Tales of the Dying Earth (107 page)

Rhialto turned his attention to Osherl. "Yesterday I thought to locate the Perciplex near that tall button-top. Now there is work to be done!"

"By me, no doubt," gloomed Osherl.

"Had you been faithful, the work would have been done, we would be at Boumergarth arranging Hache-Moncour's well-earned penalties; you would have earned probably two points, instead of being fined three: a difference of five indenture points!"

"It is a tragedy over which I, alas! have little control!"

Rhialto ignored the implicit insolence. "So then: shoulders to the wheel! A scrupulous search must be made!"

"And I must work alone? The task is large."

"Exactly so. Range around the forest and assemble here, in order and discipline, all bogadils, ursial lopers, manks and flantics, and any other creatures of sentience."

Osherl licked the ropy lips of his shop-keeper face. 'Do you include the anthropophages?"

"Why not? Let tolerance rule our conduct! But first, elevate the pavilion upon a pedestal twenty feet high so that we need not be subjected to the crush. Instruct all these creatures to civil conduct."

In due course Osherl assembled the specified creatures before the pavilion. Stepping forward, Rhialto addressed the group: remarks which his glossolary, working at speed, rendered into terms of general comprehension.

"Creatures, men, half-men and things! I extend to you my good wishes, and my deep sympathy that you are forced to live so intimately in the company of each other.

"Since your intellects are, in the main, of no great complexity, I will be terse. Somewhere in the forest, not too far from yonder tall button-top, is a blue crystal, thus and so, which I wish to possess. All of you are now ordered to search for this crystal. He who finds it and brings it here will be greatly rewarded. To stimulate zeal and expedite the search, I now visit upon each of you a burning sensation, which will be repeated at ever shorter intervals until the blue crystal is in my possession. Search everywhere: in the rubbish, among the forest detritus, in the branches and foliage. The anthropophages originally tied this crystal to the person of someone present, so let that be a clue. Each should search his memory and go to the spot where he might have discarded or scraped off the object. Go now to the button-top tree, which will be the center of your effort. Search well, since the pangs will only intensify until I hold the blue crystal in my hand. Osherl, inflict the first pang, if you will."

The creatures cried out in pain and departed on the run.

Only moments passed before an ursial loper returned with a fragment of blue porcelain, and demanded the reward. Rhialto bestowed upon him a collar woven of red feathers and sent him out once again.

During the morning a variety of blue objects were laid hopefully before Rhialto, who rejected all and increased both the frequency and force of the stimulating pangs.

Somewhat before noon Rhialto noticed unusual conduct on the part of Osherl, and instantly made inquiry: "Well then, Osherl: what now?"

Osherl said stiffly: "It is actually none of my affair, but if I kept my own counsel, you would never let me hear the end of it. There might even be spiteful talk of indenture points—"

Rhialto cried: "What do you have to tell me?"

"It is in connection with the Perciplex, and since you have made certain efforts to secure this crystal—"

"Osherl, I command you! Get to the point! What of the Perciplex?"

"To make a long story short, I tend to believe that it has been discovered by a flantic
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, who at first thought to bring it to you, and then was diverted by a counter-offer from someone who shall go nameless, but the flantic now swoops here and there in indecision. . . . There! See him now! He is coming in this direction. The Perciplex is clutched in his dextral claw. ... No! He wavers. ... He has changed his mind; no doubt he has heard more persuasive terms."

"Quick then! After him! Strike him with pervulsions! Turn him back, or wrest away the Perciplex! Osherl, will you make haste?"

Osherl stood back. "This is a matter between you and Hache-Moncour; I am not allowed to enter such contests, and here Ildefonse will support me."

Rhialto roared furious curses. 'Then come; I will chase down the creature! He will learn more of sorrow than even he cares to know! Put a full charge of speed into my air-boots!"

Rhialto sprang into the air and ran on great lunging strides after the flapping black flantic, which, swinging its gray head about and observing Rhialto, only flew the faster.

The chase led to the south and west: over a range of mountains and a forest of ocher and gray palmatics, then across a swamp of slime-puddles, trickling watercourses and tufts of black rushes. In the distance the Santune Sea reflected a leaden gleam from the overcast.

The flantic began to tire; its wings beat down with ever less force, and Rhialto, leaping across chasms of air, began to overtake the creature.

With the sea below and no haven in sight, the flantic turned suddenly to attack Rhialto with claws and battering wings, and Rhialto was almost taken unawares. He dodged the furious lunge, but by so close a margin that the wingedge struck his shoulder. He reeled and toppled; the flantic dived upon him, but Rhialto desperately twisted away. Osherl, standing to the side, uttered a compliment: "You are more agile than I expected. That was a deft contortion."

