Isle Of View (29 page)

Electra shook her head, unable to make sense of it. She would just have to go back out and make her report.

“I guess that's it,” she said, “We'll go now.”

They moved to the door. “Tell Cheiron of our allies,” Godiva said. “The land dragons too are coming to support us.”

Worse and worse!

They walked up the tunnel and finally emerged into bright daylight. Squinting, they walked to the winged monster camp.

Cheiron met them there, with Chex beside him, and Prince Dolph and Princess Nada in human form. They all looked grimly hopeful.

“It—it's complicated,” Electra said heavily. “They aren't letting Che go, exactly, but they aren't exactly holding him either. They want him to decide whether to be the companion of Godiva's daughter, Gwendolyn, and he hasn't decided.”

“A decision made under duress would not be valid,” Cheiron said. “He knows that.”

“Yes. But this doesn't seem to be that, exactly. He— he's having Jenny Elf decide for him, and she hasn't made up her mind. They'll treat him well if he agrees, and let him go if he doesn't. He—seems satisfied. Just not decided.”

“There has to be duress,” Cheiron said grimly. “We know how to deal with that.”

“But there's more,” Gloha said. “They have allies."

“Allies? Who? More goblins?”

“The Flower Elves,” Electra said, hating it. “The cal-licantzari. The land dragons. And the naga.”

“What?” Nada demanded, shocked.

“Your brother, Prince Naldo, was there. There's an ancient covenant. They have to help the goblins against the winged monsters.” There: it was out.

“My own people!” Nada cried, appalled. “I forgot about that covenant!”

Cheiron turned to her. “There is such a covenant?”

“Yes. But it's never been invoked in our time—not for centuries, in fact. We hate the goblins! That's how I got betrothed to Dolph!”

Chex shook her head grimly. “It seems we have a problem.”

Electra had to agree, feeling empathy for them all. She knew about difficult situations!

Dolph was stunned. Not only were the goblins intent on holding Che, they had summoned Nada's people to help them. That meant that if Cheiron's forces attacked again, they would be going up against folk who were allied to Castle Roogna. He could see how shocked Nada was. He wanted to cheer her up, but couldn't think of anything sensible to say.

“We had better verify this,” Cheiron said grimly. “We should be able to spot land dragons on the move.”

“Yes,” Chex agreed. They walked toward the clearing being used as a runway for takeoffs and landings.

“I'll go with you!” Gloha exclaimed.

Dolph was torn. Should he change to a winged form and go with them or remain to console Nada? He turned to Nada—and saw her tearfully hugging Electra.

Nada was closer to Electra than she was to him. Why did that jar him so? Electra was always sympathetic to the problems of others.

He decided to go with the centaurs.

Cheiron ran onto the field, leaped, spread his wings, flicked his tail, and flew up. Chex followed, but paused as a roc came in. It was best to give the big birds plenty of room, because they didn't always see small creatures, and their downdraft could be horrendous.

Gloha went out, then turned back to Dolph, who hadn't yet decided what form to assume. “Prince Dolph, I don't feel easy in the air with the larger monsters, and I can't keep the pace. May I go with you?”

“Oh,” he said, surprised. “Sure.” So he assumed the form of a winged centaur, because that would be easiest for her to ride. Also, he could talk with her in that form. He had practiced it, after attending the wedding of Cheiron and Chex, and now could handle it well enough. He could assume any living form—and on occasion a borderline form, like that of a ghost—but it took practice to make each form function perfectly. Thus his repertoire was limited, but growing. However, there was one extra thing he needed in this form.

Gloha hopped on. She was a light little thing, and as shapely as a nymph in her goblin aspect. She evidently knew how to ride, for her position was secure; he didn't have to worry about her falling off.

He trotted up to join Chex as she waited, the wind from the landing roc blowing back her brown mane. “When we get to take off, will you make me light?” he asked her.

Chex glanced at him, noting his change of form and his rider. “Of course, Dolph.”

The roc touched ground, bounced, and slid along the hard surface, its claws sending up sparks as they braked against rocks. A small brush fire started, but a steamer dragon was ready to douse it with several well-aimed bursts. The roc finally came to a stop and hopped off the landing strip. It held a small beerbarrel tree trunk in its beak: evidently this bird was on the beverage committee.

“Go ahead,” Chex said, touching Dolph and Gloha with two flicks of her tail. Immediately both Dolph and the goblin girl became light. Dolph trotted onto the field, spread his wings, and jumped into the air. He was airborne, not as neatly as the real winged centaurs managed it, but well enough. He flew up to join Cheiron. who was circling overhead.

In a moment Chex was coming up behind him. When the three were at a suitable elevation, they spread out and flew south, watching the ground.

“I think it's true,” Gloha said. “We really did see Prince Naldo and Bud Elf down there, and they told us about the covenant.”

