Vale of the Vole (37 page)

"Evidently not," Chex agreed. "I did not realize that demons were limited in that respect."

"Demons, being soulless, are barred from handling things that relate intimately to souls," Marrow explained. "Most of the things of the gourd relate, for it is the living conscience, the guardian of the soul, that summons the dreams."

The blank scenery around them was gone. Now they stood hi a large chamber, evidently the real-life setting for the illusion that was this aspect of the realm of the gourd. The illusion had faded with the folding of the central part of it.

"Uh, yes, so it seems," Esk agreed. "We can take it there, and back here the same way. But only if we can be next to it to pick it up, and when the wiggles swarm, we'll be so full of zzapp holes that we'll be dead."

"I am already dead," Marrow reminded him. "I shall be glad to remain beside the hole until the wiggle swarm is done."

"And the rest of us can remain outside," Chex said. "Marrow, I think you have made the completion of our mission possible!" She leaned down and kissed the top of his skull.

The skeleton seemed disconcerted. "Was that an apology?"

"An apology?" she asked.

"You either kissed me or knocked skulls, and that means—"

She laughed. "Yes, that was an apology for ever thinking that you were not as genuine a person as any of the rest of us!" She glanced about. "Now let's have—let's see—Volney use the pathfinder spell to find us a path to the zombie gourd exit. He hasn't used that spell before." She brought out the pathfinder spell and handed it to the vole.

"Gladly," Volney said.

Chapter 15. Monsters

1 hree women welcomed them back to Castle Roogna: old Latia, mature Bria, and young Ivy. Everyone else was tied up with the search for the missing Good Magician Humfrey.

Esk happened to be leading as they arrived at the orchard, so he got the first brunt of it.

"Did you get the containment spell?" Latia asked.

"Have I caused you embarrassment?" Bria asked.

"What was it like in the gourd?" Ivy asked.

Esk addressed them in order. "We got it. Yes, you have. It was weird."

Then Marrow showed his fist full of Void, distracting Latia, and Chex started giving a travelogue for Ivy, leaving only Bria.

"Then I must apologize," she said eagerly. "What did I do?"

"You used me to get you out of the gourd, and to try to become real."

She had been about to embrace him, but now she paused. "Yes, that's true. But you know, my mother, Blythe, always did rather regret that she never got to know the ogre, your father, better, or get out more into this world. She spoke of it sometimes, and I could see how sad she was. It wasn't that she was unhappy in the City of Brass, just that she wondered what might have been. I inherited that wondering; that's why I wandered, and finally got myself lost. I was looking for a way out, but I couldn't find it. Then you came, and I knew right away that not only could you get me out, but you were sort of cute too. Then when I learned that you were the son of Mother's ogre, I just knew I wanted you for myself. When I found the accommodation spell I knew it was possible. 1 knew you were looking for a flesh girl, and that you wouldn't like my type without a lot of encouragement, so I just had to act fast if I was to have any hope at all. That's the whole of it."

"I don't think so," Esk said. "Why did you think I wouldn't like you?"

"Well, I'm not exactly like the flesh girls."

"You're still holding back."

"Whatever happened to you in the gourd, you learned a lot!" she exclaimed.

"I learned my deepest fear, and now I can recognize that kind of fear in others. You must have good reason to think I won't like you if I know the truth."

"It's the soul," she whispered.

"The what?"

"We creatures of the dream realm don't have souls. We can't be real without them."

"You want my soul?" he exclaimed, shocked.

"Maybe—half of it?" she said timidly.

"You can't have any of it!" he exclaimed, outraged.

"Yes, of course," she said almost inaudibly. "Then let me apologize, and I will leave you alone."

"No! No apology! I've had enough of that artifice!" He spun away from her and stalked off.

The other dialogues were winding down. "We muvt move on to the Vale," Volney said. "The monvters will be arriving."

"Start in the morning!" Ivy exclaimed. "There's so much I want to hear!"

They agreed. They were tired from their day's trek. The path out through the gourd had been almost as convoluted as the one going in, and then they had had to walk from the gourd to Castle Roogna. It would be better to start fresh in the morning.

Next day they set forth, with Volney leading the way, then Chex, Esk, Marrow, Latia, and Bria. The brass girl had not spoken to him since his rebuff of her desire, and he felt a little guilty about that, but a lot angry about being asked for such a thing. Half his soul!

Then he remembered something Chex had said, and speeded up to walk abreast of her. "Didn't your mother lose half her soul? To get out of the Void?"

"Yes. That was the price of the night mares. Souls are in great demand in the realm of the gourd. Your folks paid it too."

"They never talked much about that aspect of their experience," he said. "I never thought they had half souls."

"Oh, they don't. The Night Stallion gave back a soul at the end, so they each had a full one again. They probably never thought about the matter since."

Esk wasn't sure of that. "But your mother—"

"My dam never got hers back. But she really didn't mind. You see, that was the half soul that went to Mare Imbri, and enabled her to

-t-

become real and survive the loss of her body in the true Void and become a day mare. Chem grew her soul back in time, anyway, so really didn't lose anything."

"Souls—can grow back?" He had heard of this, but now it was important to get the matter quite straight.

"Oh, yes, if there's something to start with. That's how babies get souls, I understand; they take some from each parent, and grow the rest, and the parents grow back what they have lost. So while I understand it is not fun losing part of your soul, it's not torture either. I would not have a soul of my own if my dam had not been able to grow hers back to full strength. Why do you ask?"

