"Oh, Master Jame! We were so worried!"
Betha charged through the kitchen, grabbing me up in meaty arms better suited to butchering livestock than hugging children. I don"t think I"ve ever fully recovered from those crushing embraces. At least it was Betha, and not Chesley.I had just enough breath left to tell my story again. "I"m fine, Betha. But Dauna"s been kidnapped. Oof!" She squeezed me again. "And I mean it. It isn"t just a story, like Chesley says. King saw them, too."
"Oh, we know, dear boy. We know." She hugged me again, and that was the last I could speak for a while.
"Mistress Betha, I"m here to investigate Dauna"s kidnapping."
"And by whose authority are you here, sir?" Chesley appeared from the dining room. He was all narrow lines and livery. Our family didn"t have a livery, but Chesley insisted on wearing one all the same. Livery and uniforms were as important to him as protocol and etiquette.
"I serve Amba.s.sador Carrague, of the Ministry of Art," said King proudly. He raised his chin. If he had been a dog, his hackles would have risen. I couldn"t blame him.
"I"m afraid I don"t understand why the Ministry of Art is involved in a matter for the watch," sniffed Chesley.
"I was at hand," sniffed King. Unlike Chesley, though, he was really sniffing. He walked right up to Chesley and kept on sniffing, leaning forward to get a good whiff. Chesley was unprepared for that.
"Wha-Whatever are you doing?" stammered the steward.
If I"d had any breath left, I"d have lost it all again in laughter.
"Where were you when Dauna was kidnapped?" demanded King. Chesley wasn"t used to having the tables turned in that direction.
"Why, I-why, I was at market."
"Then why in the world did you send me to market this morning?" demanded Betha indignantly. "I could have finished all that washing you insisted on having this afternoon."
King kept sniffing at Chesley, moving down from his thinning hair to his narrow shoulders, and farther down.
"Well?" said King.
"As if it matters!" protested Chesley, pushing away at King, who seemed oblivious to the impropriety of his own behavior. "If you must know, I had to replace a bottle of the master"s wine, which I had carelessly broken this morning."
"Hmm," said King.
"Hmm?" said Chesley.
"I don"t smell any wine on you."
"Of course you don"t, you nonsensical fool! I changed clothes."
"Doesn"t matter," said King.
"Don"t be ridiculous," protested Chesley.
Even I knew something was wrong, now.
"And you"re afraid of these questions. You"re sweating fear."
"I"ve had quite enough of this bullying," said Chesley, drawing himself to his most imperious height. "It is true that I didn"t believe the boy"s story this morning, but that"s because he is a proven lia-"
"It"s because you know where Dauna is," interrupted King, rising up to tower over even the tall steward. "I can smell it." King showed his teeth and growled.
In the years since then, I"ve learned that when men smile, they"re talking without words. Sometimes it"s as simple as, "that"s funny" or "what a beautiful woman you are." Some smiles say, "I don"t know what else to say, so I"ll smile."
Yet others say, "You"re a miserable, stupid troll, but I can"t say that, so I"ll smile." King"s smile said, "I"m about to clamp my teeth down on your throat if you don"t talk." Chesley, to his credit, understood King"s smile exactly.
"It wasn"t my idea! I didn"t want the money! They threatened me!"
Now we all knew he was lying. It wasn"t hard to get the rest out of him, especially once Betha reached up and grabbed him by his skinny throat.
"What have you done with that darling girl?" she roared. King and I both moved quickly away from her. Even a fierce one like King knows who"s the bigger dog.
It took her very little time to get Chesley"s story.
"There," said King. He looked all silver in the moonlight-hair, eyes, and hands. He pointed to the warm glow of a lantern. The light spilled out of a flimsy warehouse door, making a silhouette of the guard sitting there, carelessly leaning back on two chair legs.
"That"s father"s warehouse," I said. "The one he rents for the goods he buys overseas. Why would they take her there?"
"Probably because that"s the last place we"d think to look, Jame." I thought King was incredibly smart, even for a man.
"Now, listen. You won"t be any help if you let those men get their hands on you, too." King took me by the shoulder and tugged the feathered cap out from my belt. He put it on my head and pulled it snugly down. I could tell by his eyes that I was invisible again.
"Keep this on. Once we"re in, you look for Dauna. Getting her out of there is your job. I"ll keep the kidnappers busy."
I nodded, but he kept looking toward me as if I hadn"t. "Oh, I mean yes," I said. Being invisible was tricky business.
"Here we go," said King. He turned and loped toward the door, crouching low to stay in the shadows. He got within five feet of the watchman before his scabbard struck the ground and made a terrible sc.r.a.pe against the stone walk."What"s that?" said the watchman. "Who"s here?" He rose from his chair with a clatter, and I was sure he"d shout before King could stop him. But King was a dark blur, rushing up to slam the open door right in the watchman"s face.
The surprised man dropped like a sack of flour.
