Ozark Fantasy - Twelve Fair Kingdoms Part 17

Magician, or even Magician of Rank. Can't anybody see round it,

for it's purely and wholly sealed off from this time."You see I had not exactly forgotten it. More accurately, I had just shut it away in that corner of my head where things that didn't bear thinking about were stored. But I couldn't recall it coming to my mind the past five years at least, which was doing a pretty good job of keeping it at the bottom of the heap. I had no trouble getting to it, when the time came. It had these parts: FIRST.

For a Destroyer shall come out of the West; and he will know you, and you will know him, and we cannot see how that knowledge pa.s.ses between you, but it is not of the body.

SECOND:.

And if you stand against him, there will be great Trouble. And if you cannot stand against him, there will be great Trouble. But the two Troubles will be of different kinds. And we cannot see what either Trouble is, nor which course you should or will take, but only that both will be terrible and perhaps more than you can bear.

THIRD:.

And if you fail, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter, the penalty for your failure falls on the Twelve Families; and if you stand, it is the Twelve Families that you spare.

FOURTH: And no matter what happens, it will be a long, hard time.

Well, you talk of your curses! I recall suggesting to Granny Hazelbide that the whole thing would be more suitable for my sister, Troublesome, and no doubt that was true. And I remember being told that things were far more often unsuitable, and for sure that was true. And then I had put it away, and I believe I had expected it to be something I had to face along around the age of forty-nine or so. That would of seemed like giving me at least a running start.

Since it was thirty years and more before I had planned for it, and since I was certainly not ready either to stand or fall, and since I was in the middle of a Quest at the time, not to mention a Grand Jubilee dangling just ahead of me, I chose the most prudent course I saw before me. This was no time for theatrics. This was no time for flinging myself in the teeth of the winds to see what was at the very bottom of that teacup. I was busy!

I knew him all right, and he knew me, and when I fled him like a squawker hen flees a carrion bird he was laughing fit to kill. I did not spend the night at Castle Wommack, nor so much as go to the room where they'd put my belongings. My weariness melted away like snow in the sun, a servingmaid brought me my packed bags right there where I sat on that bench against the wall, tapping my foot, and a stablemaid brought round my Mule; and I flung the saddlebags over Sterling's back and took off from the middle of the fair still going on in the Castle court, while he stood on the steps with his hands on his hips, laughing. What Gilead of Wommack or any of the others thought, I had no idea, and I didn't wait to see.

It was ten days' travel, regulation speed, from Castle Wommack to Castle Traveller, most of it over Wilderness that had never even been walked through, from the far northwest tip of Kintucky to the far southern coast of Tinaseeh. And if there was one person any ten flown miles I'd be mighty surprised, which meant that I didn't have to be careful. There'd be n.o.body around to appreciate it, and in my state just then that was a blessing.

I SNAPPED straight from the edge of Kentucky's farming country to the exact center of the Tinaseeh Wilderness-a five-day journey in right on seven seconds-and headed Sterling down toward the treetops I saw below me. I camped in a cave that would have satisfied a human-size Gentle, and rested the full five days. I needed the rest. Then I waited two more days for good measure, putting them to sensible use gathering herbs growing all around my camp; and I SNAPPED to the coast of Tinaseeh's Midland Sea. I flew in to Castle Traveller in the ordinary way, right on time.

By then I'd acquired a certain new respect for the Family Traveller, and a feeling that their name was a fitting one and well earned. Tinaseeh made Kintucky look like a kitchen garden.

"There it is, Sterling," I said as we came in. "Castle Traveller, just as described." First, an outer keep of upright Tinaseeh iron-wood logs, standing side by side with their wicked points an exact twelve feet tall-not an inch deviation allowed anywhere. Then two inner keeps, made exactly the same way, one within the other. At the heart of the third keep, the Castle itself, not much bigger than Castle Lewis. And there was no town, though it had the name of one and one was planned-Roebuck. The buildings of "Roebuck" hugged in orderly rows to the walls of the Castle keeps. There'd been no time

yet on Tinaseeh for such a thing as a separate town.

