World's End (10 page)

"What's going on?" demanded Bilblox. "Somebody talk to me. I need the play-by-play."

"You wouldn't believe me," said Alfonso breathlessly.

The battle raged for another ten minutes until the ants beat a hasty retreat into the jungle. Colonel Treeknot watched them leave and then turned to those in her cabin.

"It's time to leave," she said. "The ants will be back and in greater numbers."

***

The three anteaters traveled down the dirt road toward Somnos. The road followed the meandering river, although at times they lost sight of it because of the incredible vegetation growth. Treeknot and her soldiers were on guard the entire time; once in a great while, they encountered ants dropping down from the trees. But these ants were alone and they scurried away without causing any trouble.

The road along the river was very indirect and so it took the traveling party the better part of the day to reach their destination. Alfonso and Bilblox both napped on and off over the course of the journey. Eventually, the jungle thinned out and they entered a series of orchards filled with apple, pear, and peach trees.

Nestled in one of these orchards, right by the river's edge, was a five-story mansion made of pink marble. The house was built like a Japanese pagoda, with each successive floor being smaller than the one below it. Wide porches wrapped around the top two stories of the house. A rope and wood-planked bridge stretched from one end of the fifth-floor porch to the nearest tree. Alfonso could see a network of ropes and ladders extending from that tree onto other trees. It was twilight. The sun had just vanished behind the High Peaks of the Urals, and the last rays of sunlight shimmered gently off the marble walls of the house. Songbirds darted from the roof to the porches and filled the area with music. Alfonso stared blankly—it was the most beautiful house he had ever seen.

"What do you think of my house?" asked Hill. The anteaters had stopped on the road, right near the house. Bilblox and Treeknot were already making their way down the ladder.

"It's incredible!" replied Alfonso.

"I'm glad you like it," said Hill proudly. "After all, it's the official residence of the foreign minister of Somnos." He looked at Alfonso and his eyes twinkled with delight. "Let's go inside, shall we?"

Alfonso looked around and saw that for a moment, they were alone.

"What's the matter?" Hill asked.

"Before we go in, I have to tell you something," said Alfonso. Then, as quickly as he could, Alfonso retold the events of the last few days, starting in Marseille and ending with the astonishing discovery in Alexandria that Leif might actually be alive. Hill listened quietly.

When Alfonso finished, he stared at Hill and waited for him to respond. Hill sighed heavily, as if the weight of the information he had just received was too much for him.

"I'm speechless," he eventually replied. His eyes gleamed, and Alfonso knew he was thinking about his brother, Leif. "At the same time, I'm not completely surprised."

Alfonso nodded, a bit confused.

"You said you found something in Alexandria," said Hill. "Do you have it with you?"

Alfonso reached into his backpack and withdrew the rosewood box. Hill took the box and ran a finger over the intricate carvings. "Josephus will want to hear your entire story, every detail," said Hill at last. "You did the right thing in coming here immediately." In a soft voice he said, "To think that my brother might still be alive!"

"We have to find him," said Alfonso.

"
We will,
" he replied quietly but with great feeling. "I'd give anything to see Leif again."

Alfonso smiled and nodded appreciatively. He knew returning to Somnos was the right thing to do.

"Now, let's go to the house," said Hill. "It's time to rest—you and Bilblox have had a tough few days. We'll have a nice dinner, you'll see Resuza again, and I'll introduce you to my wife, Nance!"

It was Alfonso's turn to be surprised. "You're married?" he asked. Alfonso had assumed Uncle Hill was not the marrying type.

"A lot has happened in Somnos since you left," he said with a hesitant smile. "Lo and behold," added Hill exuberantly, "here is my wife now."

Hill's wife, Nance, emerged through the front door and skipped happily down to where her husband was standing. She was a beautiful woman, with hazel eyes, long brown hair that framed her sculptured face, and skin the color of copper. She looked far younger than Hill. If Alfonso had to guess, he would say that Nance was in her early thirties. Hill and Nance embraced passionately and Alfonso took a step back, rather awkwardly, trying to give them as much space as possible.

