Queen of Stars (14 page)

“Halfling Wasat, curator of the royal amulets. She told me too.”

“She did?”

He felt her chuckle. Talitha enjoyed teasing. The Naos sunburst around her neck and shoulders was cycling through colors faster than any octopus. “It was when she told me I would have to take the Light. After all those years of searching, she had finally found you, and she was so proud of you! And so happy that you and I had fallen in love. You would be a help and guardian, she said.”

“But the danger!” There were no condoms in the Starlands.

“Childbirth doesn’t scare me. The possibility is exciting, but it’s a very remote chance, you know. It took Wasat more than a hundred years, and if it happens everyone will just assume it’s Elgo’s anyway. Starfolk adore imps and all imps have white hair, like yours.”

What if the child had human ears, like he did? But he was a three-quarterling, so their child would be a
seven-eighthsling,
so surely it…he…she…would look quite elfin.

“You haven’t said the magic words, Mister Estell.”

“I love you. I adore you more than life itself.” Which was regrettably literally true in his case.

“Good. Because I don’t feel very pregnant yet, and I can tell you’re about ready to try again. Less chatter and more action, if you please.”

Chapter 17

E
veryone was always telling him that he was smart for his age, so it was to be expected that Izar only needed a few days to work out what was going on, really going on, in Segin. The odious Elegy—if he could call him Impy, then he could call him Elegy, at least behind his back—was always around, clinging to Mom like barnacles to a rock, and being obnoxious to everyone else, especially Rigel. But Rigel never seemed to mind and wouldn’t listen to rude remarks about the consort, even when he and Izar were alone. Yet he
did
seem to mind, or he minded something, because if he wasn’t kept entertained, he would sit and brood, which wasn’t like him. When that happened, Izar would find something specially awful to do, just to distract him. It was a kindness.

The big breakthrough came after Dschubba came to Segin on what Elegy called a play date. Izar preferred to think of it as a learning conference, because they exchanged all sorts of useful stuff, ’specially whatever they’d picked up recently about fornication and how really disgusting it could get, and so on. Izar didn’t have many buddies, and he never got to visit the ones he did have now. Ever since the Family had kidnapped him, Mom kept him chained up like a dog and insisted that he invite pals to come and see him instead of the other way around. So Salm or Ukdah or Dschubba would come for the day and sometimes sleep over. Luckily the royal domain had more entertainments to offer than any other.

As soon as he arrived in Segin, Dschubba produced a new amulet he’d picked up—he was vague about where or how, so Izar knew better than to ask. It was a pink jewel. Just clip it in one ear and you could eavesdrop on conversations that were miles away, Dschubba explained. Well, maybe not miles, but a
very
long way away. If you could see ’em, you could hear ’em. They tried it out in the great hall, which was pretty big, and it worked fine.

Obviously a royal imp like Izar needed that amulet. He needed it more than he had ever needed anything he had ever seen in his whole life, but he was careful not to seem too eager.

“What’s it worth?”

“Not trading.”

“Yes, you are. If I offer enough you’ll trade. Name your price.”

“Name your offer.”

Izar bet the farm. “A ride on a hippogriff?”

Dschubba gasped. “Up in the sky?”

“High enough to see the edge of the world. It’s dangerous, so p’rhaps we’d better not.”

Dschubba stared hard at the gem resting on his grubby palm. He closed his fingers around it. Then he gulped and said all right, if he really, truly got to see the edge of the world.

That left Izar with the problem of producing what he’d just agreed to produce, and Rigel certainly would not cooperate. Not without wanting to know why, and that was obviously impossible. So there would have to be punishment in a certain imp’s future, but no matter how bad it was, it would be worth it if he got that amulet.

The first trick was to escape from Rigel by dragging Dschubba through a portal in a fast dive, and that wasn’t too hard, because Izar hadn’t done anything like it since they’d arrived in Segin, and even Rigel got slack if he wasn’t kept on his toes. It was Izar’s duty to maintain a certain standard of deviltry, although Rigel had never bought that as an excuse after the first time, when he had exploded in laughter.

The portal took them straight to Mabsuthat.

