Part 28 (2/2)

”No. What.”

”It is most difficult to maintain that level of intensity of hatred. Not when you're expending energy to try and survive at the same time. One has to pick and choose. To decide where one's priorities are going to be. And I had to set my priorities on healing . . . on surviving . . . on hoping that somehow, in some way, we would meet up again. Following you wasn't difficult. The phoenix was newly hatched; as a result, he left a small fire trail behind him when he flew. It singed the tops of trees. Left a trail of burnt wood that most others could not have followed. But I could. You know what I'm capable of, don't you, Apropos.”

I nodded. Strength had surged back into my limbs, possibly a giddy rush of energy coming from the fact that I was still alive. But I made no motion. What motion could I make, after all? I was on his terrain, under his control.

”Actually, I might not have been able to survive at all . . . had I not met my friend.”

”Friend?”

He puckered his lips, putting his front teeth against his lower lip, and blew a sharp whistle of a note. I heard a faint clip-clop approaching, and braced myself for another onslaught by unicorns. And then a large, equine shape glided into the cavern. I could scarce believe what I was seeing.

”t.i.tan!” I said in astonishment. For indeed it was; G.o.ds knew that I had combed down that coat so many times, I could likely have recognized the steed of the late Sir Umbrage even if I were blindfolded. I could see scar tissue on the horse's magnificent coat, but otherwise it appeared unharmed.

Tacit looked mildly surprised, but only mildly. ”So . . . Ulysses, as I called you . . . or t.i.tan, as you were formerly known . . .” He looked at the horse. ”It appears that you did, indeed, recognize him at that. Take a long look at him, Apropos. This n.o.ble beast may well be the only creature in the world, walking on two legs or four, who feels any loyalty to you whatsoever.”

”But . . . this is impossible . . .”

”I found the mighty beast after the caravan transporting my beloved Entipy had been a.s.sailed by the Harpers Bizarre. Oh, yes, Apropos,” and he smiled at my obvious confused surprise. ”Between the scents, the broken branches, the bodies . . . I was more than capable of figuring out what had happened. Ulys-my apologies-t.i.tan . . . had been gravely wounded. I took it upon myself to attend to the horse, to nurse it back to health. Thanks to the burn trail, I knew which direction you had gone in . . . at least in general terms. t.i.tan was too magnificent a creature to leave to the untender mercies of the forest. So I aided him.”

As if knowing that he was the topic of discussion, t.i.tan let out a little whinny and bobbed his head up and down.

Entipy was starting to stir. I heard a low moan from her. Tacit cast a glance toward her before turning his focus back to me.

”We came as far in this direction as we could before the winter set in. Unfortunately we traveled somewhat slower than you. After all, we did not have a phoenix upon which to ride . . . thanks to the intervention of my erstwhile friend, Apropos. We took refuge here, and it is here that we have been residing for some time now. All this time I have been hoping, praying that somehow I would catch up with you, Po. And then . . . then . . .” and he sighed softly, blissfully. ”I smelled the lilacs. I smelled the unicorns. My olfactory senses are not what they once were; the damage done to my face by my good friend, Apropos, attended to that. But even though I was not what I once was, I knew a herd had come to the area. I was going to go to them, find a way to them . . . when I sensed that they were disturbed. The next thing I knew, there was an avalanche, cutting off the mountain pa.s.ses that would have enabled me to join them. I cursed my fates once again, as I have a great deal recently. And then . . . then t.i.tan here seemed to scent something. He insisted on going out into the snow, in searching out something that he was sure was there. And he was right. He found you, Po. Nor did he protest in the slightest at the additional weight when I loaded both you and Entipy onto his back so that you could be brought here. His loyalty to you knows no bounds. That sort of loyalty is very touching, don't you think? And so rare . . . so rare . . .”

”Your jaw must be exhausted, considering you're using it so much,” I said. I was beginning to tire of the snide remarks, the backhanded insults. ”If you're going to kill me, then be done with it.”

”I told you . . . she has to witness it. She has to understand, to know, to . . .”

Entipy was sitting up, her eyes bleary, her att.i.tude confused. She was trying to make out the interior of the cave, and was looking directly away from us. ”Apropos . . . ?” she called out in a gravelly voice.

”He's right here, my beautiful girl.”

Naturally she knew his voice in a heartbeat, as she looked at him and gasped. ”Tacit!”

