Part 81 (1/2)

Growch led us across the waste ground, littered with rubbish and odds and ends, and through the scrub to a path between the trees, now faintly illuminated by a quarter moon.

”Down 'ere a bit. You'll 'ear 'im afore you sees 'im, more'n like.”

I had thought it was the moaning of the wind in the trees, but it was a voice, made clear and stark by the ring on my finger, throbbing once more in time with my heart.

”Oh me, oh my, how miserable I be! How I hurts, how I stings! How dark is the world, how drear . . . I be hungry, I be wet, I be cold! I long to be dead, dead or back in the land that gave me birth. My hills and forests, they call out to me. . . .”

” 'E's mad!” breathed Growch. ”Stark, starin' . . . Don' go too near 'im, girl!”

In the clearing, chained to a rock, the bear was weaving his own kind of dance. Moonlight dappled his shabby fur as he swayed from front to back, his paws leaving the ground one after the other and back again, his head swinging from side to side, his eyes crazed and red.

Strangely I felt no fear, and my ring was comforting. I stepped forward and placed the roots on the ground in front of him, then stepped back again.

”Food for you, Bear,” I said slowly and clearly.

But the animal still swung back and forth, his eyes glazed, his jaw dripping spittle. I went forward again, and this time, in spite of an anguished squeal from Growch, I gripped the dripping muzzle firmly in my hands. ”Stop it! We are friends. We have come to free you. . . .”

Gradually he stilled, and a pair of small black eyes looked straight up at me.

”Who are you?”

”A friend.” I brought the ring close to his eyes. ”We have come to help you.”

”How? But how?” The head started swinging again. ”I am chained, chained forever! Nose hurts, but keeps me chained . . .”

I hadn't thought about the chain. ”Ky-Lin?”

A tiny sigh. ”If I thought what I thought just then it would put me back another twenty points. . . . But I'm not going to think it. I am here to help.

Now, listen: it is time for a little more magic. This time both yours and mine.”

”How? I have no magic. . . .”

A patient sigh. ”Of a sort. Just do as I say.” He leaned over my shoulder and a tiny puff of smoke escaped his nostrils and drifted towards the bear. A moment later the beast's eyes closed, its head drooped. ”He's asleep. Take out your Waystone and stroke it round and round the nose ring-no questions, just do as I ask. That's it: one hundred times, no more, no less. Are you counting?”

A minute, two, three. ”Ninety-nine, one hundred. Now what?”

”Hold me close to the nose ring. . . .” There was a ting of metal and the ring snapped. ”Twist it out of his nose.” The chain fell to the ground, the bear opened his eyes and blinked. ”Alteration of matter twice in one night: amazing! Just pa.s.s your Unicorn's ring across his nose: it'll ease the pain.”

The bear was free: groggy, but free. I stepped back and breathed more easily.

”Eat the food and then get yourself back to your hills or forests,” I said. ”Good luck, Bear!”

I was just going to ask Ky-Lin how on earth the Waystone had anything to do with snapping the ring in the animal's nose when I tripped over Growch who had stopped suddenly on the path back to the village. He growled menacingly.

I gazed ahead: nothing unusual. ”One of these days you'll give me heart failure,” I said. ”Move over-”

It was then I screamed. Without any warning a heavy hand clamped down on my shoulder, a voice hissed in my ear.

”Got you! Thought you'd escaped me, didn't you? Well, you can think again. . .

Chapter Eleven.

It was just as well I had no pressing need to relieve myself. I leapt away, Growch growling, Tug cursing, but it was a moment longer before I recognized the shabbily dressed figure.

”d.i.c.kon!”

”The same, my girl! I've had the devil's own job finding you, although at the end you left enough clues with your playacting-”

”But why? Why did you follow us? I told you-”

”A pack of lies! I know where you're bound, and why! I'm just not going to let you get away with it, that's all! I don't know whether you're in league with Matthew Spicer, or that darkie fellow Suleiman, or whether you're working on your own, but either way I'm going to be a part of it.”

”Part of what? Oh d.i.c.kon! You're not thinking we're after treasure, are you? I tell you, there's no such thing!”

”You have maps. On it is the legend 'Here be Dragons.' And where there are dragons there is treasure. Everyone knows that!”

”Oh, you silly boy!” I said wearily. ”If you could read a bit more you would know that all mapmakers put that when the terrain is unknown. It's their excuse, don't you see?”

”Then why are you headed that way? What's in it for you? What would drag you halfway round the world unless it was a fabulous treasure?”

”That's my business,” I said. ”Now why don't you leave us all alone and go back where you came from?” I was so utterly fed up with his sudden appearance that had I had a magic wand I would have waved him away to perdition. ”I'm leaving, and I don't want to see you again.”

His hand snapped down on my wrist. ”Not so fast! I'm not letting you- Ow!

Let go! Summer . . .”

”You want me to kill?” asked the bear, whom I had completely forgotten. On his hind legs he was taller than any man I knew, and he held d.i.c.kon against his chest as easily as I would hug a doll. I thought he had eaten his roots and disappeared, but it seemed he was trying to repay me for his freedom.

”No, no!” I said hastily. ”You can let him go. Thank you just the same. He is no threat, just a b.l.o.o.d.y nuisance.”

”You sure?” He sounded disappointed.

”I'm sure.” I went forward to help d.i.c.kon to his feet, for the bear had dropped him pretty hard on his rear. ”Get up, d.i.c.kon, and be on your way.”

He scrambled to his feet. ”You can communicate with that-that beast? I realized when I saw you all that time ago that you had some sort of rapport with the other animals, especially that flying pig of yours, but I thought it was just good training. But that-that Thing,” and he nodded in the direction of the bear, now busy polis.h.i.+ng off the roots I had brought him, ”He's new to you, surely?”

”Best I've ever tasted,” mumbled the bear. ”Best I've ever tasted. My, oh my, oh my!”

I suppose I hadn't thought about it. My ring could give me access to animal communication, but this time I had just ”talked” to the creature without prior reasoning. Well, it had worked.

”Yes,” I said. ”We can understand one another.”

”Well, tell him to disappear,” said d.i.c.kon, brus.h.i.+ng himself down. ”You've set him free, I saw you unlock his chain, but that's that, isn't it? Come on, let's get back to that room you've hired. I've got to talk to you. It's important.”