the turtle's expression change. "Well, I cannot bring him back, but I can fix
him, where he is. I'll put a seekstealth on him."
Inquiry revealed that a seekstealth was something of a magical delayed-action
bomb. Possessed of its own ethereal composition, it would drift about the world
invisibly until it finally tracked down its assigned individual. At that point
the substance of the spell would take effect. Jon-Tom shook at how devastating
such a Damoclean conjuration could be. The unfortunate subject could
successfully elude the seekstealth for years, only to wake up one morning having
long since forgotten the original incident to discover that he now had, for
example, the head of a chicken. How could this happen to his friend Mudge? Wait
one hour, he begged the wizard, who reluctantly agreed.
One hour later Clothahump commenced forming the complex spell. He was halfway
through it when a figure appeared out of the forest. Jon-Tom and Flor turned
from preparing breakfast to observe it.
Several small, bright blue lizard shapes dangled from its belt, their heads
scraping the ground. In all other respects it was quite familiar.
Mudge detached the catch from his waist and tossed the limp forms near the
cookfire. Then he frowned curiously at the half circle of gaping onlookers.
" 'Ere now, wot's with all the fish-faces, wot?" He bent over the lizards,
pulled out his knife, and inserted it in one of the bodies. "Take me a moment,
mates, t' gut these pretties and then we can set t' some proper fryin'. Takes a
true gourmet chef, it does, t' prepare limnihop the right way."
Clothahump had ceased his mumbling and gesticulating. He looked quite angry.
"Nice mornin' for huntin'," said the otter conversationally. "Ground's moist
enough t' leave tracks everwhere, so wakin' up early as I did, I thought I'd
'ave a go at supplementin' our larder." He finished the last lizard, began to
skin them. Then he paused, whiskers twitching a touch uncertainly as he noticed
everyone still staring at him.
"Crikey, wot's the bloomin' matter with you all?"
Jon-Tom walked over, patted the otter on the back. "We thought for a moment that
you'd run out on us. I knew you wouldn't do that, Mudge."
"The 'ell I wouldn't," came the fervent reply. Mudge gestured toward Clothahump
with the knife. "But I've no doubt 'Is Brainship 'ere would keep his wizardly
word t' do somethin' rotten t' meself, merely because I might choose t' exercise
me own freedom o' will. Might even do me the dirty o' puttin' a seekstealth on
me."
"Oh, now I don't know that I would go that far," muttered Clotha-hump. Jon-Tom
looked at him sharply.
"Now don't get me wrong, mate," the otter said to Jon-Tom. "I like you, and I
like the two dear ladies, even if they are a bit standoffish, and even old Pog
'ere can be good company when 'e wants to." The bat looked down from his branch
and snorted, then returned to preening himself.
"It's just that I'm not lookin' forward t' the prospect o' possible
dismemberment. But then, I've said all this before, 'aven't I." He smiled
beatifically. " 'Tis the threat that keeps me taggin' along. I know better than
t' try and run off."
"It is not that we believed you had actually done that. Which is to say, we were
not entirely certain that..."
"Stow it, guv'nor. I don't pay it no mind." He set the fillets on the fire,
moved to a mossy log, and pulled off one boot. Furry toes wiggled as he turned
the boot upside down and tapped the heel with a paw. Several small pebbles
tumbled out.
"Some bloody deep muck I 'ad t' slop through t' run that set down. Twas worth
it, I think. They're young enough t' be sweet and old enough t' be meaty. Truth
t' tell, I was gettin' tired o' nuts and berries and jerky." He shoved his foot
back into the boot.
"Come on, now. Surely none o' you seriously thought I'd taken the long hike?
Let's get t' some serious business, right? Breakfast!" He ambled toward the
fire. "I may be ignorant, foul-mouthed, lecherous, and disreputable," he reached
for the proximate curves of Talea's derriere and she jumped out of the way, "but
there be one thing I am that's good. I'm the best camp cook this side or the
Muddletup Moors." He winked at Jon-Tom.
There was no more talk of desertion. The lizards looked rather more ghastly than
the average hunk of cooked meat. Flor bit into her seetion with obvious gusto,
so Jon-Tom could hardly show queasi-ness. Meat was meat, after all, and he'd
eaten plenty of reptile in the past weeks. It was just that they'd been such
cute little blue things.
"Muy bueno," Flor told Mudge, licking her fingers. "Maybe one of these days I'll
have a chance to make you my quesadillas."
Mudge was repacking his gear. "Maybe one o' these days I'll 'ave a chance to
sample some quintera."
"No,no. 'Quesadilla.' Quintera is my..." She gaped, and then to Jon-Tom's
considerable surprise, she blushed. The flush was very becoming on her dark
skin. He wanted to say something but somehow the idea of admonishing an otter
about a ribald remark upset him. He simply could not visualize the furry joker
as a rival. It was inhuman....
