Isle Of View (31 page)

“If—” Gloha said.

“Then—” Dolph continued.

“To save her life,” she concluded.

“And they wouldn't tell, because—”

“And we mustn't either.”

“Except for Cheiron and Chex.”

“After they give their word.”

“And no one else,” he said.

“And no one else,” she agreed.

But he wondered about the demoness. She honored no human scruples and could blab the secret throughout Xanth. Would she? She hadn't yet, so maybe she didn't intend to. It couldn't be that she had any compassion for the goblin girl or any interest in better relations with the goblins. But maybe she thought it would be more entertaining to have a goblin chiefess, some future year. Or maybe she had lost interest entirely. That last would be best.

They arrived at the surface and quickly moved down to talk with Cheiron and Chex. Dolph resumed his natural form.

“We must have your word not to reveal what we have learned,” Dolph said.

“Does it concern the welfare of my son?” Cheiron demanded.

“Yes.”

“Then! will not give my word.”

“But—” Gloha said to Chex.

“Dear—” Chex murmured to Cheiron.

“Until you tell me why this is necessary,” the centaur said to Dolph.

“Che has agreed to be Gwendolyn's companion, and—”

"What!” Cheiron demanded, outraged.

“And we think he has reason,” Gloha said to Chex.

“But we can't tell you, unless—” Dolph said to Cheiron.

“Dear—” Chex murmured.

“Is there duress?” Cheiron demanded.

“No,” Dolph and Gloha said together.

“Ha!” Grundy Golem said from Cheiron's mane.

“Not him!” Dolph said. “Grundy's got the biggest mouth in Xanth.”

“Go elsewhere for the moment,” Chex said to Grundy.

“But—” Then the golem translated the nature of her glance, and hastily departed.

Chex rotated the glance and brought it to bear on Cheiron.

Cheiron considered. “We will not speak your secret,” he said at last. “But I make no commitment about my actions.”

Dolph glanced around to make sure that no other creature was in hearing. “We think Gwendolyn goblin is blind, or close to it. If the goblins learn—”

“They'll kill her, so she can't be chiefess,” Gloha said.

“So Che—” Dolph started.

“Will help her—” Gloha continued.

“I can see that the goblin girl has a problem,” Cheiron said. “But that does not justify foal-napping our kid.” He was evidently upset.

Then Chex touched his arm as she looked toward the mountain. They all looked. Che had arrived at the surface, with Gwendolyn Goblin and Jenny Elf.

Chex was thrilled to see her foal again, but she knew that the situation had not been resolved. For one thing, Cheiron had not made a commitment about his actions, and that meant he still intended to get Che back.

“Oh, we forgot to tell you,” Prince Dolph said. “Che said he would come up to tell you himself. That's Gwendolyn Goblin with him.”

What an omission! But of course Dolph remained pretty juvenile. Marriage would cure him of that.

They trotted up to the tunnel opening. Chex reached down to hug Che! “You're all right!” she exclaimed, almost painfully relieved.

“Of course, Dam,” he replied. “We have been treated very well. I have decided to remain as Gwenny's companion, so will not be returning with you.”

“But why?” she asked, for she knew that she must not reveal her knowledge of the answer.

“I weighed the considerations, and consulted with Jenny, and made the appropriate decision.”

He had indeed! But how could she give up her foal to the goblins?

“If you will not give adequate reason, I can not accept your decision,” Cheiron said carefully. “I must recover you from captivity.”

Che, with an aplomb that made Chex proud, avoided responding to that. “Sire, Dam, allow me to introduce my companion, Gwendolyn Goblin, daughter of Chief Gouty and Godiva.”

“Hello, Gwendolyn,” Chex and Cheiron said together.

“Gwenny, these are Cheiron and Chex Centaur, my sire and dam,” Che said.

“Hello, Cheiron and Chex,” the girl said shyly, blinking. She was pretty in the gobliness manner, in a bright red dress and red slippers and with a red bow in her hair. With other species, appearance was no necessary guide to character, but with goblins it was. The ugly males were brutish, and the pretty females were nice.

“And my friend Jenny Elf,” Che said, turning to the elf girl. She was in a blue dress, slippers, and ribbon, a perfect complement to the goblin's outfit. She had brushed the snarls from her hair so that it hung long, as the goblin's did; she seemed like an elf sister, except for the pointed ears and huge spectacles. “She helped save me from the Goblinate of the Golden Horde and has been a great comfort to me in my hours of need.”

“Hello,” Jenny said, almost as shyly. “We met before, Chex Centaur. You gave me these spectacles.”

“Yes, of course, dear,” Chex said. “I am glad they have served you well.”

“And Sammy Cat,” Che concluded, indicating the orange speed bump now snoozing at Che's front feet. Sammy twitched an ear.

“Hello, Sammy Cat,” Cheiron said formally. “Now we must talk with the goblin chief, because this matter has not been resolved.”

An older gobliness appeared at the tunnel opening. With her were Nada Naga and a male naga.

