The Nyssomu gave a faint groan. One bleary yellow eye opened. "Go quickly to my room, Tola. Hide there until I come for you." The eye then closed and Ralabun spoke no more.
As it happened, Ralabun was not dead, only badly wounded and in a swoon; but in the dream, as in life, Tolivar felt himself bereft of his last hope. Hearing someone coming, the Prince fled into the Nyssomu stablemaster"s cozy little chamber, where he concealed himself beneath a discarded cloak in a corner.
A man, moving furtively and breathing in painful gasps-as though he, too, had been fleeing for his life-entered the room and closed the door behind him. The Prince"s hand tightened upon his little sword. Meager firelight from Ralabun"s hearth showed that the intruder was clad in a dirty golden robe. It was the acolyte whom Orogastus called his Yellow Voice, sent by the sorcerer to act as an aide to young King Ledavardis of Raktum during the invasion.
A silvery gleam shone from beneath the Voice"s hood and Tolivar nearly cried out in astonishment. The man was wearing the talismanic coronet called the Three-Headed Monster! Orogastus had lent it to his minion so that the Voice could transmit to his master news of the battle action going on around him.
It was obvious to Tolivar that the cowardly Yellow Voice had run away, abandoning his duty when the fighting grew too furious.
In his dream, the Prince"s heart swelled with brave resolution. (In reality, he had acted almost without thought.) Except for the area next to the hearth, where the Voice now stood, helping himself to Ralabun"s abandoned supper, the room was in deep shadow. Tolivar crept up behind the acolyte as he began to ladle hot stew from a pot on the fire into a bowl. The boy pressed the sharp point of his little sword to the nape of the man"s neck, cutting through his hood.
"Stand still!" the Prince hissed. "Drop those things."
"I meant no harm," the Voice quavered, but Tolivar p.r.i.c.ked the acolyte with the blade until he let fall the bowl and ladle. "I am only an unarmed townsman, caught up by mistake in the fighting-"
"Silence-or you die! And do not move."
"I will stand quite still," the Yellow Voice whimpered. "I would not dream of moving." The sword withdrew from his neck, and faster than lightning it whisked off his hood and flipped the magical coronet from his shaven head. The Three-Headed Monster spun away through the air, striking the floor with a clang and rolling out of sight in the dimness.
"Dark Powers-not the talisman!" the acolyte shrieked. "Master! Help me-"
The true foolhardiness of his action now came home to Prince Tolivar, for the Yellow Voice whirled about and fell over him, uttering a great howl and bearing both of them heavily to the floor. The boy was able to wriggle free, but he had somehow lost the sword. The acolyte struggled to his knees, swaying and clutching at his breast where a dark stain was spreading. His eyes had become brilliant white stars, and Tolivar knew beyond doubt that Orogastus himself now looked out through them.
As the Yellow Voice writhed in his last agony, trying vainly to pluck forth the small blade that had by chance lodged in his heart, his head slowly turned. For a brief instant his brilliant eyes, like two small beacons in the darkness, illumined Prince Tolivar. The boy crouched in the corner, his mouth wide open in voiceless horror.
Then the shining orbs winked out and the Yellow Voice fell dead on the floor.
In his dream, the little Prince arose and pulled his sword from the body, wiping it clean on the acolyte"s robe. Then he went calmly to Ralabun"s bed, fished under it with the blade, and drew forth the magical coronet. He stared at the Three-Headed Monster for some time in silence, knowing by the Star emblem inset beneath the central face that it was still bonded to Orogastus and would kill him if he touched it with his bare flesh. The silvery circlet that formed one part of the mighty Sceptre of Power had belonged to his mother the Queen before she surrendered it to Orogastus as ransom for her husband King Antar... and for her youngest son Tolivar as well.
But the Prince had refused to leave the sorcerer then, blinded by the great delusion that Orogastus loved him and some day would pa.s.s on to him his power.
"You lied to me," the boy whispered, strangely excited. "But I shall have power nevertheless."
He fetched the star-box, knowing full well its operation, and opened it. Inside the shallow container was a bed of metal mesh, and at one corner a group of small, flattened jewels.
Using his sword, Tolivar dropped the coronet into the box. A bright flash seemed to indicate that it had unbonded from Orogastus. One by one, the Prince pressed the colored gemstones in consecutive order, and each one lit. Finally he pressed the white jewel. There was a musical sound, and all of the tiny lights went out. The boy stared at the Three-Headed Monster, hesitating. Had the star-box done its work? Was the talisman now bonded to him? If it was not, it would very likely kill him if he touched it.