"Hsst! You there, Jame?" King whispered. I hurried to catch up.
"Right behind you."
"Listen." We listened for a moment. Voices floated up from the dark interior of the warehouse, but they sounded conversational. King nodded an all clear, then lifted the fallen watchman back into his chair. Tilting him carefully back, King left the man looking every bit as watchful as he"d been before. We entered the warehouse.
Past the yellow circle of lamplight by the door, the warehouse was dark and cool. It smelled clean and damp, though the floor was dry and scattered with sawdust. The rafters were hidden in darkness, but I could feel the clear s.p.a.ce above our heads. Past the shadows of crates and barrels, another light reflected dimly on the far wall.
At first I followed King carefully around bolts of Shou silk. But when we reached the Mulhorandi carvings, he waved me forward without turning around. "Look," he whispered. "Is that Dauna?" I peered through the s.p.a.ce between a particularly severe pharaoh and a slender cat G.o.ddess. It was Dauna.
They had her tied to a chair, and she slumped in the coils as if she"d exhausted herself with struggling. She wasn"t bruised or bleeding anywhere, so I breathed a sigh of relief. The kidnappers wanted a ransom.
We could see three of the kidnappers, two of whom I recognized from our chase that morning. The third was Siward, the young thug Chesley had hired as a handyman last month. Chesley hadn"t told us the boy was involved, but we should have guessed. A head taller than me, and perhaps two years older, Siward bullied me when he first arrived at the house. Now I knew that wasn"t the limit of his wickedness.
"See there?" whispered King. He pointed to a line of barrels beside Dauna"s chair.
I nodded. Then I whispered, "Yes."
"Try to make your way around to free Dauna." He held out a knife, and I took it. I nodded again, turned, and tread as quietly as I could back to the other side. King vanished into the gloom between the crates.
Checking to make sure the hat remained firmly on my head, I crept around a great pile of bagged spices. Some of them tickled my nose, and I pinched it shut. I didn"t want to sneeze and accidentally alert the villains. Soon enough, I found a s.p.a.ce through which I could crawl close to Dauna.
Poking my head out from between the narrow aisle of barrels, I wasted a few moments trying to attract Dauna"s attention with frantic waving. Being invisible was becoming embarra.s.sing. Fortunately, no one could see me making these mistakes.
I looked around and counted Siward and three other men, one of whom we hadn"t seen from our earlier vantage.
Two of them played at lots, and the one we hadn"t seen was tr.i.m.m.i.n.g his nails with a dagger, while Siward lounged against the wall, trying to look tough and knowing. He stole quick glances at the other men to see if any noticed how dangerous he looked. None of them did.
With each of the kidnappers occupied with his own pursuit, I had no trouble slipping behind Dauna"s chair. Being invisible helped, too, I suppose.
"Dauna, it"s me, Jame," I whispered softly.
"Jame?" said Dauna. I couldn"t blame her. It was taking me some time to get used to the invisibility thing, too.
"What"s that?" demanded Siward, rising from his pose to stand directly in front of Dauna. "Did the little bug say something?"
Dauna"s the bold one. "I heard a voice," she said. "Must have been the city watch, come to arrest you all." She"s never been a great one for stories, though. Good thing, as it turned out.
"Right, and then they"ll declare you the princess of Cormyr. Ha! Little bug! I bet your father won"t even want you back, you ugly thing. Then we"ll have to squash you." I"d never seen nor heard anything as ugly as Siward"s laugh then. Dauna would have something sharp to say, I thought. But she screwed up her face and began to sob. I guess that"s when I first really hated Siward.
He laughed again and called her "little bug" a few more times. I thought him rather dull for it, but it had a p.r.o.nounced effect on Dauna, whose sobs turned to a wailing cry. King would make his move soon, I hoped. What was he waiting for?
"Oh, mercy," cried one of the lot players. "Don"t get her started again. Get away from her, boy."
"Who are you calling a boy?" challenged Siward. But he went back to his place at the wall. It was then I realized that the fingernail-trimmer was missing. The kidnappers noticed it too.
"Where"s Lonny?" asked the other lot player. His opponent shrugged.
"Probably had to see a man about a horse." They laughed at that tired joke. My bet was that King had dispatched the man and was busy tying him up. I used the time to put my hand over Dauna"s mouth and whisper again.
"It"s Jame, your brother. I"m invisible. Really. I"ll let you try it later. But first, I"m going to cut you free. Don"t scream or talk to me or anything. All right?" She hadn"t bitten my hand yet, and she made a sort of nodding motion, so I let go.
Cutting the ropes was quick and easy, but they fell to the floor with a noticeable thump.
"Hey, she"s loose!" cried Siward.
Both of the lot players rose from their table, and suddenly King came leaping over the crates behind them. But he"d jumped badly, used to landing on his front paws first. A man"s hands aren"t quite up to that task, so he went sprawling on the table between two surprised kidnappers.