“This is Godiva Goblin, who is handling business while the chief is indisposed,” Nada said. “And my brother, Prince Naldo. Godiva, these are Cheiron and Chex, Che's sire and dam.”

“As you have learned, Che has agreed to be my daughter's companion,” Godiva said. “Your continued hostile activity seems pointless, in the light of that decision.”

“You abducted our foal,” Cheiron told her. “The fact that you subsequently prevailed on him to accede to your purpose does not absolve you of guilt or justify his continued presence in your mountain.”

“I did what I had to do,” Godiva said.

“And I will do what I have to do,” Cheiron said.

“Oh, Che, I did not know it would be like this!” Gwendolyn said to the foal. “I don't want all this trouble.”

“And it's all my fault!” Jenny Elf said, tears on her face. “I must have made the wrong decision!”

“No,” Che told her, before Cheiron could speak.

Cheiron was silent, because he was not going to challenge the word of his foal.

“We are on different sides,” Chex said. “It is a situation that can not be resolved by the decision of any one person. We shall have to work out some compromise.”

Cheiron could not oppose that, either. But he was by no means daunted. “I bear no animosity to your daughter,” he told Godiva. “But I will not give up my foal. He is unique in a way your daughter is not, and necessary to our species in a way your daughter is not, and he must be with his own kind. You must find some other companion for Gwendolyn, for Che will not remain in your mountain.”

“Then I think the proof must be in violence,” Godiva said, undaunted. “We shall retire and await your onset.”

“But I don't want this!” Gwendolyn protested, crying. “Che, you must go back to your folks!”

“No.” Che looked desperately unhappy, but his jaw was set in the same way as Cheiron's. He took her hand and turned to the tunnel. They entered, and Jenny Elf followed.

Chex knew she could not let this happen. She had to find some way to resolve it without violence. Che and Cheiron were both set, and neither would change his mind, for centaur character (some said stubbornness) was legendary. But Chex was not only centaur but mother, and she saw in Godiva a mother, and knew why the gobliness was doing this. She saw also that Che and Gwendolyn Goblin really did like each other, and that the elf was friends with both. The key might lie in the elf.

“Jenny!” she called.

The elf paused at the dark hole of the tunnel, turning back. “Yes, Chex Centaur?”

“You are not bound. Come with me.”

Jenny was flustered. “But—”

Godiva, evidently recognizing Chex's concern, interceded. “Go with her, Jenny. We will allow you to return to us, if it can safely be done.”

The girl remained confused. “But I can't—I mean—”

“I think she already knows. Talk to her.”

Jenny hesitated a moment more, then turned back to the tunnel. “Che!” she called. “I—I will join you later.” Then she picked up her orange fur ball and came down to Chex.

Cheiron turned away. “The barrage will resume in a moment,” he said.

Nada bid parting to her brother, and walked down the slope. Chex knew that she was suffering similarly, not wanting to be on the other side from Naldo. This was all so difficult, and it threatened the welfare of Che. Chex wished that for once centaurs were not so resolute. But she knew better than to argue.

The elf came to her. “Get on my back,” Chex said. “We must get away from here and talk. Perhaps we can find some way through.”

The girl set the cat on Chex's back, then scrambled up herself. It was obvious that she had never been on a centaur before, but she seemed to have a touch for riding, for her balance was sure once she got settled.

“Hold on,” Chex said. Then she flicked them with her tail, spread her wings, and leaped off the mountain.

She saw, as she moved past the camp, that Nada was hugging Electra, being consoled. Gloha, the winged goblin girl, was standing beside Prince Dolph, looking forlorn. And Cheiron was directing the rocs and dragons in the renewed attack. It would be a savage one, Chex knew, because of the time limit: whatever was to be accomplished had to be done before the land dragons arrived. The irony was that Cheiron now understood why the goblins needed Che, and that they would not mistreat the foal, but could not retreat from his position. Cheiron was a male centaur: that said it all.

Then they were up above the trees and sailing into the sky. Chex did not want to watch the bombardment; she knew that little good would come of it, no matter how things turned out. Violence was the way of males, and it seldom benefited anyone, but they kept right on with it. She could not tell Cheiron no, but she could signal her distress by absenting herself from the proceedings.

"Oooo, this is fun” Jenny Elf exclaimed. She definitely knew how to ride; her balance was excellent. The cat seemed to be having no trouble either; by the feel of him, he was asleep again.

“How is it that you know how to ride, Jenny, when there are no centaurs in your land?” Chex inquired.

“We're wolf riders,” the girl explained. “We have wolf friends, and when we have to go somewhere fast, we ride them. I don't have a wolf friend yet, but I guess we all know how to ride, just naturally. This is like being on a wolf when it makes a huge leap.”

“Those must be big wolves!”

“How big are wolves in Xanth?”

“Too small for you to ride! Actually, the straight wolves are in Mundania, but if they came here, they would be too small to ride. But your wolves—do they fly?”

“No. They just run fast, and protect us, and are our friends.”