At that same moment there came rough shouts and crashing sounds from outside the door. The pirates were coming!
His hand shook as he reached into the star-box. The metal of the coronet was warm as he took it up. It did not slay him. Beneath the central carven monstrosity, where there had once been a many-rayed emblem of the Star Guild, now shone a tiny replica of Tolivar"s princely escutcheon.
"You are mine!" he marveled, and set the talisman upon his head. The loud voices were now right outside the chamber. "Make me invisible, talisman, and the star-box, too," he commanded.
It must have happened, for the door was flung open and three rogues with bloodied swords peered in, made scornful note of the dead Yellow Voice, and betook themselves elsewhere. The Prince felt a wonderful swell of confidence fill his heart.
"I will be an even greater sorcerer than you, Orogastus!" he proclaimed to the empty air. "And I"ll make you sorry you deceived me."
At that point the dream ended and the Prince"s waking nightmare began.
Tolivar! Tolivar, Prince of Laboruwenda! Do you hear me?
"No... go away." Still half-asleep, the boy pulled the rough pillow over his head and burrowed deeper into the covers of the bunkbed.
I will not go away, Tola. Not until you agree to be my ally.
"No!" Tolivar whispered. "I"m only imagining you, Orogastus. You aren"t really speaking to me. You don"t even know where I am."
That is not true. You lie abed in a Wyvilo flatboat. The boat is tied up for the night in the River Oda, not far from its confluence with the Great Mutar.
You can"t know that, the boy said to the voice in his mind.
But I do. And do you know why, Tola? Because deep in your secret heart you want me to! If you did not, your two talismans would shield you from me.
No. You"re only a dream. It"s my bad conscience conjuring you up. I feel guilty because-because I once chose you over my parents. When I hated them...
You were too young to understand what you were doing. Your hatred was not genuine. Your fatherand"motherknow that. You have long since atoned for those juvenile sins. They are of no account now, when you have very nearly reached manhood"s estate. At any rate, none of that infantile naughtiness has anything to do with my solemn pledge to you... which I am now prepared to fulfill.
I"m not interested in your lies. Let me alone!
Of course you are interested. How could you not be, since you are so very intelligent? More than anything in the world, you long to taste the full power hidden within those marvelous things you own.
Go away. Leave me in peace. Get out of my dreams. I despise you! One day I will kill you myself to expiate my sins.
Nonsense. Be honest with yourself, Tola! You know that only I can teach you the full use of the talismans. You will never learn all by yourself. Come to me in Sobrania, dear boy. Only step through the viaduct- Never! You"re trying to trick me.
No one can possibly harm the owner of the Three-Headed Monster and the Three-Lobed Burning Eye. You know that.
I don"t have them.
Yes, you do. I saw you in the stable as my Yellow Voice died. You are the only one who could have taken the coronet and the star-box. And who but their owner could have made away with the Burning Eye?
Not me. Not me...
Dear Tola, you know what your Aunt Kadiya plans to do on the morrow. Follow her! When you step through the viaduct and arrive in Sobrania, warriors of my company will be waiting to conduct you to me. There will be a joyous celebration to welcome home my long-lost adopted son and heir. You wilt be initiated at once into the Guild, just as I promised four years ago.
I-I don"t trust you.
You must. I am the only one who can help you fulfill your destiny.
No!
Tola! Come to me!
No no no!
You know you must come to me! Tola... Tola... Tola...
The Prince moaned aloud, and he felt a hand shake his shoulder. "No! Get away from me-" "Tola! Wake up, lad. It"s Aunt Kadi. You"re having a bad dream."
The Prince crept out from under the covers. His aunt was kneeling beside him in the darkness, her face faintly lit by the glowing drop of trillium-amber that hung about her neck. It was still deep night. Rain tapped on the cabin roof and the heavy breathing of the slumbering Oathed Companions, Jagun, and Ral-abun vied with the noise made by the forest creatures outside.
"I"m sorry," Tolivar whispered miserably. "The dream seemed so very real."
Kadiya kissed his forehead. "It"s gone now. Try to sleep again."
He turned away, facing the cabin wall. "I will try."
She gave him a final pat of rea.s.surance and then went back to her own pallet. The Prince lay very still until he was certain that she slept. Then he let one hand drop down from the bunk, feeling for the locked iron strongbox shoved beneath it. It was there, with his treasures still safe within.
Eyes wide open, Prince Tolivar waited for the dawn.
Chapter Fourteen.
