Vale of the Vole (10 page)

Esk found himself flustered by the compliment. Centaurs were notoriously distrustful of the judgment of others.

Chex closed her eyes while Esk mounted. Then he directed her toward the path. "Straight ahead—no, slightly to your right," he said.

"That's too clumsy," she said. "Just gesture with your knees."

"My knees?"

"Press with the one on the side you wish me to turn from. That's much more efficient."

"Oh." He tried it, and sure enough, she moved quickly in response. In a moment he was directing her wordlessly.

He guided her onto the path, and the path held. It was, indeed, the walker's vision that determined it; as long as she kept her eyes closed, her footing was firm. When she drifted toward one side or the other, he kneed her gently, and she moved immediately back to the center. The lake monster eyed them, but did not approach; the path was indeed enchanted. The trip across was surprisingly easy.

"Well," Chex said as they arrived at the far side. "That is indeed a relief."

Esk dismounted, and they walked on along the path, their spirits restored. Perhaps at Castle Roogna they would discover the answer to the Good Magician's strange disappearance.

But as they drew closer to the castle, Chex became increasingly nervous. "Is something wrong?" Esk finally inquired.

She sighed. "I'm not sure. It is a personal matter."

"Oh. Not my business, then."

"Perhaps it is your business, because it may affect your reception, and Volney's"

The vole's little ears perked up. "There iv trouble at Roogna?"

"In a way. I shall have to rehearse some history to make it clear."

Esk shrugged. "We'll listen." He was more curious than he cared to admit; what could bother a creature who was completely open about natural functions?

"I am, as you have noted, a crossbreed," she said.

"So am I," Esk reminded her. "We might even have a common human ancestor somewhere way back."

She smiled briefly. "We might. But the centaur species, whatever its origin, considers itself a pure stock, and does not look kindly on adulteration."

"Oho! So they may not like you much!"

"Some may not," she agreed wanly. "Unfortunately, the ones who may look least kindly on my mixed ancestry are my grandsire and grandam on the centaur side."

"Your grandparents don't know?" Esk asked, surprised.

"My dam, Chem Centaur, did not find a mate of her own species. Centaurs are not common beyond Centaur Isle, so this problem can arise.

She—associated with a hippogryph. This is why I have wings. But because she was aware that such a liaison might not be approved, she did not inform her sire and dam of the matter. Only her brother, Chet, with whom she was closer. Thus, to the indiscretion of the liaison was added that of deceiving her sire and dam. Such things are not necessarily light matters, with centaurs."

"But it really was her own business, wasn't it?" Esk asked. "I mean, she wasn't under any obligation to report to her parents, was she?"

"That was Chem's conclusion," Chex agreed. "It is possible that other centaurs might disagree."

"And your—grandparents—are at Castle Roogna," Esk concluded, getting the picture.

"I believe that they are."

"And when they see you, with your wings—"

"I am uncertain of the nature of their reaction."

"Maybe you can wait in the forest, while Volney and I go on in."

She sighed. "No, thank you, Esk. I believe it is time to face the melody."

"If that is the way you want it."

"I believe it is the way it must be. I do not like deception, and to the extent that my very existence represents a deception, I owe it to myself to eliminate it."

"I suppose that makes sense," Esk said. Centaurs were known to have an impervious sense of ethics, which had both advantages and disadvantages for others who dealt with them.

They moved well, encountering no more dragons; it seemed that the little smokers had finally gotten wherever they were going and left the path. As night approached, they judged that they were near Castle Roogna.

They set up an overnight watch system as before, not quite trusting the safety of the path. Nothing happened, and in the morning they feasted on fruits and tubers and resumed walking.

There was the sound of hooves ahead. "That's a centaur!" Chex exclaimed. "Oh, I'm nervous!"

Esk could understand her feeling. He was nervous too, but for a diflFer-ent reason; he had never been to Castle Roogna, and wasn't certain how the King would feel about a human-ogre crossbreed. Of course he was only bringing a message, at this point, about the absence of the Good Magician; still, he worried. Volney Vole did not look any more comfortable.

They drew to the sides of the path, so as to let the centaur pass if it had

a mind to. But now Volney was sniffing the low-lying air nervously. "Ventaur—and dragon," he announced.

Chex immediately unslung her bow and nocked an arrow, and Esk moved to stand before the vole, so that he could say no if the dragon attacked.

"And human," Volney added.

A party of three—centaur, dragon, and human? How strange! Then he realized that their own party of centaur, vole, and human (approximately) was equivalently strange.

The centaur came into sight. It was a stout male, with a little girl on his back. A truly formidable dragon whomped along behind. Esk's nervousness increased; this could be a great deal of trouble!

"Uncle Chet!" Chex exclaimed, delighted.

The centaur slowed, startled. "Graywing!" he exclaimed.

"He calls me that," she murmured, flushing slightly with pleasure. "He doesn't mind my—"

"Who?" the little girl asked, as Chet stopped before them, and the dragon whomped to a halt behind, puffing steam.

"I'll introduce ours, and you introduce yours," Chet said briskly. "I am Chet Centaur, foaled of Chester and Cherie Centaur; this is Ivy Human, daughter of King Dor and Queen Irene; and beyond is Stanley Steamer, formerly known as the Gap Dragon."

Esk almost swallowed his tongue. The daughter of the King, and the Gap Dragon?

But Chex was doing her side of the introduction. "I am Chex Centaur, filly of Chem Centaur and Xap Hippogryph; this is Esk Human, son of Smash Ogre and Tandy Nymph; and this is Volney Vole from the Kiss-Mee River Valley, otherwise known as the Vale of the Vole."