Rhialto jerked aside a third time, and the flantic's claws tore his cloak and sent Rhialto whirling away. He managed to scream a spell of effectiveness and threw a handful of Blue Havoc toward the swooping hulk, and the dazzling slivers penetrated the torso and slashed holes in the wings. The flantic threw back its head and vented a scream of fear and agony. "Manling, you have killed me; you have taken my one precious life, and I have no other! I curse you and I take your blue crystal with me where you can never recover it: to the Kingdom of Death!"

The flantic became a limp tangle of arms, wings, torso and long awkward neck, and toppled into the sea, where it sank quickly from sight.

Rhialto cried out in vexation. "Osherl! Down with you; into the sea! Recover the Perciplex!"

Osherl descended to look diffidently into the water. "Where did the creature fall?"

"Precisely where you stand. Dive deep, Osherl; it is by your negligence that we are here today."

Osherl hissed between his teeth and lowered a special member into the water. Presently he said: "There is nothing to be found. The bottom is deep and dark. I discover only slime."

"I will hear no excuses!" cried Rhialto. "Dive and grope, and do not show yourself until you have found the Perciplex!"

Osherl uttered a hollow moan and disappeared below the surface. At last he returned.

Rhialto cried: "You have retrieved it? Give it to me, at once!"

"All is not so simple," stated Osherl. "The gem is lost in slime. It shows no radiance, and it has no resonance. In short, the Perciplex must be considered lost."

"I am more sanguine than you," said Rhialto. "Anchor yourself on this site, and on no account allow either Hache-Moncour or Sarsem to interfere. I will consult with you shortly."

"Make haste," called Osherl. "The water is deep, dark and cold, and unknown creatures toy with my member."

"Be patient! Most important: do not shift your position by so much as an inch; since you are now like a buoy marking the location of the Perciplex."

Rhialto returned to the pavilion beside the ruins of Luid Shug. He terminated the search and allowed the stimulations to lapse, to the relief of the company.

Rhialto flung himself wearily into a chair and gave his attention to Shalukhe, the Paragon of Vasques Tohor, where she sat pensively on the couch. She had recovered much of her self-possession, and watched Rhialto with eyes dark and brooding. Rhialto thought: "She has had time to reflect on her plight. She sees nothing optimistic in her future."

Rhialto spoke aloud: "Our first concern is to leave this dismal place forever. And then—"

"And then?"

"We will study the options open to you. They are not entirely cheerless, as you will presently learn."

Shalukhe gave her head a shake of perplexity. "Why do you trouble yourself for me? I have no wealth; my status is now gone. I have few skills and no great diligence. I can climb hyllas trees for pods and squeeze hyssop; I can recite the Naughty Girls' Dream of Impropriety; these are skills of specialized value. Still—" she shrugged and smiled "—we are strangers and you owe me not even caste-duty."

Rhialto, happy in the absence of Osherl's cynical gaze, went to sit beside her. He took her hands in his. "Would you not rescue a helpless civilized person from a cannibal's cutting-table if you were able?"

"Yes, naturally."

"I did the same. Then, with so much accomplished, I became aware of you as a person, or rather, a combination of persons: first a lost and forlorn waif; then as Shalukhe the Swimmer, a maiden of remarkable charm and urgent physical attributes. This combination, for a vain and pompous person like myself, exerts an irresistible appeal. Still, as a man of perhaps inordinate self-esteem, I would not think it proper to intrude unwelcome intimacies upon you; so, whatever your fears in this regard, you may put them aside. I am first and last a gentleman of honour."

Shalukhe the Swimmer's mouth twitched at the corners. "And also a master of extravagant sentiments, some of which perhaps I should not take seriously."

Rhialto rose to his feet. "My dear young lady, here you must trust to the accuracy of your instincts. Still, you may look to me for both comfort and protection, and whatever may be your other needs."

Shalukhe laughed. "At the very least, Rhialto, you are able to amuse me."

Rhialto sighed and turned away. "Now we must go off to deal with Osherl. I suspect that he is acting in concert with my enemies, if only passively. This of course is intolerable. We will now fly this pavilion south, across the Mag Mountains, over the Santune Sea, to where Osherl has stationed himself. There we will make further plans."

Rhialto uttered a cantrap of material transfer, to convey the pavilion across the land and over the sea to where the flantic had sunk beneath the waves. Osherl, for the sake of convenience, had assumed the form of a buoy, painted red and black to conform with maritime regulations. A human head wrought in iron protruded from the top, with a navigation light above.