Reunion (13 page)

I was hoping to ask you,
Corwin thought on,
whether you had any idea of what we can do, any sense of the unis.

No
, the prince's thoughts came back.
Only smoke, fire, and water. That's all I see
.

Then I guess we're all doomed
. With that sad thought, Corwin returned his attention to his own body, still in the cage. The heat was oppressive and he ached all over. He'd rather have stayed in the bucket with the prince.

“Ma'el,” Nia murmured, “must have killed . . . the High Council . . . for their oculae . . . the seat of their magic power. He wants them all. Any . . . still out of his control . . . can interfere. I have a partial oculus. The prince still has one. We can stop Ma'el . . . perhaps. That's why he wants to destroy us.”

Poor thing
, Corwin thought.
The heat must be addling her mind. What good is it to worry about her evil king now, when my evil king is certain to destroy us sooner? And even if he doesn't, and the prince somehow escapes notice, the toxins in our blood will kill us in five days. I hope Atlantis has a better chance of rescue than we do.

“Raaawk!”

Corwin opened one eye. “You again. Come to gloat, have you?”

“Raaawk!” replied Nag.

“What do you mean, it's my own fault?” Corwin asked drowsily. He was almost beginning to think he understood the bird.

“Graaa-awwk!”

“Intended to be useful? If you want to be useful, go fetch us the key to the cage.”

“Braa-werk!”

“Well, a guard has it, stupid. Or if you can't fetch that, at least bring us a waterskin. Or a scrap of food.”

“Nawk! Nawk!”

“What do you mean, I'm the stupid one? What am
I
supposed to do?”

With an exasperated shake of his head, Nag hopped into the cage and began to tug at Fenwyck's tattered sleeve.

“Here, now, stop that! Don't eat the man who fed you! Besides, others before you have already taken the good parts. Shoo!” Corwin flicked his hand and sent the raven flying away, cawing indignantly.

“Useless bird,” Corwin grumbled. He closed his eyes again and dozed. The heat of the summer day leeched the last of his strength and he fell into dreams—dreams of being a loaf of bread baking or a fresh-forged sword blade being hammered by a blacksmith.

The blacksmith turned into Fenwyck, as he had been in life. “Foolish boy. Have you forgotten everything I taught you?” Fenwyck cuffed him as he so often had.

“Ow! What have I forgotten?” Corwin whined in his dream.

“Everything! You forgot to say nice things! You forgot how people see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. Don't you remember our tricks from the old days?” A memory returned to Corwin of how he would stick his head in a barrel of water, holding his breath.

“Oh, I really wish I could do that right now,” Corwin said.

“But you can. Remember this one?” There was the memory of Fenwyck raising his hands dramatically and fire appearing on a piece of parchment on the stage. Unseen by the audience was the little burning glass that Fenwyck always kept hidden in his sleeve.

“Didn't I once tell you,” Fenwyck went on, “that only those who believe they are defeated
are
defeated?” The flames grew to encompass the entire stage, surrounding Fenwyck. He began to burn, his skin darkening and shrinking.

Corwin did remember. “Yes, as we were running away from a pack of bakers who were angry because you had stolen a meat pie from their booth.”

“And we had a fine meal that afternoon, didn't we?” Fenwyck said, as the flames melted him into the dried-out husk that Corwin now shared the iron cage with.

Corwin coughed and sat up suddenly, awake once more. He wondered how long he had slept. The sun was somewhat lower in the sky. Nia lay sprawled completely unconscious, her skin red as a beet. Corwin looked at Fenwyck's remains and saw the fresh tear Nag had made in his dead mentor's sleeve—the sleeve where the old conniver had usually carried the burning glass.

Corwin reached over and felt along the hem of the sleeve. Sure enough, he found a bulge in a tiny pocket in the hem. Corwin pulled out the little lens. “All right, old man, I've found it. Now what shall I burn?”

He looked around, and then up. Corwin saw the rope from which the cage hung. It was a little frayed where it was knotted around the iron loop at the top of the cage.
Yes, that'll burn
, Corwin thought,
but if it breaks and we drop, it'll just mean we die a little sooner.