"Get him!" cried a lot player. The other drew his sword and raised it, preparing to stab King in the back.
"King!" I shouted. "Look out!" By then, Siward was almost on top of Dauna. I grabbed the cap off my head andpushed it over Dauna"s curly locks. Siward paused just long enough at my sudden appearance and Dauna"s disappearance for me to shout, "Run! You"re invisible! Run home to Betha!"
Then Siward was an avalanche upon me.
"You prat!" he screeched, losing all composure. "I"ll beat you into pudding!"
I wanted to respond with something clever, but he was quick to make good on his threat. My only response was a series of unintelligible grunts punctuating each of his blows. I looked desperately around for King, hoping he had not only dispatched his enemies, but could also rescue me from Siward.
But King had his own troubles. Both of the kidnappers wielded swords now, two blades to one, and King"s back pressed the wall. To his credit, he was a good swordsman, but the weapon seemed awkward in his grip. It had been too long since he had fought like this. Then one of the kidnappers struck him a smart blow to arm, knocking his sword down. Both villains" blades flicked toward his throat.
"On your knees, hero," mocked one of the swordsmen. Siward held me by the collar and turned to look.
King was amazed and uncertain. He hesitated, then slowly knelt, defeat in the old warrior"s eyes.
"Down, you cur," ordered the other man. The first grabbed King by the shoulder and pushed him down onto his hands.
"King!" I cried.
He looked over at where I lay beneath Siward"s giggling bulk. All three kidnappers laughed mockingly, congratulating each other with glances. King peered across at his dropped sword, his expression hopeless, his head hanging low. He looked utterly defeated.
But then King hunkered down, finding the balance between his hands and feet. He lifted his head slowly. The kidnappers were busy grinning at each other, so I was the only one to see King show his teeth in a smile that would have terrified me had it been cast my direction. The swordsmen didn"t see King look up at them, a renewed fire in his eyes. He tensed, ready to spring.
"Rahr!" growled King, lunging at the first kidnapper"s leg.
The man shouted in pain and beat ineffectually at his attacker. "He bit me! He bit me!" he repeated in disbelief.
"He"s raving mad," shouted the other, raising his sword.
Then they heard King"s low, awful growl, and saw King"s eyes, his teeth bared and b.l.o.o.d.y.
"Merciful G.o.ds, it"s a werewolf!" cried one. Two swords struck the ground at once, and the kidnappers fled so quickly that one of them slammed face first into the statue of the cat G.o.ddess, knocking himself senseless. The other ran somewhat farther, screamed, then fell with a great thump. I figured out later that he had stumbled over Lonny, whom he thought to be the unfortunate victim of King, the werewolf.
Siward"s reaction was every bit as sudden as those of his companions. "Werewolf!" he screamed.
Siward ran three steps and promptly tripped over a chair that mysteriously slid beneath his legs. Dauna appeared, slapping the babbling Siward with the feathered cap. "Who"s squashed now, little bug?" Whether to stanch the wound to his dignity or to preserve his dwindling sanity, Siward chose the better part of valor and fainted.
The rest was a boring parade of arriving watchmen, a tearful and huggy Betha, and plenty of questions. The earlier thrill kept us awake for the first hour or so, but then Dauna"s yawns melted into sleep. King carried her home in his arms, and I barely made it back under my own power.
"You must stay the night here," said Betha to King. The hero opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it again.
Betha was still the bigger dog.
I had just enough strength to show King to the guest bedroom. We said good night, and I turned to leave. But I stopped a moment at the door to look back at him, thinking I had something to say but finding no words. He didn"t see me.
I watched him lie down on the bed with a heavy sigh, then turn heavily onto his side. A few more uncomfortable shifts, and King climbed off the soft feather bed to crawl onto the rug, circle three times on all fours, then curl up to sleep comfortably.
Father returned four days after we rescued Dauna. He wouldn"t let us out of his sight for days. The first time I saw King was at Chesley"s trial. The court was crammed with people, and I couldn"t get anywhere close to King. Even from a distance, I could see he was unhappy. He"d lost some of the silver gleam he"d had on the night of the rescue. He looked just gray and tired. And old.
Eventually, Father allowed me my freedom again, and I rushed to the streets to find King. I wanted to hear all of his stories, everything about why the witch had changed him into a dog and about all his adventures since then.
King could have been anywhere, so that"s where I looked. After searching the docks, the circus grounds, the markets, and even the Ministry of Art-where the guards told me Carrague was away to supper-I found myself on Wicker Street, not far from the Barley Bowl. I smelled barley soup and knew Carrague must be inside. Surely he could tell me what had become of King.
There was the amba.s.sador, all right. He leaned back against the wall, snoring softly. A long pipe rested near an empty soup bowl. One hand dangled at his side, idly stroking the silver fur of an aging, mixed-breed terrier.