Part 16 (1/2)
”Gateway Castle is welcome,” Esk said shortly, his ability exhausted.
He had some spare time, so he took a tour of the castle. The servant wench was happy to guide him. The castle was entirely underwater, with windows that showed the fish swimming by, and in its center was a ma.s.sive gla.s.s wall that circled a depression in the water. In fact, this was a whirlpool that spun its way savagely down to unseen regions beneath the bottom of the lake.
”But where does it go?” Esk asked.
”No one knows,” the girl said. That was it; not only did she not know, she was not curious. Apparently that quality had been largely bred out of the curse fiends.
The woman was waiting for him at the dock. She was ancient. Her body was stooped and ugly, her hair stringy and gray, her skin so wrinkled that it almost buried her features. ”Well, let's get going, youngster,” she snapped.
”Uh, do you know what I asked for?”
”No. Does it matter?”
Esk sighed. Perhaps it didn't. She was unlikely to be of much use regardless.
They climbed down into the boat and took seats. Soon a bevy of girls joined them, their legs flas.h.i.+ng prettily as they descended the ladder. ”Say, it's Esk!” one exclaimed.
”And Crone Latia,” another added with distaste.
”Don't let it bother you, wench,” the old woman snapped. ”I'm leaving Gateway.”
”Oh.” The girl was disconcerted. ”Well, good luck, I guess.*'
”Don't be facetious.”
That dampened things, and they rode in silence as the cable hauled the boat to the outer pier. Then the girls climbed out and headed off to their harvesting duties of the day, and Esk and Latia started on the way to Castle Roogna.
”I have two pills,” Esk said. ”They will enable us to travel without much resistance, so that we can cover the distance in a single day.”
”Hrnph,” she remarked. ”I'll believe it when I see it.”
So he gave her a pill, and took the last one himself, and she believed. They traveled rapidly northwest, but she was old, and unable to move as rapidly as he could, so they did not get the whole way after all. Esk tried to hurry her along, knowing that their trek on the following day would be much slower; he wanted to cover as much as possible while it was easy. But she would not be hurried, and when the evening came they were still some distance from Castle Roogna.
They stopped at a suitable glade near a spring, making camp. Latia mellowed some, now that they were well clear of the home of the curse fiends. ”Do you know why they a.s.signed me to go with you?” she asked.
”No. I admit to being curious.”
”It's because they wanted to get rid of me anyway, and they believe that I am unlikely to return from such a wild mission.” She glanced sidelong at him. ”What is the mission?”
”To get rid of the demons, so that the Kiss-Mee River can be made curvy again, so that the Vale of the Vole will be nice.”
She snorted. ”That figures. Mortals can't do anything about demons.”
”Unless they get the right talisman and spell and diagram and contract.”
”Those are known only to the Good Magician, who is as grumpy as I am. And they don't necessarily work as advertised.”
”I know. I saw the play.”
”Well, I'll try to help you, because that's what I'm here for, but I am obliged to advise you of the risk.”
”The risk?” Esk asked.
”You know how we curse fiends all have the same talent? That of cursing?”
”Yes. I haven't actually seen it in action, but I understand it can be pretty bad. My grandmother was a curse fiend.”
”She was?” The old woman showed greater interest ”What was her name?”
”I don't know her curse fiend name. She married my grandfather, an ogre.”
”Oh, that one! I remember her. A fine actress, but impatient with convention.”
”You knew her?” Esk asked, amazed.
”Of course I knew her! How young do you think I am? I'm glad she managed to make a good life for herself.”
”You consider marrying an ogre good?”
”Certainly. Ogres have their points.”
Esk was getting to like this woman better. ”So you don't look down at me because I'm the grandson of an ogre?”
”Not if you don't look down on me because of my defective talent.”
”Defective talent?”
”I was about to tell you my liability. My curses have become erratic. One in three turns out to be a blessing.”
Esk laughed. ”A blessing! What's wrong with that?”
”It interferes with a regular existence. Once when we were stunning a marauding dragon, and combined to hit it with the strongest possible curse, my blessing played havoc with the curses, and the dragon not only survived, it got stronger. We were lucky we were close to the pier, so that we could escape underwater.”
”Oh. I can see how that would be a problem.”
”So if something attacks, and I curse it, that may only make the situation worse. Of course, the malfunction is fairly regular; my last two efforts were good strong curses, so I have refrained for six months from making another. The Magistrate was aware of that, and eager to get me away from Gateway.”
”Smart of him,” Esk said cynically. ”Maybe you can bless us and make the rest of our journey easy.”
”I can't curse or bless myself, only others.”
”Well, maybe you should curse me, then, and if as you say it is really a blessing-”
”That would be dragon roulette,” she said. ”I can't be absolutely sure it's a blessing; it is merely a strong probability. Whatever it is, it will be extremely powerful, because of the acc.u.mulated backlog.”
But now Esk was thoroughly intrigued. ”I'll risk it. Curse me.”