As he backed away and averted his eyes, Alfonso noticed a second figure emerge from the house. She was a young woman wearing an elegant saffron-colored dress. The fabric around the neck and arms was embroidered with purple and green vines. The young woman had luxuriant blond hair. She was tall—a good three or four inches taller than Alfonso—and was smiling mischievously. This smile triggered Alfonso's memory.

He was staring at Resuza.

Alfonso suddenly felt even more awkward. It had been three years since he saw her last. In that time, they had both grown up, but Resuza had transformed the most. She had become, well ... very pretty.

Resuza ran down to where Alfonso was standing and threw her arms around him. "You came back!" she exclaimed. "I knew you'd come back."

D
INNER THAT EVENING
was an elegant and sumptuous affair, as was the case with all of Hill's meals now that he was foreign minister. Alfonso, Bilblox, Resuza, Hill, and Nance all sat around a large circular table that dominated the second floor of the mansion. The wooden table groaned under the weight of the dishes and platters of food. In the middle lay ten different meat and fish dishes, festooned with skewers of fruit and surrounded by elegant arrangements of flowers. Arrayed in a semicircle around each plate were crystal glasses containing several types of sparkling juices. Torches made of a sweet-smelling amber wood flickered from limestone perches above them. In the corner of the dining hall sat a trio of harpsichordists playing music that sounded remarkably similar to a fast-flowing stream. Standing next to them were a dozen heavyset men, all fast asleep and snoring in perfect harmony. According to Hill, these men comprised the Royal Chorus of Snorers.

The snoring chorus was led by a pudgy, red-faced man with at least six chins. His name was Chrapać Głośno and his snoring was the loudest and most distinct. He would snore, then wheeze, then cough, then snuffle, then whistle through his nose, and finally both grunt and clatter his teeth simultaneously. This strange sequence set a rhythm for the other snorers, who provided a chorus of purrs and hisses to accompany him. Oddly enough, the overall effect was rather pleasing.

"Mr. Głośno comes from a long line of distinguished snorers," explained Hill. "His great-great-grandfather was also in the Royal Chorus of Snorers. He was a famous baritone. He snored so loudly that the army actually used him to help trigger avalanches. There is actually a long history of snorers..."

"Sweetie pie, let's not ruin dinner with a history lesson," said Nance softly. She yawned, as if just waking up from a long nap. "They've just arrived after a
terrible
journey. Let them eat and relax!"

Hill then changed the topic of conversation to a subject that Nance seemed to prefer—namely, herself. Nance, explained Hill, was a legendary singer in Somnos and she had married Hill shortly after the great Battle of Somnos, three years ago. Her marriage to Hill was considered somewhat scandalous, given that she was half Hill's age. Some said Nance had only married Hill because he had become a hero and the toast of the town. Hill knew of the rumors, of course, but he paid them no mind. He was fond of saying, "People are fools for the most part—and no one is more foolish than the fools who listen to the gossip of their fellow fools."

Out of the corner of his eye, Alfonso saw Resuza staring at him. Their first encounter a few hours ago had been strange. Upon seeing Alfonso walk up from the river, Resuza had run out of the house and thrown her arms around him. For those initial seconds, Alfonso felt elated. But once the hug came to an end, Alfonso felt unsure of what to say to her. Her beauty made him feel clumsy and uncertain. In the swirl of introductions and tours, they had said nothing more to each other.

"It's really quite a treat that Mr. Glosno is with us tonight," explained Nance. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "He's been quite ill."

"Nance!" Hill exclaimed.

Nance smiled. "Mr. Glosno had a period where he relapsed as a 'tired Dormian.'"

Alfonso nodded. This was the same problem Spack had had. For Dormians, it meant that they slept without doing
anything at all,
just like non-Dormians. It was considered to be a severe handicap.

"I had been warning him for years that this might happen," continued Nance. "All that stress, poor nutrition, and lack of exercise. Fortunately, it was temporary, and now he's back to his old form."

They all stared at Mr. Glosno as he snored in his pleasant manner. As if they knew that they were the object of attention, he and the Royal Chorus of Snorers delivered a rousing crescendo of snores that rattled the crystal glasses.

