Part 24 (2/2)
”Gotcha,” the golem agreed. He found handholds and clambered up the south wall.
”I hope you can apply centaur logic to this situation, Chem,” Irene murmured. ”If you can't persuade them, we're still in trouble.” Her stomach felt weak; she didn't like the continuing tension of this situation. She knew her plants had gained them only a temporary reprieve.
”The logic is valid--if they will listen,” Chem said. ”But neither species is known for listening well.”
Grundy reached the top of the wall and stood on it, a tiny Figure. ”Hey, stink-snoot!” he cried. ”Come in here and show off your ignorance! You too, filth-feather!” Then he ducked as a rock flew by and an egg slanted down.
”I think you chose the wrong diplomat,” Chem remarked. ”Grundy thinks it's a challenge to be as foul-mouthed as the others.”
”I should have known,” Irene agreed ruefully. ”I'll have to mediate this myself.”
”You'll get your head bombed,” Chem warned.
”Perhaps we can be of a.s.sistance,” a new voice said.
Irene looked around, but saw nothing. ”Who spoke?”
”We're invisible,” the voice said. ”We don't want to get shot or stoned.”
”Invisible! Well, if you're friendly, show yourselves; we won't attack you.”
Two figures faded into view--the male harpy and the female goblin.
”The lovers!” Irene exclaimed. ”How--?”
”We discovered our magic talent,” the girl said almost shyly. She was remarkably pretty. ”Goblins don't do magic, and neither do harpies--not the way human folk do--but together we can become invisible.” She moved to rejoin the harpy and they faded out again.
”Recessive genes, maybe,” Chem said as the two reappeared. She glanced more closely at the girl; ”You look familiar. I've seen a goblin girl almost as pretty as you--”
”My big sister Goldy,” the girl said. ”I'm Glory, the loveliest and nicest of my generation. And this is Hardy, the handsomest and best-mannered of his.”
Irene introduced herself and her friends. ”We're looking for my lost daughter--”
”Ivy!” Glory exclaimed. ”The cute little child with the bone in her hair!”
Irene was astonished. ”You met her?”
”She helped me find Hardy,” Glory said. ”Now I can see the family affinity. Her hair is a little green, while yours--”
”When she gets jealous, her whole face turns green,” Grundy remarked, returning from the wall.
”A bone in her hair?” Chem inquired.
”She said the Cyclops gave it to her,” Glory explained. ”She was very helpful! She and Hugo and Stanley--”
”Hugo?” the Gorgon asked. ”He's with them?”
”Oh, yes. He has such a wonderful talent!”
”But he can only conjure rotten fruit!”
Glory laughed. ”You wouldn't say that if you knew him!”
”Well, I am his mother.”
Glory gazed at her, perplexed. ”You must have excruciatingly exacting standards! His fruit certainly seemed good enough to me! And he's so intelligent--”
”Intelligent?” the Gorgon asked.
”Oh, yes! And handsome--”
The Gorgon shook her hooded head, baffled.
”Stanley?” Irene asked, picking up on the other name.
”Stanley Steamer, the baby dragon. He's really very nice, too.”
”Nice?” Irene repeated blankly. ”The rejuvenated Gap Dragon?”
Glory smiled, and the wallflower enclosure brightened.
”You're being humorous, right?”
”That must be the case,” Irene agreed faintly. Something was certainly funny here, but not humorous. ”How did you meet them?”
”I was coming south from the Gap, looking for Hardy, and I suppose I was lost, or at least mislaid. But the dragon located the mouth organ for us, and so we found Hardy--”
”And the goblins ambushed us,” the harpy continued. ”They put me on trial for corrupting Glory, but Hugo's brilliant defense acquitted me--”
”I just don't understand,” the Gorgon said. ”Naturally I want the best for my son, but I simply have to say that he was never brilliant or handsome or well talented. I wish it were otherwise, but--”
”It sounds as if his qualities have been improved,” Chem commented.
”Ivy!” Irene exclaimed. ”She's responsible!”
”That was my thought,” the centaur agreed. ”I suspect that her talent of enhancement is more potent than we knew. She has elevated Hugo to his full potential.”
”But the dragon,” Irene said. ”The dragon should have become even more ferocious by the same enhancement!”
”Not if her talent is selective,” Chem pointed out. ”If it should, for example, enhance only what she perceives, or chooses to perceive, or wishes--”
”It would require Magician-level talent to make my boy a genius,” the Gorgon said ruefully. ”For a long time I hoped he would improve as he aged, but now he's eight years old and has shown no sign--”
”Eight? If he's not a genius, he's close to it,” Glory said. ”He picked up on precisely the right points!”
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