"Bria wants half mine."

Chex gazed down at him sidelong. "Oh, so it has come to that? I can't say I am surprised."

"That's why she's been playing up to me. For my soul, so she can become real."

"Oh, is that how you see it?"

"What other way is there to see it? She decided to use me to get her out of the gourd. 1 thought she liked me."

"Is there a conflict between the two?"

"Isn't there? You don't use someone you really like."

"I'm not sure of that. Liking and sharing—they can go together."

"I guess she'd like me to give her half my soul!"

"But she has a home in the gourd. Why would she want to remain out here?"

Esk spread his hands. "I guess she just likes it better here. She says she likes exploring, and her mother knew my father."

"But why would she like it better, when it's so strange for her?"

"What are you getting at?"

"I wouldn't want to go to a strange realm and stay there the rest of my existence, unless I had a very good reason."

"I really don't see any reason for her."

"If I met someone who lived in that other realm, and I wanted to be with him, and could not unless I stayed there, then I think I might do what I had to arrange to stay."

Esk considered. "Are you saying that it's the other way around? She's not using me because she wants to stay, but she wants to stay because she likes me?"

"Well, I do wonder why she hasn't asked any other man for his soul. Surely she had opportunity while we were absent, but Ivy said Bria just

kept mostly to herself and didn't say much. That she did no exploring, and seemed depressed, until you returned."

Esk shook his head. "I wish I knew her true motive."

"Why?"

"Because it makes a difference!" he flared. "If she just decided I was the handiest idiot with a soul to take—!"

"Why should it make a difference? You don't have to give her anything you don't want to give."

"What if I gave her my soul and she just went off elsewhere?"

"Then the resolution of that indecision might be worth it. It would certainly be a way to ascertain her true motive."

Confused, Esk didn't answer. He dropped back, his thoughts in a morass.

The path reached the intersection that led south to the Good Magician's castle and north toward the Vale. Volney went north, and they trailed along after him.

This path soon narrowed and curved eastward, following the contours of the land. Volney proceeded with sureness, but evening fell before they progressed very far along it. They had to camp for the night.

They foraged for fruits and tubers. Marrow and Bria helped, though neither needed to eat. The sight of her stirred him, like a breeze lifting the curtains of his confusion. If all she wanted was his soul, and she couldn't have that, why hadn't she simply gone elsewhere? She hardly needed to help them if she didn't want to.

Why should it make a difference to him, Chex had asked. Because Bria had kissed him and been soft in his arms and he wished he could have more of that. Maybe he was a fool, but that was the way he felt.

Chex had told him exactly how to learn the truth.

He went to Bria. "I'll give you half my soul," he said.

"What, to get rid of me?" she snapped. "I don't want it!"

"Then why did you ask for it before?"

"I—" Then she turned away. "Oh, never mind."

This was not at all what he had expected. "No, I really want to know."

"Because I was foolish," she said. "I thought—" But again she broke off.

Esk began to see the answer. "Because you thought we could maybe— have a life together?"

"I should have known better! I'm just a brassie from the gourd! Fm not even alive! Why should anyone want to—to—" She dabbed at her face with a corner of her skirt.

She sounded exactly as uncertain of her value as he had been of his.

And as prickly about admitting it. His understanding expanded. "Someone might."

"Oh, sure," she said corrosively. "Who?"

"Only another fool," he said. "I think I owe you an apology."

She gazed at him, a brass tear on her cheek. "You mean you want to—?"

"I misunderstood your motive, I think. I thought you wanted my soul, not me. It hurt."

"Oh, Esk," she said, abruptly softening. "I—"

"Take half my soul. Then do what you want."

"Let's just apologize for now," she said. "I want you to be sure."

They apologized to each other, her way, and Esk was sure already. But she wouldn't take his soul yet.

Chex saw them holding hands, a little later, and made no comment. Neither did any of the others. That meant they understood.

In the morning they resumed the trek, and this time Bria walked with Esk. The path continued eastward without unusual event; it did seem to be enchanted, and now that the little dragons had gone, there were no other threats.

By evening they reached the Vale of the Voles. It was a sorry sight: a broad valley overrun by scrub, much of which was dying. Through it ran a channel as straight as a metal pole, along which ugly brown water coursed. There was a bothersome humming sound throughout.

"That's funny," Esk said. "I thought only demons could hear the hummers."

"They have gotten worve," Volney replied. "Now there are vo many that everyone can hear them. But they bother the demonv worve than uv."

The demons were there too, cruising around recklessly. The voles were evidently keeping low, so as not to attract the notice of the irate demons.

"What a wasteland," Chex remarked.

A demon in the form of a small black cloud made a right-angle turn and zeroed in on her. "What did you call me, horseface?" it demanded.

"I wasn't talking to you," Chex replied. "I didn't even know you were there."

"That's a lie! You called me a wasteband!" the demon screeched. "I'll pulverize you!" A muscular arm sprouted from the cloud and formed a fist that cocked itself, aiming for her face.

"No," Esk said.

"Aw, you aren't worth the effort, mare-hair," the demon said, and drifted away.

"I may be mistaken," J-atia said, "but I believe I see why the voles would like to be rid of the demons."

"They were not bothervome until the hummerv got bad," Volney said. "Now the Kill-Mee River makev everyone, vole and demon, bad tempered."

"The winged monsters and ogres may arrive any time," Esk said. "We'd better get a good night's rest before it gets hectic."