AFTER bidding Tolivar and Ralabun farewell, Kadiya put on her hoodcloak and came out onto the deck of the flatboat into the early morning air.
It was cold and very quiet. Thick fog enveloped the water and the land, but at least the rain held off. Lummomu-Ko and Wikit-Aa were near the gangplank, a.s.sisting the five Oathed Companions to don packboards that bore sacks containing spare weapons, clothing, a few necessities, and food. Jagun had already gone ash.o.r.e to confer with the Wyvilo scouting party.
"We are nearly ready, Lady Kadiya," said Sir Bafrik. "The skipper says we must keep a keen lookout for man-eating goblet-trees and poisonous suni-bugs on the way to the viaduct."
Sir Edinar spoke up with morbid zest. "And because of the fog, there is a special danger from ravening namps, horrible creatures native only to these parts. They lurk at the bottom of cleverly concealed pits, waiting for unsuspecting prey to tumble in."
"I have heard of these namps, Edi. They are formidable, but no match for a well-armed champion such as yourself." She addressed Wikit-Aa. "How does the trail look? Do your scouts think we will be able to reach the cascades and the viaduct by midday tomorrow?"
"The way is partially inundated here in the lowlands," the flat-boat captain reported. "My men have marked a short alternate route. As the land rises to the west, the original trail will soon become clear. Barring misadventure, you should easily traverse the distance in a day and a half. But I am still worried about the possible presence of cannibal Glismak."
Kadiya touched the heraldic Eyed Trillium device emblazoned upon her milingalscale cuira.s.s. "Even here in the southern wilderness of Var, the Forest Folk will have heard of the Lady of the Eyes."
"I fear," said Wikit-Aa with portentous softness, "that they will also have heard of the thousand crowns offered by the Star Men for your capture."
Kadiya only laughed. "I shall claim from those villains a reward of my own choosing once we have successfully pa.s.sed through the viaduct."
"We will wait the five days," the skipper promised. "Lady, farewell."
She nodded to him, gave a brief embrace to Lummomu, then turned to the knights, who were waiting with ill-concealed restlessness. They wore steel helmets and full coats of mail beneath their leathern raincloaks. "Companions," she said. "It is time for us to disembark."
As they filed down the gangplank, Jagun handed out freshly cut walking-staves to everyone. He led the way into the misty jungle thicket with the men close behind. Kadiya brought up the rear, giving a final wave to Prince Tolivar, who watched from an open window of the boat"s sternhouse. In a few moments the party was lost to sight.
"Cousin, I like this not." Lummomu followed Wikit-Aa as the skipper made a tour of inspection, personally checking the bindings that held the ma.s.sive log raft together. It had begun to drizzle. "My nose has itched fiercely ever since we left the Mutar and entered this tributary stream. I should have insisted on accompanying the expedition-at least as far as the Double Cascade. I cannot escape the feeling that some great calamity impends. But whether it will strike us or the Lady of the Eyes I cannot say."
Wikit-Aa shrugged, rolling his large eyes. "Cousin, my nose itches also, but I can think of only one misfortune that threatens us at the moment, and that is losing our mooring. This left bank is too low-lying for comfort. Soon the rain will begin again, and as the Oda rises this sh.o.r.e will flood. Unless we want to risk being swept back downstream into the Great Mutar, we are going to have to move the boat across the river into yonder cove and tie her up to stouter trees. If you truly desire to fend off disaster, go up to the bow and get ready to wield a bargepole."
It took over three hours of hard labor to get the awkward craft into a more secure position. When the job was done, Lummomu-Ko joined the skipper and the rest of the crew in the forward deckhouse, where the cook served an enormous meal. After that, with the drizzle turned to a steady downpour, all of the Wyvilo settled down for a welcome nap. The Speaker had forgotten his earlier apprehensions.
He woke late in the afternoon with his nose itching worse than ever. Something prompted him to investigate the sternhouse, where Prince Tolivar and Ralabun had remained in seclusion since the departure of Kadiya"s party. To his horror, Lummomu discovered that the boy and his Nyssomu crony had both disappeared, leaving behind an open and empty iron strongbox beneath the Prince"s bunk.
"I must go after them!" the dismayed Speaker of Let said to the skipper, who had followed him aft. Both Wyvilo stood on deck in the pouring rain, staring across the channel. The expanse of swift-flowing brown water was at least fifty ells wide. "We must move the boat back to the opposite sh.o.r.e at once!"
