Un Lun Dun (28 page)

59

Despotic Logorrhea

“S
O
,” the enormous voice said as Deeba and her companions were dragged inside. The sound of the words echoed everywhere. “U
NLICENSED SPEAKING
. T
HAT’S A SERIOUS OFFENSE IN THE
T
ALKLANDS
.”

In the dead center of the huge hall, a man sat on a raised throne. At least, Deeba thought,
sort
of a man.

Under sumptuous robes, his limbs and body were twig-thin. His head was extended and misshapen, to accommodate his absolutely enormous mouth. It was almost as big as the rest of his body. His huge jaw and teeth moved exaggeratedly as he spoke with that astonishingly loud voice.

He wore a crown of inverted spikes, each of which, Deeba realized, was a speaking trumpet that swung down in front of his mouth, to amplify him further.

“T
ERMINUS
!” he said. “S
POOL
! B
RING THE CULPRITS CLOSER
. G
ECKO
!”

When he spoke, Deeba saw quick motion in front of Mr. Speaker’s mouth.

“What was that?” Hemi whispered.

“Q
UIET
!” Mr. Speaker shouted, and Deeba gasped to see something living slip from his mouth, scuttle like a millipede down his shirt, and disappear. “N
O TALKING WITHOUT PERMISSION
!”

With each word, another strange animal-thing seemed to coalesce and drop from behind his teeth. They were small, and each a completely different shape. They flew or crawled or slithered into the room, where, Deeba realized, hundreds of other creatures waited. Again, none had mouths.

“S
OOOOO
,” Mr. Speaker said slowly, watching her, a snail-thing popping out from between his lips. “Y
OU’RE JEALOUS OF MY UTTERLINGS
?”

Five more animals emerged. One, when he said
jealous,
was a beautiful iridescent bat.

“S
OLILOQUY
!” Mr. Speaker said. His enormous lips stretched around sound that seemed to coagulate. The word thickened and tumbled out, taking on color and shape, rolling into his lap in a trembling ball.

It unfolded shyly and looked around. The word
soliloquy
was a long-necked sinuous quadruped. Mr. Speaker raised his eyebrow at it. The utterling scrambled off him, shook itself, reared on its hind legs, and grabbed hold of Hemi.

“Eeurgh…” Hemi said, then shut his mouth sharp as Mr. Speaker stared at him.

“U
TTERLINGS
,” Mr. Speaker said. “M
Y WORDS MADE FLESH
.” More fleeting things left his mouth. “G
UM
!” he bellowed, and a slug-snake oozed out and around Deeba’s ankles.

“Good thing they don’t last forever,” the book whispered. “Or he’d take over UnLondon.”

“A
RE YOU SPEAKING
?” Utterlings tumbled from Mr. Speaker’s maw. “I
GAVE NO PERMISSION
! Q
UIET
! C
ARTOGRAPHY
!”

The last word was a thing like a bowler hat with several spidery legs and a fox’s tail. All through the hall, the utterlings trembled.

After a silence, Deeba raised her hand. Mr. Speaker sat back, obviously pleased that she had asked permission to speak. He nodded.

“Um…I’m sorry I didn’t know the rules and that…but…we really need to get out and find something. It’s really important. We’re in a hurry.”

“W
HAT IS THE NATURE OF YOUR SEARCH
?”

The utterlings
the
and
search
were tiny beakless birds. Deeba ignored them as they fluttered. Hemi nodded at her, and the book whispered, “Go on.”

“Well,” she said. “We’re looking for something to fight the Smog. Please let us go. For UnLondon’s sake.”

“T
HE
S
MOG
? W
HAT DO
I
CARE ABOUT THE
S
MOG
?” The two utterlings for the word
Smog
were similar little monkeys, but each had a different skin color and number of limbs. Deeba supposed it must be to do with Mr. Speaker’s intonation.

“T
HE
S
MOG DOESN’T BOTHER ME
,
AND
I
WON’T BOTHER IT
. W
HAT DO
I
CARE IF IT RUNS
U
N
L
ONDON
? A
WKWARD
!” He spat out
awkward,
a two-headed chicken-bodied utterling. “Y
OU BROKE THE LAWS OF THE
T
ALKLANDS
. W
HAT AM
I
GOING TO DO WITH YOU
?”

Deeba thought quickly. The utterlings were strong. And even if she could break free, Mr. Speaker would just say more words and they would be overpowered.

“I could pay a fine,” Deeba said. “I’ve got cash. (I know I said it was yours but I assume you’re not going to kick up a fuss?)” She whispered the last sentence to Hemi out of the side of her mouth.

“Just get us out of here,” he whispered back.

“N
OW THAT
,” said Mr. Speaker, “
IS AN INTERESTING IDEA
.”

“It’s in my pocket,” Deeba said. “I don’t know how much, but—”

“N
OT
MONEY
.
” A humpbacked lizard undulated down Mr. Speaker’s front. “Y
OU PAY ME IN DIFFERENT CURRENCY
.”

“What is it you want?”

“W
ORDS
.”

“What?” said Deeba.

“P
AY IN WORDS
. T
ELL ME NEW WORDS
.” Deeba winced to see Mr. Speaker’s vast tongue lick his enormous lips. “G
IVE ME GOOD PAYMENT
,
YOU CAN GO
. P
ROMISE
.

“A
ND NO INVENTING
! A
WORD’S NO GOOD IF YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE SAYING IT
. I’
LL KNOW IF YOU MAKE IT UP
. S
UCH
!”
Such
was a football-sized mouthless beetle in blue.

“Well,” Deeba said, thinking carefully. “I might be able to. ’Cause I’m not from here. So I know some words you might not’ve heard.” She paused and thought about things she and her friends might say—or might once have said: she wasn’t going to give up anything too good or new.

“I like your crown,” she said. “It’s a nice bit of bling.”

Mr. Speaker gaped in absolute delight.