According to the computers, there were exactly eleven hundred and thirteen people on this continent, and all but a half-dozen were Travellers, Parsons, Guthries, and a stray Wommack or two. And every structure here was built of Tinaseeh ironwood, which would not burn, and could only be cut with a lasersaw, and which could - with sufficient patience-be tooled by laser to an edge that a person could shave with. I had seen friendlier-looking places.

I was met at the gates of the outer keep by an Attendant, who sent me under escort to the gate of the next keep beyond, where they pa.s.sed me on to a third to take me up to the Castle gates, and not a word said the whole time beyond regulations.

"Greetings, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter; follow me."

I followed.

I had not expected parties here, or parades, or fairs. I knew better. A

formal dinner-for twelve-I had expected. And I was prepared for one Solemn Service after another; that would strike the Travellers as entertainment enough. Ordinary Solemn Service on Tinaseeh began on Sundy at 7:00 of the morning and lasted past noon, to be followed by another session after a two-hour break for dinner. I had antic.i.p.ated that a company Solemn Service might well provide me with preaching enough to fortify me against all the evil I'd have to contend with for the next year or two. I'd expected a substantialedification of my soul.

But I was not prepared for what actually did take place, which was

that ten minutes after I'd freshened up-with an Attendant standing in my door waiting with an eloquent back to me, seeing that I didn't tarry over it-I was taken without further ado to a formal Family Council. Hospitable, it wasn't, and I felt a sudden steadying in my stomach. This-which was glorified sa.s.s, by the look of it-was more in my line of experience than what I'd just been through at Wommack. If it turned out sufficiently extravagant it would even give me something I needed badly... something to keep my unruly mind in order yet a while.

The Meetingroom had walls of varnished ironwood, and it held a group of people that appeared to be put together of the same unappealing substance, seated in straight chairs around a long narrow table. They reminded me of the side-by-side upright logs that fenced their keeps, and my traveling costume stood out in the grim and the gloom like a carnival garb.

"Young woman," said the man at the head of the table, "I am

Jeremiah Thomas Traveller the 26th; be seated."

I sat, and he named them off. His wife, Suzannah of Parson. His three oldest sons: Jeremiah Thomas the 27th, Nahum Micah the 4th, and Stephen Phillip the 30th... why he wasn't Obadiah Jonas I couldn't imagine; perhaps Suzannah had pleaded for some relief.

His three oldest daughters still at home-Rosemary, Chast.i.ty, and Miranda, every one of them a six. His brother, Valen Marion Traveller the 9th. And his own mother, now a Granny in this Castle, Granny Leeward. Not another wife, not a husband, not a child; just the in-Family.

"And I," I said, "am Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter. As you are aware."

"We are that," said Suzannah of Farson. "It could hardly be missed." Her reference was to my outfit, which was in marked contrast to her own dress of dark gray belted with black. I smiled at her, sweet as cinnamon sugar, and waited the move.

"We have called this Council in your honor," she said, "and would like to begin. But you've had a long journey-are you hungry? Or thirsty? We can have coffee brought, and some food, if you need it."

"Thank you," I said, "I had breakfast before I left."

"Considerate of you," said Suzannah. "We have little time to waste here on Tinaseeh. It's a hard land, and not meant for the shiftless." "Proceed, then," I told her. "You've no need to coddle me, I a.s.sure you; I'm perfectly comfortable. And I've been in Council a time or two before. I expect you'll find me able to tolerate yours." "Are you trying to be insolent, missy?" said the Granny, her mouth tight. "Or does it just come natural to you?"

I considered the question, and I looked her up and down, and no looking away from her pale blue eyes, either; and I decided that her question was serious, not just grannying, and deserved a serious answer.

"It's a cold welcome you've offered me, Granny Leeward," I said, "and not the way an Ozarker's brought up to treat a guest. As it comes natural to youall to be unpleasant, it comes natural to me to be unpleasant in return. I'm told I'm good at it."

"Guests," said Granny Leeward, "are invited. You were not." "True enough," I said. "And you're not the first to point it out to me."

"There are those," she said, "as would of taken instruction the first time they heard it-and not needed a second statement of the obvious."

"There are those," I said, "as let every little thing put them off their

duty. I am not one of those."Silence. And then the Granny, who appeared to have been designated spokesperson for this collection of alleged living beings, began in earnest.

