Oxley, live in Prescott, Arizona, in a house built of brick that was salvaged from an early-twentieth-century miners’ brothel. He is currently at work on several new novels and media projects.
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Copyright
Mad Amos Malone is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Ebook Original
Copyright © 2018 by Alan Dean Foster
“Wu-Ling’s Folly” copyright © 1982 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in Fantasy Book.
“Witchen Woes” copyright © 1983 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in Fantasy Book.
“Ferrohippus” copyright © 1984 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in Fantasy Book.
“Jackalope” copyright © 1989 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
“The Chrome Comanche” copyright © 1990 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
“Agrarian Deform” copyright © 1991 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
“Having Words” copyright © 1992 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.
“What You See…” copyright © 1992 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in Grails.
“Neither a Borrower Be…” copyright © 1996 by Alan Dean Foster; first appeared in Mad Amos.