“But that won't make Cheiron give up his foal,” Dolph said. “More likely, he will launch a desperation attack to get Che back before any more goblin allies come.”

“But with the naga there—”

Dolph sighed. “I guess that makes it my problem. I mean, it already was, but now even more so. We can't start killing naga! Especially not Nada's brother!”

“Or elves,” she said.

Dolph remembered Jenny Elf. “I don't think that's the same. Jenny's not the same kind of elf.”

“But humans have never warred with elves!”

Oh. “Yes, not that I know of. They keep mostly to their elms, and once our kind learned to leave the elms alone, that was that. About four hundred years ago Jordan the Barbarian made a deal with Bluebell Elf—I don't know exactly what it was, but the stork brought her a crossbreed baby, and Rapunzel is their distant descendent. So I guess humans and elves can get along when they try. Certainly we don't want trouble with them. But if we support Cheiron, and the goblins won't let Che go—”

“I'm not sure Che wants to go,” Gloha said.

“Well, as Cheiron said, if there is duress—”

“I'm not sure there is. For one thing—well, how well do you know Jenny Elf?”

“Not that well, really. But she seems all right, and Che really seems to like her. She didn't have to go with him into Goblin Mountain, but she did.”

“So if it's a hard decision for him to make, because maybe there's a threat or something,” she said carefully, “what about Jenny? Would it be hard for her too? I mean, if she doesn't have to stay there?”

“I guess if she really likes him, and doesn't want him hurt, then maybe it could be pretty hard for her too.”

“And Jenny—when Electra asked her why she couldn't tell Che to just say no and she said she couldn't and Electra asked her which side she was on, she said 'Why don't you marry Dolph?' and that sort of floored Electra. So maybe there's an answer there, if we can just figure it out.”

Dolph was amazed. What did his possible marriage to Electra have to do with whether Che remained with the goblins?

“It doesn't make sense to me,” he admitted.

“I guess maybe it's because Electra can't just decide to marry you,“ Gloha said. ”Because you're the one who has to decide."

“Right. So if Jenny couldn't decide, because it was Che's decision, that would make sense. But if he told her to make it, then she can make it, can't she?”

“I would think so. But something must be stopping her.” She pondered. “Dolph, suppose you told Electra to decide? I mean, you wouldn't decide, she would, and she would tell you which of them to marry? Her or Nada. Would that be the same?”

“Well she'd just tell me to marry her. Everyone tells me to marry 'Lectra!”

“Would she really?”

“Wouldn't she?” What was Gloha trying to get at?

"I don't know. But I think maybe Jenny Elf knows. It sure set Electra back! So if you can figure out what Electra would say, maybe you can figure out what Jenny's saying. Why she's not deciding about Che, yet, despite everything. And why Che lets her.”

“That's another mystery! Why doesn't Che make his own decision, before things get really bad?”

“Why don't you?”

“That has nothing to do with it!”

“I think maybe it does,” she said. “I think maybe it was such a tough decision that Che couldn't make it himself, so he asked Jenny to make it, and it's still so tough she can't make it either. Just as maybe it would be too tough for Electra, if you told her to decide. Maybe it's not quite the same problem, but maybe close enough so the same principle holds. All we have to do is figure out what it is.”

She was making more sense. “How come you're making better progress on this than I am?” he asked.

“Well, everyone knows that girls think better than boys do,” she said shrugging.

“I didn't know that!”

“Well, you're a boy.”

Why did that seem to make so much sense? “Okay. So maybe there is a similar principle. But I don't think they have any love triangle.”

“Not a marriage triangle,” she agreed. “But it could be love.”

“How could it be love? They're children!”

“And we're not?” she asked archly.

“Well, I'm not! I'm going to be married within a week!”

“I'm the same age as you, you know. If you cared to assume winged goblin form, I could show you a thing or two.”

Dolph realized that she was indeed a fine figure of a goblin girl. He was tempted to do just that: become a winged goblin, and see what she looked like then. “How about showing me your panties?” he asked.

She kicked him on the ribs. “Those aren't on the list for showing. Only if you wanted to marry me.”

“But I already have two Betrothees!” he protested.

“I was being facetious,” she said. “Even though there is no boy of my kind. I was just making the point that age is no barrier to love. We're all children, according to the Adult Conspiracy, but we can love.”

“Oh. I guess so.” The Adult Conspiracy was the bane of his life, with its ridiculous tenets. “But Jenny Elf and Gwendolyn Goblin and Che Centaur don't—”

“They love their families, and maybe each other. Not all love relates to the stork, you know.”

Dolph hadn't known, but let it pass. “So maybe they care about each other. But why would that make it so hard for Che to decide what to do?”

“I don't know. That's what we're trying to figure out. If you don't marry Electra, she dies. Could there be something like that with Gwendolyn Goblin?”

