Part 22 (2/2)
”Now they can,” Hugo said.
”Only human people have magic talents,” Ivy insisted. Then she remembered the centaurs. ”And half-humans.”
”Well, she's half human, and so is he,” he pointed out. ”Together they must have a talent--and it's invisibility.”
Ivy realized that when she had joined the couple and willed them to save themselves, she had enhanced their hidden joint talent. Now, together. Glory and Hardy became invisible. Because no one could see them, they had been able to free themselves and Ivy and Hugo without interference.
Gorbage, no dummy--Ivy was beginning to realize the full meaning of that term--caught on at almost the same time. ”It's them!” he cried. ”See her footprints! There must have been some invisible wood in that pile, and the smoke got on them! Follow those footprints!”
”Invisible wood?” Ivy asked. ”It looked visible to me!”
”Gorbage doesn't know about your talent,” Hugo said. ”So he figures there's some other agency. That's just as well.”
The goblins oriented on the footprints. But then even these stopped. ”He's carrying her through the air!” Hugo said happily. ”I don't think he can lift her weight for long, but it should be enough to lose the goblins. We'd better flee before they remember us!”
They fled, hearing the uproar fade behind them. Then the mouth organ started playing again, drowning out everything else with its rich, mellow notes and harmonies.
”I'm glad Glory and Hardy got away,” Ivy said when the party felt safe from pursuit.
”I'm glad we got away,” Hugo said. ”Gorbage was going to kill us, too!”
Ivy shuddered, knowing it was true. She always thought the best of new people, but she was learning the hard way that not all folk deserved that regard. They had walked into more than they expected when they met Glory Goblin! But it had been the right thing to do. Love had triumphed in the end, as it was supposed to.
The search, capture, trial, and escape had used up the main part of the day. They ate a supper of a.s.sorted conjured fruits, located some hammock trees, and settled down for the night. Stanley had some trouble getting used to a hammock, but enjoyed it when he mastered it. They slept in relative comfort and suffered only a few bad dreams.
Chapter 13: Hardy Harpy.
They were down to four now--Chem, Grundy, the Gorgon, and Irene. This was easier, though the others had certainly done their parts. The Gorgon's memory was returning nicely, now that she was among friends. Irene's questions and comments acted to refresh what the forget-whorl had fogged. But Irene knew it had been a close call; if the Gorgon had pa.s.sed through the center of the whorl, she would have been beyond recovery. And if Zora Zombie had not taken the curse intended for Irene, Irene herself would now be a statue.
”We can work together,” Irene suggested to the Gorgon. ”Grundy can ask the plants whether they have any news of either Ivy or Hugo, and when you learn Hugo's whereabouts, you can go directly there.”
”That seems reasonable,” the Gorgon agreed. She had wanted to join forces at the outset, Irene remembered; it might have been better if they had done so.
”The last news I have of Ivy is that she was in the Cyclops' cave,” Irene continued. ”So I'll just start looking for that. I have my ivy plant that shows she's still healthy, so I know nothing has happened to her yet. But the Muse said she was going to get into trouble soon. I want to find her before night, if possible.”
”There is a goodly portion of the day remaining,” Chem pointed out encouragingly.
Grundy queried the local flora and fauna. He was in luck; many of them knew where the dread one-eyed monster lurked. This entire region had been largely cleaned out of dragons and griffins because of the Cyclops' voracious appet.i.te for meat. The smaller creatures appreciated that and felt the Cyclops was not such a bad fellow. But still they preferred not to encounter him directly, just in case.
Hearing that, Irene became even more eager to recover her daughter quickly. She didn't like taking chances either.
As they progressed, the references became more specific. It seemed that the Cyclops hunted only at night, but he was a terror then.
Either Ivy had escaped the Cyclops and was safe from pursuit while day remained, or she was still in the cave, perhaps trapped there. There was no separate news of her or of Hugo, to the Gorgon's disappointment. She looked worried under her veil. She did not have the a.s.surance of an ivy plant that her son was healthy; and, considering Hugo's general backwardness and lack of an effective magical talent, Irene could appreciate her concern.
Then there was something new. Grundy paused. ”I didn't know there was a mouth organ in these parts!”
”Mouth organ?” Irene asked.
”That's a natural musical instrument,” Chem explained. ”Part plant, part animal, part mineral. It has many mouths that sound separate notes. It's a rare thing, but it does occur in scattered locations and can attain considerable size. It is said to be very impressive. When it sp.a.w.ns, the little mouth organs can be plucked and played by hand, as they aren't big enough to generate their own wind. But handling stunts their growth, so few make it to maturity.”