Even in daylight Mabsuthat was a very scary and dangerous place, with humming boulders, gauzy mists, strange scents, and tales of dangerous monsters creeping about. Dschubba said nothing, but he moved very close to Izar and peered all around. The second problem would be finding a hippogriff, but all Rigel ever did was wait, so Izar waited, and in a few moments one came trotting out of the mist and halted to inspect the intruders.

But it wasn’t Kitalphar; it was a young male, whose name was Torcularis Septentrionalis. Weren’t the males supposed to be dangerous? More dangerous, that was. Izar really didn’t know what he was supposed to do here, so he bowed, which was what Rigel always did.

Torcularis eyed him with its eagle eye, first right, then left. It advanced a few steps.

“Please, noble Torcularis Septentrionalis, will you give me and my friend a ride?”

Silence, but the hippogriff cocked its head even more, which seemed to suggest,
Why?
And it moved a little closer.

“Because I am the queen’s son.” Nothing happened. Izar was sweating buckets now and hoped Dschubba hadn’t noticed. “I am Naos, or will be soon.” Torcularis’s only reaction was to clack its fearsome beak a few times.

“Because I promised my friend that you could take him up high enough to see the edge of the world.”

He hadn’t known that hippogriffs could shrug, but this one did. And it had come close enough now that he had to look up at it, and all he could see was its enormous razor-sharp beak.

“Because,” Izar said shrilly, “I am going to get most horribly punished for coming here and asking you this, and if you won’t help me, my friend will call me a liar forevermore.”
Still nothing!
“Also, I am very cute. Everyone says so.”

Torcularis Septentrionalis nodded, turned around, and sat down.

“You always have to butter them up a bit,” Izar said offhandedly. “Climb aboard.”

“You’re coming too!” Dschubba said hoarsely. His forehead was shiny.

“If you’re scared, sure.”

So the two imps clambered onto the hippogriff and gripped the crest of hair along its back. Dschubba was shaking a lot. The beast spread its wings and soared up like a kite.

They did see the edge of the world, not to mention volcanoes, icebergs, and golden fountains. Izar got the pink amulet. He carefully rearranged all his ear clasps so that no one would notice that he had a new one.

Rigel reported his clandestine activities to Mom, who was extra furious and had him locked in his room for a whole day, with nothing to do except chase fish. That was for running away from Rigel. He didn’t get fed, either, because he wouldn’t say where they had gone.

But, oh, was that amulet ever going to be worth it!

His pal Ukdah came over a couple of days later, and they went dolphin riding with the merkids, heading over the horizon to find the setting sun, which they didn’t; twilight at Segin went on forever. Luckily, the merfolk knew the way home.

When they got back to the island, Rigel was sitting in the ripples, arms on his knees, staring at the sea. Izar splashed over to him, Ukdah close behind.

“What’ch you doing?”

Rigel looked up with a faint smile. “Just thinking about what a beautiful place this is.”

Izar glanced out at the lagoon and the spray over the reef. Yes it was, but how long did a guy need to decide that? “You didn’t come looking for me!”

“No,” Rigel said. “The merfolk told me where you’d gone, and they look after you.”

Izar didn’t want to talk about his captivity in front of Ukdah, so he said, “Ha!” mysteriously, to imply that there were times when even the merfolk couldn’t keep track of him. He trotted off, buddy in tow, until they were far enough along the beach not to be overheard.

Then they sat down to discuss prospects for lunch. Ukdah didn’t like the sound of raw oysters. Izar hated them himself, but couldn’t admit that, having suggested them.

“What’s wrong with the halfling?”

Izar glanced around, to where Rigel had gone back to brooding. “Dunno. He gets like that sometimes. Grown-ups always need someone to copulate with.”

If Ukdah dropped one feather of a hint about Mom, there’d have to be a fight, but he didn’t. He just sighed. “What’s the absolute oldest you can get without having to do the puberty thing?”

“’Bout thirty-one.”

“Gruesome!”

Izar agreed; it would be terrible to have disgusting urges like that.

But then the portal opened, like a hole in the air, and who should emerge but Elegy, alone. After glancing around, he headed over to join Rigel.

“Who’s he?” Ukdah demanded, for he was too far off to sense names.

“Elgomaisa, Mom’s consort.”

