Part 13 (2/2)

”Thou dost be Adept,” Icebeard reminded him. ”Canst do magic we wot not, an we oppose thee not.”

”Aye-but an I invoke it, the traitor Purple be on my tail. I can risk but small spells.”

”Illusion be but small.”

Flach gazed at him, catching on. ”Make myself seem older? Maybe twice mine age o' nine?”

Icebeard nodded. ”My cub be twenty. That be close enough. She will show the way. An a guard show interest in her, do thou step between.”

Flach was daunted. ”I know not if I-”

”Do thou fas.h.i.+on a seeming o' robust strength and brief temper. That, plus mine orders, suffice.”

Maybe it would. Flach realized that it would have to be risked, if he was to get to the Pole. ”I will try. Chief.”

”Mayhap soon I find suitable match for her. But an she fall for a mere guard, that be complicated.”

Flach could appreciate that. Each group had its own conventions about romance and marriage, and violation of them could be perilous. Flach knew the wolf conventions, and was catching on to the human ones, thanks to Nepe's information. Icebeard wanted his daughter emotionally uncommitted until there was a good marriage lined up for her. Naturally there was no worry about a relations.h.i.+p with a warm-bodied man; any closeness would freeze him or melt her. There was even less concern about a nine-year-old child. The chief might be taking advantage of Flach's mission to keep his daughter safely out of temptation until he completed his arrangements for her.

This could be good for Flach, too. Any demon help would be good, but because Icebeard valued his daughter, these would be picked guards, able to handle just about any threat. That, plus Flach's minor magic, should get them through in good order.

”Methinks it will take thee a day to get the party organized,” Flach said. ”I be tired from my trek here-”

”Didst not conjure thyself close?”

”Nay. that be strong magic. I came by land, running day and night and day.”

Icebeard snapped his icy fingers, and a demon female appeared. She was stooped, and her hair was a curtain of icicles, but she was human rather than beastly in general configuration. ”Take him to a secure chamber and watch him sleep,” the chief told her.

The woman walked to Flach. picked him up, and carried him out of the room. She was taking the order literally, and taking him as she would a block of ice. He had to do a quick spot spell to prevent their contact from doing each harm.

She bore him to a bubble of air deep in the glacier and dumped him down on a bed of snow. Again he did spot magic to make the interface proper: now the snow seemed like warm feathers, and did not melt under him. He stretched out, ready to sleep for twelve hours.

The demoness stood there, gazing down at him. Time pa.s.sed, and she did not move. Then he realized what it was: she was watching him sleep, literally.

So be it. He would surely be safe, this way. He closed his eyes and slept.

Next day, refreshed, he conjured some bread to eat, found a crevice for natural functions, and went to see what had developed in the interim.

Icebeard had been busy. A troop of ten stout snow demons had been a.s.sembled, and a similar number of demon dogs, also made of ice. Several were to be harnessed to a sled, and the others would range out around the group, guarding it. They were to travel in style.

”Adept!”

He turned. It was a pet.i.te young demoness, not greatly taller than himself. He was surprised; he had thought all demons, of any type, were ugly, hideous, or grotesque, but she was a perfect figure of a woman molded from ice. ”Aye,” he said.

”I be Icedora, but thou mayst call me Icy,” she said, her voice like the crystalline tinkle of gla.s.s dangles. ”That be spelled with a c, not a k, for I be not Iky!”

”I can see that,” he said, awed even at his age in the spectacle of her frozen splendor.

”We be traveling together, methinks.”

Icebeard's daughter! He realized he shouldn't have been surprised. The demon chief had said she was twenty, which was adult, and that he was trying to set up her marriage, but he had neglected to say she was beautiful by any standard. ”Aye,” he said after a moment. ”I be Flach.”

”I met thy dam, the 'corn,” she said. ”I were but thine age then, but she were beautiful.”

Flach hesitated, not knowing the appropriate response. ley's the same! Nepe prompted him.

”No more so than thee,” Flach said.

Icy smiled, and that confirmed the compliment, for her smile made her seem almost warm. ”Methinks we shall get along well enough,” she said.

Told you! Nepe put in. Way to a woman's heart is flattery.

So it seemed. He would try to remember that, for the time when it might count for him. ”That should be nice. Who rides the sled?”

”Thou-and I. So we had better get along well!”

”Aye.” He looked around, to make sure that no other demons were listening. ”Thy father says I must pretend to be older, so I will make a spell o' illusion. But thou must remember I be but a child.”

”Aye. But thou dost be distressingly hot. Canst make thyself comfortably cool?”

”Aye. I will seem cold, but will not be cold. I will not melt thee, and thou willst not freeze me.”

”I be glad o' that!” she said, laughing. ”We folk a.s.sociate not much with thy folk, because o' their oppressive heat. An they e'er change their ways, all will be cool.”

”Aye,” he agreed, not caring to argue the point.

On the following day they started off. Flach had generated an illusion that doubled his age, so that he looked and sounded eighteen instead of nine. He seemed larger and heavier, but he retained the strength and mind of his true age. His image moved exactly as he did, magnified appropriately. He was rather proud of the spell; he had never done this before.

Icebeard looked him over and cracked a slow smile. ”An that not fade in thy sleep, it be suitable.”

”It will remain till I counter it,” Flach a.s.sured him. ”My spells fade slow. But an I have to do a man's work, I needs must use magic to amplify my strength.”

”Nonesuch be required. The story be this: my daughter has a mission to the Pole, and thou too, to help her complete it. Thou willst tell her what needs must be done, and she will tell the guards. The dogs not will attack thee.” He paused, then lowered his voice. ”Canst tell me what thy business be at the Pole?”

”I know it not, only that I must go,” Flach said, appreciating why he had not been told. He could not blab the secret to anyone. ”I hope to discover why when I get there. Then mayhap it will be known to all.”

”Mayhap,” the demon chief agreed, disappointed. ”Come, needs must I introduce thee to my cub, lest she mistake thee for other.”

”I met her yesterday,” Flach said.

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