***

After dinner, they all climbed to the top-floor porch to drink Dormian herb tea as a digestive. They listened to the sounds of birds and other animals in the jungle while Hill talked about reconstruction efforts in Somnos and the remarkable changes brought on by the new Founding Tree.

"Excuse me, dear," said Nance at one point. "Are the guards at their stations? The jungle seems unusually noisy tonight."

"Yes, yes, yes, of course," replied Hill. He then turned toward Alfonso and Bilblox and explained: "You see, living so close to the jungle as we do, we have to be especially careful about the animals—the ants mainly—but other things as well. Of course there's nothing to worry about..."

"That's not exactly true, dear," said Nance. "You see, Hill insists on living in the country, but it really isn't entirely safe out here. A sugarcane plantation half a mile from here was overrun by ants just last month. Several people were terribly wounded, and one of them later died..."

"Yes," said Hill, "but they only had two anteaters, my dear."

"I'd prefer living in the city," Nance insisted. "It's so much safer there."

Hill sighed. Clearly, this was a recurring argument between him and Nance. Alfonso changed the subject and asked about Colonel Treeknot. Hill looked relieved to talk about something else. He explained that three years ago, she had distinguished herself in the Expeditionary Corps' mission to explore the Founding Tree's collapsing root system and to search for any lingering Dragoonya soldiers. In addition, she came from a distinguished Somnos family. Josephus was her uncle, and they were quite close.

"Why did they bother going down there?" asked Alfonso. "Didn't the entire root system eventually collapse? No one could have survived that."

"Sometimes the roots collapsed but left tunnels and caves in their place," Hill explained. "In other cases, the roots had taken the path of least resistance, and had filled naturally occurring caves. These places remained after the collapse of the roots and the Expeditionary Corps had to search every one, to make sure no Dragoonya remained. We couldn't take the chance of any Dragoonya skulking around the city. And as it turns out, we made the right decision."

"What do ya mean?" asked Bilblox.

"They captured Kiril alive," interjected Resuza.

"Kiril?" exclaimed Alfonso. Kiril was the Dragoonya's second in command, behind Nartam. He was an expert tracker and master swordsman who had stalked Alfonso during his trip to Somnos three years ago. Alfonso had once seen Kiril fight off four men at once, ultimately killing all of them. Kiril had also slain General Loxoc, the head of the Dormian army. And like Nartam, Kiril was born Dormian and had turned against his own people.

"Don't worry," said Hill. "Kiril is in a specially constructed, maximum-security wing of the old prison."

Bilblox snorted. "You kiddin' me? You remember Kiril in Barsh-yin-Binder, or in the battle at the walls of Somnos? He's the best killer there is. You can't keep him in this city! Eventually, that fella'll find a way to wreak havoc."

"He has to stand trial," said Hill somewhat defensively. "We're an honorable society. We can't just execute him! Plus, what can one man do against an entire city of Dormians? He's guarded by two sets of soldiers, both awake and asleep."

Hill went on to explain that several weeks after the Battle of Somnos, Kiril had been captured in one of the semicollapsed root tunnels. "It was Colonel Treeknot who found him," explained Hill. "She and two of her knights discovered him sitting on a block of ice, with blood streaming from his head. He had a severe concussion and he was incoherent. No one knows how Kiril became injured, and he refused to say what happened. The fact is, he remained silent and uncooperative for the better part of three years until two months ago, when he suddenly started to talk. "

"Kiril's trial started a few weeks ago!" Nance exclaimed. "We can go to the court! Just think, the Great Sleeper confronts his enemy! Somnos will be all abuzz!"

Alfonso looked uneasily at Hill. He had no interest in seeing Kiril again.

"We'll see," Hill replied diplomatically. "Kiril is past history. There are other, more pressing issues at hand."

"
Marcus Firment,
" whispered Nance with a mischievous smile. Apparently, this was a woman who thrived on gossip.

Hill nodded. "Three days ago, a Wanderer—one of an illustrious group that left thirty-six years ago—arrived at the main gate just before Great Wandering Day. When the Dormian knights found him, he was suffering from severe frostbite and hypothermia, and even though he was over six feet tall, he weighed less than a hundred pounds. He refused all help until he spoke with the Grand Vizier."