“Did she seem ill to you?”

“No, she seemed perfectly healthy. And nice. I could see how well both Che and Jenny liked her. But there must be something odd about her, because that's the first time Godiva ever let me meet her. I'm sure we could have been friends, if we had met earlier.”

“Well, as you said, your wings—”

“But Che has wings!” she said sharply.

“That's right! So it couldn't be the wings. Maybe it's that he's male?”

“Male? How could a male be better than a female?”

“Well, Electra had to be kissed awake by a prince. Maybe Gwendolyn Goblin has to have a male companion.”

“But I'm sure there are plenty of male goblins who could have been her playmate.”

“Would any of them have been as nice as Che?”

“Well, you don't expect a goblin male to be nice,” she said reasonably. “All the niceness is in the females.”

“So if she wanted a nice companion male, it couldn't be a goblin,” he said. “Still, there must have been some other companion they could have gotten that wouldn't bring the winged monsters down to besiege their mountain. Why didn't they look for one of those?”

“That's the mystery,” she agreed. “Or half of it. Why did they take Che—and why can't he make up his mind about it? All we know is that maybe it's like you and Electra in some devious way.”

He sighed. “You know, if it was exactly like that, it wouldn't be easy to solve. I can't make up my mind which girl to marry. Maybe Che can't make up his mind which girl should be his companion.”

“Maybe,” she said doubtfully. “But I should think he would do it quickly enough, if he knew that goblins and monsters would be fighting and dying if he didn't. He's a centaur, after all; he has logical thought processes, unlike the rest of us.”

“Maybe we should ask a centaur!” Dolph exclaimed.

But then a motion on the ground caught his eye. “Oops— there's a dragon!"

She peered down so avidly she almost fell off his back. It didn't matter, for she would merely spread her wings and fly back. “Oh, yes! A big smoker!”

“A smoker? I saw a steamer!”

In a moment and a half they had spied a whole slew of dragons. A slew was a measurement that applied only to big fearsome things, and was a standard unit for monsters. Normally it was sufficient for whatever purpose was intended; Dolph had never heard of a situation requiring two slews.

The dragons were tramping north from the land of the dragons, toward Goblin Mountain. There was no doubt about it: the goblins' claim was true.

“Aren't you flying rather low, Dolph?” Gloha asked.

Dolph discovered that he was. He flapped his wings harder, but continued to descend. “Oops—my lightness is running out!” he exclaimed, realizing.

Then Cheiron spied what was happening and swooped down. He flicked Dolph with his tail as he passed, and suddenly Dolph lurched up, light again. As he chased down his equilibrium, he saw tiny Grundy Golem clinging to Cheiron's mane. Grundy was serving as translator for the assorted monsters.

“So it was no bluff,” Cheiron remarked, unsurprised. “Well, we had better consider what to do while we fly back to the mountain. Those dragons won't arrive until tomorrow, so we have some time to play with.”

“We think there's something funny about Che's position,” Dolph said. “That there's some reason he can't make a decision, maybe like the way I can't decide between Betrothees. If we knew that reason, maybe we'd be able to help him decide.”

“There is only one decision,” Cheiron said. “He is not remaining captive in that mountain.”

“Uh, we're not sure he is captive,” Dolph said. “I mean, if he tells them no, they'll let him go.”

Cheiron glanced sharply at him. “Then why doesn't he tell them no?”

“There's something, some reason—we thought maybe you would be able to figure it out.”

“'It seems like duress to me. Perhaps they have threatened to kill the elf girl if he says no."

Gloha made a horrified peep, and Dolph was taken severely aback. They had not thought of that!

“And so he told Jenny Elf to decide, because it affected her,” Gloha said. "And she doesn't want to decide, because she doesn't want to die—but she doesn't want to make him prisoner either.”

“And maybe they told her they would kill them both, if they told,” Dolph said, his horror growing. “So she couldn't tell. But she asked Electra a question, and nobody knew what it meant, so the goblins didn't realize.”

“What question was this?” Cheiron asked alertly.

“Why didn't Electra marry Dolph,” Gloha said.

Chex, flying on the other side of them, nodded. “If Electra doesn't marry Dolph, she will die. If Che does not agree to be Gwendolyn's companion, Jenny Elf will die. It seems a reasonable parallel.”

“The case is not tight,” Cheiron said. “But it will do as a working hypothesis. If we proceed on that assumption, it is definitely a case of duress. In which case the reason they are not making the decision is to provide us time to free them. An agreement made under such duress would not be binding on Che, but perhaps he doesn't properly appreciate that, so believes that his choice is between slavery and the life of his friend. We shall have to act swiftly, reducing the mountain before the land dragons arrive.”

“But if you attack, won't they kill them anyway?” Dolph asked.