“Did that make it easy for you to be Che's friend?”

“Maybe it did,” the girl said, surprised. “But mostly, Che just needed a friend.”

Chex reviewed what Che and Jenny had been into: the deep jungle, the goblins of the horde, a long trek around the Elements, and captivity in Goblin Mountain. She shuddered to think how Che would have fared alone! “He needed a friend,” she agreed. “And you have been a good one, but now it seems he has another friend.”

“Oh, Gwenny's not exactly a friend. Well, she is, but that's not the point. He's her companion.”

“And she needs a companion who can see for her.”

Jenny didn't answer.

“I called to you, Jenny, because I believe you have the best understanding of the situation,” Chex said. “We believe we have come to understand enough of it to enable us to appreciate Godiva Goblin's motive in abducting our foal. Gwendolyn will be killed if she evinces any significant weakness, and a centaur companion can both alleviate and conceal that weakness. Cheiron and I have undertaken not to tell. Isn't it true that Gwendolyn is blind?”

“No. She can see. Just not very well, no better than I can, and they can't put spectacles on her because then the goblins would know. But Che really can help her, and— oh, I didn't want to tell him to do it—I knew he should come home—but I just couldn't let Gwenny die, and neither could he! We just couldn't!” She was crying again, tormented by the difficulty of the decision even after it had been made.

And Gwendolyn's mother could not stand by and let her daughter be killed, either. Chex knew exactly how that was. That was what made it impossible to hate Godiva. She had indeed done what a mother had to do.

“You don't see well without your spectacles, Jenny,” Chex said. “How did you manage, back in the World of Two Moons? Weren't you almost blind, there?”

“Well, yes, with my eyes. But it didn't matter so much, because of the sending.”

“The what?”

“The sending. It doesn't seem to work in Xanth.”

“Exactly what is it, Jenny?”

"It—it's sort of a mind connection. When there's an emergency, the chief can call everyone in the tribe, without making a sound. Sometimes in past generations that's been the only thing that saved us from disaster.”

“We would call that mind reading,” Chex said. “Some folk have it as their magic talents. But most of us have no mental connection with others.”

“Isn't that awful lonely?” the girl asked wistfully.

“It doesn't seem so, perhaps because we have never experienced it. So you were able to know people because of your contact with their minds?”

“Yes, pretty much. And Sammy helped, in his way; I sort of could see him, I guess by his mind, though I couldn't really talk to him. I did trip and bang into things a lot, but outside in the berry patches there wasn't much to bang into, so it was all right.”

Chex saw how the girl put a positive face on something that must have been a continuing burden to her. It was also clearer now why she kept the cat so close, though she could no longer tune in to his mind. Jenny was from a far, strange world, but she was a good girl, and she had helped Che immeasurably.

“How do you feel about Che?” Chex asked.

“Oh, I like him!” Jenny exclaimed. “I never met a centaur before, except for you, I mean, but he's nice.”

She was absolutely correct. Bur Chex knew that Che, young as he was, was highly discriminating about friendship. He would not have been her friends without good reason. That was the best recommendation Jenny Elf could have had, though she did not know it.

“Yet you gave him up to Gwendolyn Goblin.”

“Oh, I didn't do that!” Jenny protested. “I'll always be his friend! But she—she really does need him for her companion, and she's nice too, and—”

And Jenny was crying. She could have had Che to herself, as it were, but had done what she felt was right, knowing that there would be a smaller place for her in his life because of it. She also surely hurt to think of him remaining tied to the depths of Goblin Mountain. But since he could leave it, in the company of the goblin girl, that was the lesser concern.

That explained why Che had asked Jenny to make the decision. He had known that she would be making as much of a sacrifice as he. Gwendolyn's gain was Jenny's loss. Che had not felt right about deciding that for Jenny. So Jenny had decided it for Jenny. Now she was on the way to being bereft of her only real friend in Xanth.

Chex was not satisfied with that, but in the complex situation they faced, she had no ready solution.

She looked down and spied the land dragons, now significantly closer to the mountain. They were big ones, without even vestigial wings, which meant they were in no way bound to see to Che's safety. The smaller winged dragons would not be able to oppose them. Once the land dragons arrived, they would guard the mountain, and only the rocs would be able to attack. That would not be enough. Cheiron was right: whatever he did had to be done promptly. He surely had a stratagem to bring the mountain down faster than the goblins thought it could be done, and force their capitulation before the following morning. But there was so much danger to Che in that violence!

“Here is the problem,” Chex said after a bit. “Cheiron simply is not going to allow our foal to be held in this manner. If Che has a commitment to the goblins, Cheiron is prepared to void it by eliminating the goblins.”

“But that's worse than ever!” Jenny protested. “They aren't such bad folk, really, not like the horde, and Gwenny truly is nice. And so is Godiva, when you get to know her. And this way the goblins will get better. It's not just Gwenny, it's that it's right to do.”

“I think perhaps it is,” Chex said. “But Cheiron is right too. Do you see any way out of this impasse?”