"I call for Full Council," she said.

"Seconded." And the ayes went round.

"Explain your purpose here, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter," she

continued. "And speak up plain. It's a long table."

"There's been magic used for mischief on Marktwain," I said easily.

"You know all about that. And a baby kidnapped from out of a Solemn Service, which is not decent. And in Full Council it was decided that it might be a good idea to spell out the particulars to the Twelve Families, as well as find the maker of the mischief. And

it was agreed that I was best equipped to do that-and here, therefore, I am.""You're a girl of fourteen!" she declared."You're a woman of eighty-six. Neither number is significant.""And what fits a girl of fourteen-it is of significance, missy, for it means you've neither wisdom nor instruction nor experience- what fits a girl of fourteen to go gallivanting around the planet on a Mule, dressed like a wh.o.r.e, pestering decent folk and creating trouble everywhere she goes?"

Well, she was a Granny of eighty-six, and I was a girl of fourteen,

as had just been stated. I took the bait she'd laid for me as easy as if I'd never heard the word before.

Granny Leeward had been holding a black cloth fan, using it to tap

the table with to emphasize the ends of her phrases. By the time she got to "everywhere she goes" she was holding as pretty a nosegay of black mushrooms as you'd care to see anywhere. And they had me.

Her hand didn't even quiver, though I knew the mushrooms stung her-I'd made sure of that, while I was digging myself a hole to fall in-and she laid them out before her on the table and folded her arms.

"There's your answer," she said. "Just as I told you." Jeremiah Thomas Traveller the 26th looked at his timepiece and nodded with satisfaction.

"Well done, Granny Leeward," he said. "Three minutes flat."

"Mighty sensitive to words, aren't you, child," said their dear old Granny, "for someone who sets herself so high she presumes to teach the Twelve Families their manners?"

Law, how it galled! I'd of given years off my life to have back the last five minutes, and sense enough to do them over right. But that's not how the world works, as I could hear myself telling other people, and there was nothing I could do but be silent and see where this would lead me.

The Master of the Castle told me.

"Personally," he said, "I was inclined to think Granny Leeward was exaggerating some when she told us her estimate of your abilities. I have daughters of my own, and they do sometimes play about with Spells and the like, when they get to be your age-it's a stage, and they grow out of it. But you seem to have got somewhat beyond that, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter."

"I sincerely beg your pardon," I said sadly. "I'm afraid I lost my temper-and I'd ask you to lay that to my age, too, if you would. It won't happen again."

"How could it happen at all?"I didn't answer, but he wasn't about to drop it."How does it happen at all," he insisted, "that a girl of fourteen, whatever special place she may have in the frame of things, is able to set a Spell like that one you just set, and her against a skilled Granny?"

I saw Granny Leeward's lips twitch at that; she knew very well no Spell nor Charm would have turned her fan into those mushrooms.

That had required a Subst.i.tution Transformation, and an illegal one, and it had been incredibly stupid of me. A simple Spell would of been more than enough... I could of just heated up the fan a little bit, and had my temper fit that way. But the Granny wouldn't betray me to a male; she lowered her eyes, and she kept her silence.

"I've studied a good deal," I said carefully, "and I've had good teachers. Nonetheless, it wasn't nice of me. As I said, I regret I did it, and I apologize, most respectfully."

"Well, Granny Leeward told us you knew a few tricks," said her son, "and that she figured it wouldn't take her five minutes to prove she was right-and it took her three. I don't mind telling you, young woman, I don't approve of it atall. I'm sorry my family had to see it happen."

"And so is Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter," said the Granny, twisting

the knife. "Pride," she added, "goes along before a fall.""I'm afraid 'sorry' won't cut it," said Jeremiah Thomas. "No; I'm afraid it will take more than just sorry to make me easy with something like you under my roof."

Here it came again; I didn't bother to ask."I'll have your sworn word," he said. "And I'll have it now.""Sworn to what?""That you'll use no magic-not any level, Responsible of Bright.w.a.ter, not even Common Sense-so long as you are, as you yourself point out, the guest of this Castle and this Family, and under my roof. Since it's clear you've no sense of what's decent, you'll make do on mother wit alone."