“You like him?”

“No.”

“He’s ugly.”

“Yes. Now shut up for a sec, I’m thinking!” Izar turned an ear—his
right
ear—in their direction.

“Halfling?”

Rigel clearly hadn’t heard him coming. He started. Then he scrambled to his feet and bowed. “Starborn.”

Elegy sat down in the water. “Had I been someone coming to kidnap Impy, I would have taken you by surprise.”

When not ordered to sit, a tweenling remained standing. “Had you been a threat, my lord, my amulet would have warned me in plenty of time.”

“Saiph? Let me see that.” He inspected Rigel’s bracelet.

“What’re you thinking about?” Ukdah asked.

“Shh!”

“I trust you are being discreet about your new sleeping arrangements?” Elegy said.

Izar must have twitched, because Ukdah said, “What’s wrong?”

“What sleeping arrangements, my lord?” Rigel asked. “If you’re asking whether I find my new room somewhat cramped, then the truth is that, yes, I do, but I am well aware that it is extremely luxurious compared to the sort of billet assigned to most halflings. I have no intention of complaining to anyone.”

“Tactfully put.”

“My lord is kind.”

The trouble with eavesdropping at this distance was that one couldn’t watch faces, and Izar had a strong suspicion that Rigel meant something more than he was saying.

Elgomaisa seemed to understand well enough, because his tone sharpened. “Sit down. Now listen, boy. I would never have agreed to this arrangement if the circumstances had not been extremely unusual. You must be aware that she was paired very much against her will, while she was still a minor and subject to her father’s authority. She was not a virgin, because she had previously granted me the honor of taking her maidenhead and we were enjoying a first—first in her case, I mean—romance. We starfolk prize that initial union very highly. Our poets rave about it. In our case, it was cruelly terminated by the regent’s edict and she was bundled off to Phegda to provide a child for that monster.”

No doubt about who they were discussing now.

“What in
schmoor
are you staring at?” Ukdah demanded.

Izar said, “Mating whales,” and pointed at the horizon.

Elegy was still spouting. “The ordeal she endured there continued to haunt her for years afterward. We—her friends, I mean—were all very concerned. She behaved erratically, hanging out with some highly unsuitable people. She even refused offers of relationships from starfolk with the highest possible reputations as skilled and satisfying lovers.”

“That would certainly be unnatural,” Rigel said.

After a pause, Elgomaisa said, “What do you mean?”

“Oh, beg pardon, my lord. My experience is all with earthlings, as you know. Among them, an unusual or unnatural sex life is often a sign of emotional instability.”

“Starfolk do not suffer from ‘emotional instability,’ as you call it.”

“How about Vildiar?”

“That is Prince Vildiar to you, halfling. He is Naos and immeasurably higher than you.”

“I humbly beg pardon, my lord. I shall watch my tongue in the future.”

“You had better. A good public flogging would quench any remaining rumors. As it was, Talitha seemed to be recovering from her ordeal at last when the burden of the monarchy was literally thrust upon her shoulders. A few days ago she summoned me in considerable distress and asked me to cooperate in this shameful deception. I consented out of my fondness for her as a lifelong friend and my duty to her as my queen. Otherwise, I would never have supported such a deceit.”

“Your kindness does you great honor, my lord.”

“I just hope that you appreciate your good fortune. And never forget that—by the terms of my agreement with Her Majesty—if the least hint of this conspiracy leaks out, it’s the Dark Cells for you, boy.” Elgomaisa stood up, as if to leave.

“I do pride myself,” Rigel said, “that Her Majesty seems somewhat more serene since I began the treatment.”

“Insolent savage!” Elegy ran out into the water and plunged beneath the surface. In a few minutes he came up for air and a mermaid appeared beside him to lead him down to the palace.

“I can’t see any whales,” Ukdah said.

“I ’spect they’re merfolk I saw,” Izar muttered, his mind racing over what he had just learned. He felt somewhat uneasy thinking about Rigel bouncing Mom around at nights, but she
had
been happier since they came to Segin. But Rigel…Rigel, Izar decided, had been happier at times, but moodier at others, up and down. Like sitting staring at the sea! Halflings were weird.