”The one and the same. My beautiful girl, I'm here for you, as I said-”

He reached for her . . . and she flinched back. She squinted at him in the darkness.

”You look terrible,” she said.

”I have . . . looked better, I admit,” he said. ”But-”

”What did you say? It sounded like, 'I have . . . look becker, dammit.' ”

My heart was leaping with delirious joy as inwardly I chortled at Tacit's discomfiture and frustration. Entipy was not reaching out and falling into the arms of her long-lost hero. Instead she was looking at him like a squashed bug, and with about as much affection. She seemed confused as to why he should even be here, as if . . . as if his time was already past. This was just getting better and better, provided I could survive it.

Tacit displayed a momentary flare of impatience, but he quickly stifled it. Instead he went back to speaking very slowly, very carefully, and once he'd repeated the first sentence, continued-just as precisely-”Entipy . . . I know that you are someone who has always been capable of seeing beyond the surface. When you first met me, you were able to see through the exterior of a young cutpurse . . . and your belief gave me the strength to pursue my heroic undertakings. You have been my strength, my support, my-”

As if she hadn't heard a word, she commented, ”No, you don't understand, you really really look look terrible. terrible. You're not handsome at all anymore. You're disfigured, you're unkempt.” You're not handsome at all anymore. You're disfigured, you're unkempt.”

”It's what is inside that-”

”And you smell ghastly . . . .”

”What would you have me do?! Bathe in snow?!” he shouted. ”It's been freezing! I could barely find enough fresh water to drink, much less-”

”Don't yell at me. I'm a princess. You've no right to yell at me.”

”I'm sorry,” he said quickly, steadying himself. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud as I watched. ”You're right. But you have to understand . . . everything I've done of any note has been for you. For you, I accomplished the three tasks of the Elder Giant. For you, I sought the Ring of Poseidon, which enabled me to command the loyalties of the Naiad . . . which wound up saving me from certain death when the Harpers Bizarre sent me hurtling into-”

”That's all very nice,” Entipy shot back, ”but in the meantime, while you were off gallivanting from one epic task to the next, I was being made a personal slave of the Faith Women, and then I was attacked by the Harpers, and then I wound up cleaning tables in a tavern in the Outer Lawless regions. Did you think I enjoyed being up to my a.s.s in menial tasks while you were out adventuring? If it weren't for Apropos . . .”

”If it weren't for Apropos?!” He looked on the verge of having a seizure. ”Entipy . . . they've written songs about me! Epic poems! You compare me to him? What have they written about him to celebrate his 'great deeds,' eh?”

I leaned forward and offered, ”I heard one of the squires came up with a couple of obscene limericks . . . .”

”Shut up!” he snapped at me. ”It was a rhetorical question! Entipy, you would turn your attentions, your loyalties, to him? Him! Virtually all of the troubles you've encountered were because of his actions!”

”What are you talking about?” she demanded.

I braced myself, not daring to interrupt considering that Tacit looked ready to take my head off if I said another word. Tacit proceeded to tell her everything. How his epic journey and series of adventures had led him to the birthing place of the phoenix. How he had witnessed the creature's death and rebirth. How he had been about to reach the culmination of his personal crusade . . . only to be blindsided by the wretched and scheming Apropos. How his phoenix had been absconded with while he'd been left to suffer owing to the unworthy and cowardly attack.

In short, he told the truth.

Entipy took it all in, listening without interruption, nodding in places. When Tacit finally stopped speaking, she did not answer immediately. She turned to look at me . . . and then back at him. Her face was unreadable.

”Tacit,” she said softly.

”Yes, my love.”

”That is, without question,” and her voice hardened, oozing with contempt, ”the most appalling set of fabrications I have ever heard.”

”F-fabrications . . . ?” He could barely believe she was saying it. No, not barely. He really couldn't believe it.

”How dare you,” she continued. ”How dare you try to foist off blame for your own shortcomings upon Apropos . . .”

”Shortcomings! Foist off blame!” He seemed to have lost the ability to do anything other than repeat what she had already said.

”Here Apropos was resourceful enough to find the phoenix after you had clearly failed . . . and then he risked himself to come back and rescue me, and watch out for me all these months . . . and now you have the temerity to sit there and tell me that this brave squire-”

Oh G.o.ds, I did it. I actually pulled it off.

”-that this brave squire mounted some sort of sneak attack on you, just for the purpose of stealing your glory!”

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