They shouldered their packs and started across the glade. Jon-Tom chatted with
Mudge and Clothahump while Flor engaged the gruff but willing Pog in
conversation. She was curious about the functions of a famulus, and he readily
supplied her with a long list of the mostly unpleasant activities he was
regularly required to perform. He spoke softly, out of the wizard's hearing.
Water occasionally lapped at their boots. The night's rain had littered the
glade with little pools. They avoided the largest without anyone noticing that
several of the depressions were identical in outline: the shape of hooves had
been melted into the rock.
Jon-Tom was not prepared for his first sight of the river. The Tailaroam was
anything but the modest stream he'd expected.
It was broad and wild, with an occasional flash of racing white water showing
where the current ran from east to west. He had no way of knowing its depth, but
it seemed substantial enough to support a very large vessel indeed. It reminded
him of pictures he'd seen of the Ohio in colonial times. Not that he expected to
see anything as technologically advanced as a steamship or sternwheeler.
Possibly it was the contrast that made the river seem so big. This was the first
time he'd seen anything larger than a rivulet or creek, and the Tailaroam was
enormous in comparison. Willow and cypress clustered thickly along the banks.
Here and there, scattered stands of birch thrust thin skeletal fingers toward a
cloud-flecked sky.
They turned eastward and moved steadily upstream. The dense undergrowth that
hugged the river made progress slow. Tangled clumps of moonberry bushes often
forced them to change direction, and brambles stuck to their capes and tried to
work their way to the skin beneath.
Eventually they found what Clothahump had been searching for: a flat peninsula
of sand and gravel that jutted o
ut into the water. Only a few bushes clung
tenaciously to the poor soil. In high-water weather the little spit would be
submerged. For now it formed a natural landing place and a good one, the wizard
explained, from which to hail a passing ship.
Day slid into day, however, without any sign of river travel.
"Commerce is thin this time of year," Clothahump told them apologetically.
"There are more ships in the spring when the river is higher and the upper
rapids more navigable. If we do not espy transport soon, we may be reduced to
constructing our own." He sounded irritated and perhaps a little peeved that
Talea might have been right in suggesting they travel overland.
The next two days offered only hopeful signs. Several boats passed them, but all
were traveling downstream toward the Glittergeist Sea and distant Snarken.
Jon-Tom used the time to practice his duar, working to master the difficult
double-string arrangement. He was careful only to play soft music and not to
sing any songs for fear of accidentally conjuring something distressing. Clouds
of gneechees seemed to swarm about him at such times. He was learning to resist
the constant temptation to spend all his time trying to catch one in his gaze.
Once something like a foot-long glowworm crawled out of the shallows to dance
and writhe near his feet. It did nothing else, and shot back into the water the
instant he stopped playing.
Flor was fascinated by the instrument. Despite Jon-Tom's initial worries she
insisted on trying it herself. She succeeded only in strumming a few basic
chords, and went back to listening to him play.
She was doing so one morning when a cry came from Talea.
"A ship!" She stood on the end of the sandy point and gestured to the west.
"How big?" Clothahump puffed his way over to stand next to her. Jon-Tom slipped
the duar back across his chest, and he and Flor moved to stand behind them.
"Can't tell." Talea squinted, shielded her eyes. The cloud cover now restricted
the sunlight, but the glare from the surface of the river was still strong
enough to water unwary eyes.
Soon the vessel hove into full view. It was stocky and pointed at both ends. Two
square-rigged sails were mounted on separate masts set fore and aft. There was a
central cabin abovedeck and a narrow high poop from which a figure was steering
the ship by means of an enormous oar.
There were also groups of creatures moving from east to west along the sides of
the ship. They shoved at long poles. Jon-Tom thought he could make out at least
a couple of humans among the fur.
"Looks like a cross between a miniature galleon and a keelboat," he murmured
thoughtfully. Wetting a finger, he tested the wind. It was blowing upstream.
That would propel a sailboat against the current, and the ship could then down
sail and take the current back downstream. Except on days such as today. The
breeze was weak, and the keel poles had been brought into play to keep the
vessel moving.
"Are they flying a merchant's pennant?" Clothahump fiddled with his spectacles.
"One of these days I really must try and master that spell for myopia."
"Hard to tell," Talea said. "They're flying something."
"There seem to be an awful lot of people on deck." Jon-Tom frowned. "Not all of
them are pushing on those poles. Some of them seem to be running around the edge
of the ship. Could they be exercising?"
"Are you more than 'alf mad, mate? Anyone not workin' 'is arse off would be
below decks restin' out o' the way."
"They're running nonetheless." Jon-Tom frowned, trying to make some sense out of
the apparently purposeless activity taking place on the ship.
"Pog!"
The bat was instantly at Clothahump's side. "Yes, Master?" He hastily tossed
away the lizard leg he'd been gnawing on.
"Find out who they are, how far upstream they are traveling, and if they will
take us as passengers."
