Part 4 (2/2)
Breanna approached the door and touched the brightly polished bra.s.s doork.n.o.b. ”King Xeth,” she called. ”Queen Zyzzvya-may we speak with you?”
The door opened and an attractive human woman stood there. No, Sim realized after an instant as his sharp bird's eyes caught the detail. She was a zombie, a very fresh one, with no rot showing. She must have been zombied within hours after death. She was proof of Breanna's statement about the variability of the type. She wore a sword, and was evidently an amazon woman. ”Why, h.e.l.lo, Breanna. What is your concern?”
”We need to find the Six Rings of Xanth, and only the zombies know where they are, but the folk around the castle don't seem to know. I thought you and Xeth might be able to help us.”
”I can help you with one, if you truly have a need-to-know,” Zyzzvya said.
A very-well-preserved male zombie wearing a crown appeared behind her. This was King Xeth. ”And I can help you with another,” he said. He glanced at his wife in surprise. ”But I did not know you had a Ring.”
”I did not know you did, dear,” she replied.
”I have always known; my mother taught me when I was young. But you have not been a zombie very long.”
”Just long enough to meet you, dear.” She turned back to Breanna and the others. ”But this is not good protocol; we must properly entertain our visitors.”
”My wife has military discipline,” Xeth told the group. ”She was a warrior in life. She has some excellent zombied pickles, and sourbread with sour cream spread.” He spoke with a barely noticeable lisp; his tongue evidently had a trace of rot.
”We have no need of entertainment,” Sim squawked quickly. He regarded himself as reasonably tolerant, but somehow zombie food did not appeal. ”We wish to locate the Rings as soon as possible.” Then Breanna speared him with a dark glance. He had just violated his resolution! ”But perhaps a beakful to eat would be good.”
Zyzzyva brought out a plate of appetizers, and they all tried them. They turned out to be quite good.
”The location of each Ring is known to but a single zombie,” Xeth said. ”No one knows who that is. But I can find the zombies in a few hours. I will send out messengers to question every zombie, and to summon the Ringers here.”
”A few hours!” Breanna exclaimed, evidently appalled by the delay. But in half a moment she caught herself. ”Of course, and thank you, King Xeth. Meanwhile, will you and Zyzzvya be able to help us with the first two?”
”As soon as we complete the directives to the messengers,” the king agreed. ”We should be able to start tomorrow.”
”Tomorrow!” But again she stifled herself; she had had enough experience with zombies to know they couldn't be rushed. ”Of course. Thank you so much.”
Xeth nodded graciously. ”I will commence the summoning now.”
The living group walked back to Castle Zombie. ”Maybe we can get it done in the morning, and have the wedding in the afternoon,” Breanna said. ”You must all come, of course. Meanwhile, you must stay the night with us; Castle Zombie has excellent facilities, believe it or not.”
”We are sure of it,” Che agreed politely. And of course they were; Sim knew that Millie the Ghost took perfect care of the castle, and the human section was completely human. The zombies hardly needed shelter, and were satisfied to snooze in shallow graves when not active.
Still, Sim might have preferred some other practice mission, if he thought about it. He made sure not to think about it while in the black girl's presence, however.
CHAPTER 3: RING OF FIRE.
King Xeth was as good as his kingly word: In the morning the four other zombies were there, ready to guide their charges to the general vicinity of the Rings. Breanna saw the others pairing off with their zombies; they would split up to search out all the Rings simultaneously, saving time, so as to get this ch.o.r.e done in a couple of hours. That would leave the afternoon free for the wedding.
She also saw Roxanne Roc, still waiting patiently for Sim to finish his business here. She walked over to the huge bird. ”We each have to go with a Zombie to find a Ring of Xanth,” she said. ”Sim too. I don't think you should try to help him in this; it's his training mission. Why don't you check with him, and then take a few hours off? I'm sure you deserve a rest.”
Roxanne nodded. She sent a glance into the throng, neatly catching Sim's eye. Then she nodded again, turned gracefully around, spread her wings, and took off. She was a good governess, knowing when to let the line slacken.
”Let's do it,” Breanna said to Xeth, satisfied.
The king nodded and set off down a path. Breanna paced him. ”It's funny how things have changed in three years,” she said. ”The first time we met, I fled you; now I like you just fine.”
”Yes,” he agreed. Zombies were not much for conversation, even well-preserved ones like him. His brain was perfectly good, and he could speak with only the slightest slurring, but he had never developed the habit of dialogue.
”You found me lying in the Pavilion of Love, and kissed me awake, and wanted to marry me. But I didn't want anything to do with a zombie. Isn't that hilarious, considering that I'm about to become the Zombie Mistress?”
”Yes.” He could also speak at some length, when it was expedient, with good organization of thoughts, but seldom found it necessary.
”And it was all my mistake,” she continued. ”I thought it was just a vacant bed for anyone to use. You were perfectly within your rights to a.s.sume that I was looking for a prince or king to marry. You couldn't understand why I didn't follow through.”
”Yes.”
”Fully living folk can be prejudiced in various ways, and I was prejudiced against zombies. Until I heard myself talking about them exactly the way I'd heard others in Mundania talk about blacks.” She looked down at her brown arm. ”That they're all right in their place, but I wouldn't want to marry one.”
”Yes.”
”Of course I still wouldn't marry a zombie, or any other kind of creature. Justin Tree is the only one I want to marry, and I made him change to young human man form for that. But meanwhile you did marry Zyzzyva, so you are happy.”
”Yes.”
”Any luck summoning the stork?” This query might be considered out of order among fully living folk, but zombies didn't mind direct questions; in fact, they preferred them, as being less confusing.
”Storks are slow to answer zombies.”
”Well, keep trying, and you'll get there. I understand that the Demoness Metria summoned the stork more than seven hundred and fifty times before getting its attention.”
”Yes.”
A swirl of smoke formed. ”Did I hear my cognomen?”
”Your what?”
”Appellation, designation, patronymic, personage, identification-”
”Name?”
”Whatever,” the cloud agreed crossly.
”It was just an incidental reference. We were talking about storks.”
”Bothersome birds.” The cloud formed the semblance of a stork as it faded.
Breanna was relieved. The demoness was usually more mischief than she was worth.
They pa.s.sed a boy looking at a stone. ”Oh, are you a rock collector?” Breanna asked.
”No, I'm using my talent,” the boy said. ”I can see the future of any object. The trouble is, most objects never have more future than they have past. So I keep checking, hoping to find a really interesting one.” He dropped the stone.
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