"The Kiss-Mee River!" Ivy exclaimed excitedly. "I'd love to visit that!" She seemed to be ten or eleven years old, pretty in an elfin way, with very little green hair and eyes to match. "Is it really true that anyone who touches its waters gets so affectionate she just has to kiss the first person she meets?"

"Not anymore," Volney said grimly. "It hav been ruined by the demonv. Now it iv called the Kill-Mee River, and anyone who touchev it feelv like killing hiv neighbor."

"Say, Volney, do you have trouble with your—" Ivy started.

"We three met on the way to the Good Magician's castle," Chex explained quickly. "We all have Questions, but the Magician wasn't there, so—"

"Why, we were just on our way to see Magician Humfrey ourselves,"

Chet said. "He hasn't been answering his mirror, so we decided to go and see if there was any problem."

"Perhaps we should find a place to settle more comfortably, so we can compare notes," Chex said. "We seem to have much to discuss."

"Evidently so, cute niece," Chet said. He eyed her up and down. "You have filled out nicely since I saw you last."

"I've been exercising to develop my pectoral muscles, but it hasn't enabled me to fly."

"I can fix that!" Ivy exclaimed. "Let me ride you instead of Chet, and—"

"Wait, Ivy," the male centaur said. "First let's get to a better place, as she suggested. Then we can discuss everything, and try everything, without blocking traffic."

Traffic! Esk almost laughed. There was no other traffic on this path.

"Tangleman's close by," Ivy said. "He has a nice glade."

"Who?" Chex asked.

"Tangleman. He's a tangle tree."

"A tangle tree!"

"But don't worry," the child continued brightly. "He's reformed since Grandpa Trent turned him into a jolly green giant."

They made their way to Tangleman's grove. They had to cut through the jungle, but the dragon whomped ahead; any potential predators vacated the region in a hurry. The two centaurs walked side by side, and Esk and Volney brought up the rear.

Tangleman's glade was indeed nice, maintained as only the tangle trees knew how. Tangleman himself was a huge green man with writhing tentacles for hair and barklike clothing. He looked formidable indeed, but grinned broadly when he saw Ivy and her party. Obviously they had maintained cordial relations for years.

There was another round of introductions. Then Stanley and Tangleman settled down to a game of Dumpings and Dragons, which looked more like a battle than a friendly contest, but since Ivy wasn't concerned, the others weren't.

They compared notes and details. "So nobody remains in the Good Magician's castle," Chet said, perplexed. "We wondered, when we couldn't get through. But sometimes those mirrors get perverse, so we decided to check. Ivy likes to visit Hugo and the Gorgon anyway, and Stanley has a thing with the moat monster, so—"

"The moat monster's gone too," Chet said. "All the creatures have been released."

"That is very strange," Chet said. "The Good Magician can be taci-

turn, but he takes good care of his environs, and he almost never lets a creature go before its term of service is done. It's as though they have moved out permanently."

"Yes—but on very short notice," she said. "Things were interrupted in progress."

"We shall have to tell King Dor of this," Chet said. "But it will have to wait a few days, because he and Queen Irene are away on business, up at the Water Wing. We were going to take a few days for the trip, but there doesn't seem to be much point, now."

"Don't you want to verify what we have told you?" Esk asked.

"Verify a centaur's report? Whatever for?"

Chex smiled. "He has not had much contact with centaurs, Uncle."

"Oh." Chet turned to Esk. "A centaur's accuracy of observation is perfect, and a centaur's word is inviolate. It would be a waste of time to recheck my niece's findings; they represent the same information I would obtain."

"Oh. Then I guess we can go on to Castle Roogna," Esk said, out of sorts. He had known about centaur accuracy, but as usual hadn't been thinking clearly. Sometimes he regretted his ogreish descent.

"That, too, is pointless, until the King returns," he said.

"You mean we should just wait here?" Esk asked.

"Of course not," Chet said. "That would be wasting time."

"Then—?"

Chex laughed. "We shall simply have to find something else to do for a few days," she said.

"Let's figure out where Magician Humfrey is," Ivy said brightly. "Then we can tell my father where to find him."

"You have a map that locates lost magicians?" Chet inquired wryly.

"Well, no, not exactly. But I know who does: Chem. She has maps for everything!"

"My dam!" Chex exclaimed. "I haven't seen her in a year!"

"And my sibling," Chet said. "It has been longer than that, for me. She doesn't come around Castle Roogna often, now."

"Because of me," Chex said, casting down her gaze.

"Because our dam is just a bit conservative," Chet said. "I believe it is time to face that issue directly."

'That was my conclusion," Chex said.

"Of course. That gives us two reasons to go to see Chem."

"But we need three."

"Three?" Ivy asked.

"Centaurs need three reasons for doing things," Esk told her. He felt a

mild and foolish gratification at this chance to show that he did know a bit about the breed.

The child considered. "That's right; I'd forgotten. We were going to Magician Humfrey's castle because he didn't answer his mirror, and I wanted to share another punwheel cookie with the Gorgon, and Stanley wanted to wrestle the moat monster. Three reasons. Now we know Humfrey's gone, so we don't have three reasons anymore."

"Where iv the mapmaking centaur?" Volney asked.

"Oh, she's doing a detail map of the Gap Chasm," Chet said. "It is very convoluted."

"Stanley needs to see the Gap Chasm!" Ivy exclaimed. "He's going to take it over again any year now, so he needs to keep updated."

Chet nodded. "That is true."

"And that's three!" she cried jubilantly. " 'Cause Chem's at the Gap Chasm!"

"She does have a point, Uncle," Chex said, smiling. "We need a map, and to fetch my dam, and to take the dragon to the Gap Chasm."

"So it seems," he agreed.

"And we can learn all 'bout each other on the way!" Ivy said. "Oh, this is fun!"