"Yes, Master." The bat soared out over the water, heading for the boat. Jon-Tom
followed the weaving shape.
Pog appeared to circle above the vessel. It was now almost opposite their little
beach, though on the far side of the river. It wasn't long before the famulus
came speeding back.
"Well?" Clothahump demanded as the bat fluttered to a resting stance on the
ground.
"Boss, I don't think dey're much in the mood for talking business." He raised a
wing and showed them the shaft of the arrow protruding from it. Plucking it
free, he threw it into the water and studied the wound. "Shit! Needle and thread
time again."
"Are you certain they were shooting at you?" asked Flor.
Pog made a face, which on a bat can be unbearably gruesome. "Yes, I'm sure dey
were shooting at me!" he said sarcastically, mimicking her voice. "So sorry I
couldn't bring more proof back wid me, but unfortunately I managed ta dodge da
other dozen or so belly-splitters dey shot at me."
He was fumbling in his backpack. Out came a large needle and a spool of some
organic material that Jon-Tom knew could not be catgut. As the bat sewed, he
spoke.
"Dere seemed ta be some kind of riot or fight taking place on da deck. I just
kinda circled overhead trying ta make some sense outta what was going on.
Eventually I gave up and drifted over da poop deck. Tings were quieter dere and
it's where I'd expected ta find da captain. I tink one of 'em was, because he
was better dressed dan any of da odders, but I couldn't be sure, ya know?" He
pushed the needle through the membrane without any sign that it pained him,
stuck it around and in again, and pulled smoothly. The hole was beginning to
close.
"So I shout down at dis joker about us needing some transportation upstream.
First ting he does is call me a black-winged, gargoyle-faced, insect-eating
son-of-a-bitch." He shrugged. "Da conversation went downhill from dere."
"I don't understand such hostility," murmured Clothahump, watching as their
hoped-for transport began to slip out of sight eastward. No telling how long it
might be before another going that way might pass them.
"I just got da impression," continued Pog, "that da captain and his crew were
pretty fucking mad about someting and was in no mood to talk polite to anyone
including dere own sweethearts, if dey got any, which I doubt. Why dey were so
mad I don't know, an' I wasn't about ta hang around an make no pincushion of my
little bod ta find out."
"We might find out anyway." Everyone looked toward Mudge. The otter was staring
out across the river.
"How do you mean?" asked Flor.
"I believe they just threw somebody overboard."
Distant yelling and cursing came from the fading silhouette of the ship. Several
splashes showed clearly now around the ship's side. Even Jon-Tom saw them.
"Somebody's jumped in after the first," said Talea. "I don't think anyone's been
thrown, Mudge. There! The three that just jumped are being pulled back aboard.
The first is swimming this way. Can you make out what it is?"
"No, not yet, luv," replied the otter, "but it's definitely comin' toward us."
They waited curiously while the ship slowly r
eceded from sight, trailing a
philologic wake of insult behind it.
Several long minutes later they watched as a thoroughly drenched figure nearly
as tall as Flor emerged dripping from waist-deep water and slogged toward them.
It was a biped and clad in what when dry would be an immaculate silk dressing
jacket lined with lace at cuffs and neck. A lace shirt protruded wetly from
behind the open jacket, the latter a green brocade inlaid with gold thread. The
white lace was now dim with river muck.
Matching breeches blended into silk knee-length stockings which rose from
enormous black shoes with gold buckles. The shoes, Jon-Tom estimated hastily,
were comparable to a size twenty-two narrow for a human, which the damp arrival
was not.
It stopped, surveyed them with a jaundiced eye, and began wringing water from
its sleeves. A monocle remained attached to the jacket by means of a long gold
chain. After adjusting it in his right eye, the rabbit said with considerable
dignity: "Surely you would not set upon a traveler in distress. I am the victim
of antisocial activities." He gestured tiredly upstream to where the boat had
vanished.
"I cast myself on your mercies, being too exhausted to fight or flee any
farther."
"Take it easy," said Talea. "You play square with us and we'll be square with
you."
"An estimable offer of association, beautiful lady." Bending over, the rabbit
shook his head and ran a clutching paw down each long white and pink ear. Water
dripped from their ends.
A few isolated patches of brown and gray spotted the otherwise white fur. Nose
and ears were partly pink. From a hole in the back of his breeches protruded a
white tail. At the moment it resembled a soggy lump of used cotton.
Mudge had been assisting Pog in trimming and tying off the end of his stitchery.
At first he'd paid the new arrival only cursory attention. Now he left the bat
and moved to join his companions. As he did so he had a better view of the
bedraggled but still unbowed refugee, and he let out an ear-splitting whistle.
Expecting the worst, the rabbit flinched back, thinking he was now about to be
attacked despite Talea's announcement of assistance. But when he got his first
look at the otter he let out a sharp whistle of his own. Mudge flung himself
into the taller animal's arms and the two spent several minutes apparently