”It's hard to be a success if you're a plaything,” Grundy agreed.
Irene c.o.c.ked her head. Now she heard it, faintly, as from a fair distance to the east--deep, powerful, sustained notes, decorated by a pleasant, higher melody. ”This one sounds mature,” she said shortly. ”Very nice. Some day we must visit it. But at the moment we have a more urgent mission.”
”I'm not sure,” Grundy said. ”The organ is speaking, musically, and I can understand it because of its animate portion. It says there are goblins in the area.”
”Goblins?” Chem asked. ”That's unlikely. All the major tribes of goblins settled north of the Gap Chasm. There might be a few stragglers south, but not enough to cause any problems.”
”The organ says a war party is here,” the golem insisted. ”It says that yesterday the goblins captured a male harpy, in the course of their raid into harpy territory. They were going to execute him.”
”A male harpy--executed?” Chem asked. ”That will instantly inflame the whole harpy species! They have very few males and they value them inordinately.”
Now Irene took notice. ”Goblins on the warpath--here? Ivy could run into them! What else does the organ say?”
”Nothing much. It's just alerting the harpies--that male hasn't been seen since last night--so they can form a battle wing and wipe out the goblins. There will be war, very soon.”
”That's all we need!” the Gorgon said. ”A resurgence of the old goblin-harpy war! My husband has texts delineating the atrocities of their ancient wars; Xanth is much gentler today.”
”The Gap Chasm kept them apart for centuries,” Chem said. ”There are several bridges across it, but they are guarded by human folk who wouldn't let goblins pa.s.s. One of the bridges is one-way, so the goblins couldn't pa.s.s it anyway, and another is invisible, so they couldn't find it. The only practical way they could cross is through the Gap, and of course the Gap Dragon--” She paused, a bulb flas.h.i.+ng. ”That's what the dragon did! It stopped the goblins from crossing, so as to preserve peace in Xanth! The goblin-harpy wars were the worst calamities in Xanth, apart from the Mundane Waves of conquest--and the Gap Dragon helped inhibit those, too! I'm sure it was no accident that Castle Roogna was built south of the Gap, and that most of the civilized settlements of men and centaurs were also south. Perhaps we owe, in this peculiar fas.h.i.+on, the survival of civilization in Xanth to the Gap Dragon!”
”So there was excellent reason for the Good Magician to spare the Gap Dragon, even if it was rampaging,” Irene agreed, awed by the revelation. That was the last monster she would have expected to owe anything to.
”There is good reason for anything Humfrey does,” the Gorgon said seriously. ”He always did know what he was doing, no matter what others thought.”
”He always did,” Irene agreed. ”But now the forget-spell is off the Gap, the dragon is gone, Humfrey can not act, and the ancient mischief is returning. We're in more trouble than we knew.”
”King Dor will certainly have to act to nullify the goblins,” Chem said. ”But for the moment, this merely makes our mission more urgent. We must rescue the children quickly! There's no telling what will happen if they fall into goblin hands!”
They hurried on toward the Cyclops' cave.
Before very long, there was a raucous screech from the sky. Great ugly bird-shapes appeared. ”Goblins! Destroy them!” an unlovely female voice screeched.
Great, gross harpies converged, descending from the sky, filthy talons extended. There were twelve or fifteen of them. Chem's bow was in her hands, but she withheld her shot, knowing that if she killed one dirty hen, the others would tear the whole party to bits. The Gorgon put her hand on her veil; she could deal with them all, if she had to.
”We're not goblins!” Irene cried, desperately trying reason before combat.
The leader-harpy hovered before them, peering. She had a hideous and filthy face, dangling, lumpy b.r.e.a.s.t.s, soiled tail feathers, and a nauseating odor. She was about as repulsive as a creature could get, not so much for her shape as for her lack of hygiene and her bad nature. ”Why, so you're not!” the harpy screeched. ”You made us waste all this effort for nothing! We'd better tear you apart anyway!”
”Let me talk to them,” Chem said. ”Be ready, Gorgon; we may still need you.”
The Gorgon nodded, keeping one hand on her veil, ready to jerk it aside and glare about.
”Listen to me,” Chem told the harpy leader. ”We aren't goblins and we are not involved with them. We have no quarrel with you--but we do have power to defend ourselves, if you force the issue. Leave us alone and we shall leave you alone.”
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