But Wikit-Aa was more practical. "Cousin, the crew is exhausted. We could not manage it before nightfall. And once we put you ash.o.r.e, we would have no choice but to let the current carry us down to the Great Mutar, for there is no safe moorage over there now that the river has risen."
"I promised to guard Tolivar with my life! If you will not carry me across, I will swim!"
Wikit-Aa laid restraining hands on the Speaker"s shoulders. "Cousin, only stop and think! The Prince and Ralabun must have managed to slip off the boat before we cast off from the left bank. This means that they left us over six hours ago, not long after the Lady of the Eyes herself departed. In my opinion, the boy impulsively decided to accompany his aunt. It was a rash thing to do, certainly, but when the Lady"s party halts for the night the Prince will certainly catch up. You could not reach him yourself before then."
Lummomu smote his scaly brow in a fury of frustration. "d.a.m.n the boy"s foolishness! d.a.m.n that Ralabun for conniving with him instead of acting sensibly! Ah, if only I were able to bespeak Jagun and alert him!" But the Wyvilo, unlike the small Folk of the Mazy Mire, were unable to use the speech without words across any appreciable distance.
"It is futile for you to follow after," Wikit-Aa insisted.
"My honor demands that I go!"
"Logic demands that you stay."
Lummomu-Ko lifted his taloned hands to heaven and gave a great roar of fury and humiliation. But the skipper only folded his arms, shook his head, and waited for his cousin"s usual good sense to prevail. When that finally happened, the two aborigines went together into the deckhouse and helped themselves to mugs of salka from the big wicker-covered jug Turmalai Yonz had provided. The crew had long since determined that it was not poisoned.
Kadiya"s troop halted at midday beneath a huge sheltering brud-dock for a brief lunch of cheese and journey-bread, finding seats on rocks that were dry once their shroud of krip-moss was peeled away. Jagun attempted to make a fire for tea, but the air was so laden with moisture that even his skill failed to kindle a flame. They made do with cold water. A measure of good cheer was restored when the little Nyssomu spied a bush with pendant cl.u.s.ters of white berries.
"These are sifani," Jagun said with enthusiasm. "They are delicious and thirst-quenching and will be a fine dessert, even if the rest of our rations are modest."
"I like dessert best," said Sir Edinar. The boyish knight began devouring the succulent fruit with no more ado, and broke off bunches to toss to the others.
The rain had abated a little but visibility was still very poor. They had pa.s.sed out of the densely vegetated bottomlands into a more elevated region where the going was somewhat easier, if more steep. In a few places landslides had obliterated the trail, but detours were readily accomplished and they had kept up a good pace. They noticed stands of deadly goblet-trees from time to time- deceptively handsome things having fleshy trunks and a cup-shaped crown of colored leaves that concealed tentacles capable of hauling a man to his doom- but the party had encountered no venomous snakes or large predatory animals.
"I reckon that we have come nearly eight leagues," Jagun said, munching bread. "We can safely continue for another three or four hours, but then we must find a safe stopping place well off the trail, where night-prowling Glismak will not easily find us. The big rocks down along the riverside may provide shelter from the rain. Unfortunately, we dare not light a fire after dark."
"A pity," sighed Melpotis. He and Kalepo, brothers of the murdered Lord Zondain, were long-faced men having yellow beards and snapping dark eyes. "Fire would help keep wild beasts at bay."
"Our main concern must be the Glismak," Kadiya said, "and possibly marauding Star Men venturing through the viaduct. My trillium-amber will give warning if my life is in danger, so we must stay close together after dark and keep our weapons handy."
"Do you think," said Sir Bafrik uneasily, "that we will find the Double Cascade viaduct guarded by a troop of sorcerers?"
Kadiya said, "The villain Turmalai Yonz stated that the reward for me would be payable at dawn. It seems likely that the Star Men would appear only at that time each day to see whether my precious carca.s.s was on offer. If we arrive at the viaduct site around noon, as I have planned, we may very well find it deserted. Certainly we will do a careful reconnoiter before approaching."
"Surely, said Bafrik, "we would be wise to wait until dark before actually entering the viaduct."
"If the pa.s.sage leads straight into the den of Orogastus," said big Sainlat dourly, "it will not matter whether we pa.s.s through in daylight or night. We will be forced to fight for our lives."
"I"m ready for anything!" young Edinar declared, wiping sifani juice from his mouth. Kalepo and Melpotis also expressed their eagerness for combat.
But Kadiya said, "I must dash your bloodthirsty hopes, Companions, at least for the short term. When we reach the viaduct, I will go through first, and alone."
Immediately the men began to exclaim, "Nay!" But she forged on.