Glancing over the side of the cage, Corwin saw that the ground below slanted toward the River Twy.
If we could manage to roll into the water, then we might float far enough, fast enough, to evade the guards.

Guards? Corwin looked farther and noticed that the gate guards were gone. The townsfolk who had watched and jeered were also gone, no doubt escaping the hot summer sun.
If I'm going to do anything, it had better be now.

Corwin pulled himself up into a crouch, careful not to set the cage to swinging. He stood as high as he dared without tilting the cage. Gripping the little burning glass tightly, he raised his hand through the top bars of the cage. He turned his hand this way and that to best catch the rays of the afternoon sun, finally holding the lens just so as a tiny but intense bright dot appeared on the rope.

Corwin's leg muscles shuddered with the effort of holding himself in such an awkward stance. He gritted his teeth, worried that his limbs would give way at any moment.

At last, a tendril of smoke wafted out of the rope. Corwin nearly cried out in triumph as tiny flames flickered among the frayed ends. Pressing his face against the top of the cage, Corwin blew gently on the rope as he would to encourage a campfire.

To his joy, the tiny flames rapidly grew and grew until they engulfed the length of rope above the cage. Corwin crouched down again and gently shook Nia's shoulder.

“Nia, Nia, wake up! We might be able to get free.”

She stirred a little, but her eyes didn't open.

“Nia, we'll be falling soon. We have to be ready.”

When she didn't respond, Corwin gathered her into his arms, laying her head on his shoulder. He looked up at the rope and waited.

Long minutes passed, and then the cage suddenly broke free. Corwin curled up around Nia, holding her tightly, yelling as the cage fell. It turned sideways as it fell, and hit the ground with a metallic
gungggggg
. Pain shot up Corwin's left side as he hit the cage bars half a moment later. The cage rolled, rumbling down the embankment, knocking his arms, legs, and head around as he tumbled within, still holding Nia. Fenwyck's skull and bones clattered against the bars with a merry rattle.

The cold water of the river shocked his skin as the cage splashed into the Twy. It came to rest on its side on the riverbank, the water flowing through the bars. Corwin shuddered, letting go of Nia. She suddenly awoke with a surprised gasp and splashed and rolled in the water. Corwin was amazed to see how quickly her skin began to heal and her strength to return.

The door to the cage, as luck would have it, was now overhead. “Nia, if you're well enough, let's try to open the lock.”

She nodded and they both stood, pressing their hands against the cage door. But the cage was on uneven ground and with a shriek they fell forward. The cage rolled again, tumbling them farther into the river, where it promptly sank into deep water.

Corwin gasped one last deep breath before his head was pushed below the surface by the bars of the cage. The cage sank swiftly, and he felt it strike bottom within moments. But it didn't stop there. The powerful current of the River Twy pushed against the cage and Corwin and Nia, bouncing and rolling them along the riverbed.

The cage came to a sudden stop, lodged against a huge boulder. But Corwin saw that the topmost bars were still beneath the surface. Air bubbles trapped in Fenwyck's robe made the old man's remains float and waggle at the top of the cage with a bizarre semblance of life.

Corwin pushed the corpse aside and lunged up against the iron bars, hoping he could at least bob up to get air, but the cage was too heavy and wedged tight against the boulder. Below him, Corwin could see Nia desperately fumbling at the lock of the cage door.

Corwin was good at holding his breath. He had studied the insides of many a barrel with his head underwater as Fenwyck blathered to the crowd about “The Boy Who Breathes Water.” But he could feel his lungs screaming for air as the last bubbles streamed out of his nose. Gently pulling Nia aside from the cage door he kicked at it with the last of his strength. But the lock held firm.

Corwin moaned, knowing at any moment he was going to gasp for air and drink water instead and drown. He felt something move over his face—Nia's lips pressed hard against his.

A kiss good-bye
, he thought.
Well, there are worse ends
. He allowed his lips to part, to meet hers—

And suddenly a blast of air entered his mouth, filling his cheeks. Corwin gasped with surprise, nearly swallowing water as Nia pressed harder against him. He saw the gills on her neck flapping furiously in the water.

Stay calm
, he heard in his mind.
Breathe, and let me give you air
.

Of course!
Corwin realized as he let himself relax in the water and enjoy the experience of receiving air from a beautiful girl's mouth.
She's a mermaid, and for her the water is life-giving, not life-taking.

Chapter Nine

The cold of the River Twy didn't matter, with the rush of Nia's breath in Corwin's mouth and the warmth of her lips on his. It took him some moments to realize that they now had all the time they needed to open the cage door. Nia pulled away first and pointed at the lock. “Let's keep trying,” she said, quite clearly, though they were underwater.

Corwin felt newly at ease, as though he were a merman himself, as he swam up to the lock of the iron cage and inspected it. Fenwyck had taught him about all sorts of locks. This one was simple—two tumblers were all that needed to move. With the right tool, it would be quick work. This time, however, he would have to move them with his mind.

Corwin felt himself running out of air again and turned to Nia. He went eagerly to her lips, giving her a kiss that was, well, more a kiss than taking a breath of air. Nia playfully blew a blast into his mouth and pinched his cheek. Her eyes held an expression of both amusement and warning as he pulled away again.

“We have to concentrate on saving the prince,” she said. “Remember, our lives still depend upon it.”

Corwin nodded regretfully and went back to examining the lock. Nia placed her hand over his. Corwin felt an amazing surge of power come from her hand, coursing through his skin and the tendons of his fingers. He felt Nia bring in the Farworlder prince as a presence in their thoughts. The three of them together concentrated on the lock. Although it wasn't expressed in words, the leviathan imparted to Corwin how to use the power now surging through his hand to “sense” where the lock mechanisms were. Corwin closed his eyes and discovered that the energy field from his hand could, in a way, see and touch the tumblers in the lock. Since water was easier to move than iron, Corwin found that he could push on the water within the lock to shift the tumblers aside.

Soon there came a loud, satisfying
click
from the lock, and the cage door drifted open. Nia gestured toward the opening, indicating that Corwin should leave first. He swam out of the cage with mixed feelings, glad to be free, but sad that he wouldn't have the chance to kiss Nia again.
Not for a while, but maybe when this is all over . . .
His head broke the surface of the river, and he gulped down air. He had to grab quickly for the top of the boulder as the current of the Twy tried to pull him downriver.

Apparently his motion in the water had pulled what was left of Fenwyck out of the cage, and the sodden remains bobbed to the surface. The body, quite beyond grasping any boulders itself, was caught by the current and went merrily spinning away, as if Fenwyck, too, were happy to be free. “Farewell, old man,” Corwin murmured. “May your various pieces find peace somewhere.”

Just as Corwin was getting concerned that he had not seen Nia emerge from the cage, he heard something like the spouting of a small whale behind him. “There you are!” he said as she grabbed onto the boulder beside him.

“I was enjoying the swim,” Nia said with a smile.

Corwin was amazed at how beautiful she looked now that the water had again worked its restorative wonders upon her. “Um, I'm . . . glad. I'm enjoying the view.”

She splashed him playfully. “It's time to think of our next step.” She turned and swam to the far bank and Corwin followed, finding it difficult to turn his thoughts at all.

But as he crawled up onto the riverbank, a wave of nausea came over him and the world spun, reminding him of the poison still in his body.
It's not enough that we just made it through something incredibly difficult. We're still facing the impossible in order to survive at all.
He dared a glance back over his shoulder at the castle. The area beneath where the cage had hung was still deserted.

Someone must have heard us fall and strike the ground. Why hasn't anyone come out to investigate?
Fenwyck had often told him never to look a gift horse in the mouth. But Corwin also knew the saying “Never buy a sack of gold dust without sifting it for sand.”

He realized he could ask the Farworlder prince if he knew what was going on in the castle.
What's happening
? he asked the prince.

I am tired. I cannot do the forgetfulness spell much longer. Come find me
.

Corwin staggered farther up the bank to where Nia had crawled into a den of bushes. She looked like a forest nymph with leaves and sticks in her long, pale hair. “The prince doesn't know how much longer he can keep the forgetfulness spell working,” she said.