Chorus Skating (15 page)

“Who is it, who's there?”

At the sound of her voice the four soldiers rushed forward to prostrate themselves at the side and foot of the bed.

“Your most exalted and supreme Highness!” Naike's voice was constricted with emotion. “I am Lieutenant Naike of the Clan C'Huritoupa. These are my troops.” He proceeded to name each of them before turning back to her. “All good and true soldiers of Harakun. We have dreamed of this moment for many months. Now we are here, and at your disposal. As are our allies and friends, the adventurer Mudge and the great spellsinger Jon-Tom.” He was sufficiently emboldened by their accomplishment to meet her gaze directly.

“Your mother, the Queen, has all but despaired of your safe return. She misses you desperately, as do your sisters and brother.”

The Princess nodded. She was wide awake now, and thinking hard. “That I regret, though not the confrontation which led to my present irksome situation. I take it you are here to effect my rescue?”

“No.” Having had his long look at the royal self, Mudge was now anxiously watching the door. “We thought we might 'ave your company at a nice tea party, we did, and then be on our 'appy-go-lucky way.”

“Be nice, Mudge.” Jon-Tom chided his companion. “She's been under a lot of stress.”

“Oi, I can see that from the 'orrific conditions to which she's been subjected.” The otter kicked at a satin pillow stuffed with the finest down, his boot sinking into it up to the ankle.

Meanwhile she had slipped out of the bed and into a wrap that was like a snowstorm of pale blue chiffon. Jon-Tom observed that her shape was slightly slimmer, her coloring a shade lighter than that of the soldiers, though the dark bands on her lower body and tail were equally distinctive. Mudge was eyeing her afresh with something other than indifferent respect.

Same old Mudge. Jon-Tom smiled to himself. Otters never changed.

Aleaukauna rested a paw on Naike's shoulder. “You have come a long way to rescue me. I did not think I would
need
rescuing, but then I did not expect to have to deal with one as deceitful as my captor. Your reward shall be commensurate with your deeds.” She bestowed an affectionate gaze upon the quartet of bright-eyed, eager soldiers. “But first there is much that needs be done.”

“Truly yes.” The Lieutenant nodded toward the door. “This place is defended from the inside out, making escape difficult.”

“I have seen much of it,” she told him. “Though my movements were controlled, my eyes were not. I think I can find us a safe way out.”

Heke started for the portal. “Then let's be on our way, Your Highness, before the sleeping spell Jon-Tom laid on your guards wears off or another comes to check on you.” Pausing at the doorway, he peered cautiously through the small barred window. “Still asleep,” he informed his companions.

Eyes like polished onyx lit from within met Jon-Tom's own. It was a look of complete confidence and utter lack of inhibition. The combination rocked him.

“A real spellsinger,” she murmured admiringly.

“Aye,” declared Naike proudly. “And his brave companion.”

Stepping forward, Mudge took the Princess's delicate hand and bestowed upon its back a whiskery kiss that Jon-Tom thought lingered long enough to exceed the bounds of propriety.

“Mudge …” he began warningly.

The otter glanced back reassuringly. “I know, mate, I know. We're only 'ere to 'elp with the rescue.” Grinning ingratiatingly, he turned back to the Princess. “That don't mean we should overlook our bloomin' manners, it don't. I ain't never met a real princess before.”

More amused than anything else, she regally withdrew her hand. “Evidently.”

“You have to excuse my friend.” Jon-Tom stepped up. “He's … not shy.”

“Fortune favors the bold,” she commented with a smile.

A frowning Naike interposed himself between Mudge and Aleaukauna. “The night wanes, and with it our margin of safety. If you truly know a circumspect path out of this place, Your Highness, we should pursue it as quickly as possible.”

She nodded. Gathering her chiffon about her she started for the door, the Lieutenant hovering at her side.

“We'll have you back at the palace in a month's time.”

“I know that you will, Lieutenant, bold and competent as you and your troops are. However, I cannot leave until certain obligations I have set upon myself are fulfilled.”

Heke and Pauko exchanged a baffled look. Naike spoke uncertainly. “Your Highness, I'm afraid I don't understand. What obligations?”

“I am of royal blood. As such I have a duty not only to Harakun and to my family, but to others who share that status.”

“Others?” Naike was trying to fight off the notion that was swelling in his mind.

They all fell within range of her sweetly imperious gaze, Mudge and Jon-Tom included. She had very long eyelashes, Jon-Tom noted.

“What I mean is that I could not in good conscience seek safety for myself if it meant abandoning my sisters to continued imprisonment.”

“Why the 'ell not?” Mudge muttered under his breath. “Sounds like a reasonable course o' action to me.”

From his position near the door Heke pleaded deferentially. “Your Highness, I am only a poor soldier, but it seems to me that we have no time here to spare on diversions, however noble the cause. Jon-Tom's spell could fail at any moment, or other guards could come and discover us. We need to be away from here, and quickly!”

Ignoring him, she indicated the ornate ring which jangled on Naike's wrist. “You have the keys to the other chambers. It will take only moments to free my sisters in isolation.”

“Maybe,” admitted Pauko, “but a larger party of escapees will be easier to detect.”

“Already we are seven,” she argued. “What matters a few more?”

“What indeed,” Naike groused.

“Do I command you or not?” she snapped.

Placing his right arm across his chest, the Lieutenant bowed low. “We who serve are here to do your bidding, Highness.”

“Speak for yourself, guv.” Turning to leave, Mudge found himself held back by a heavy human hand.

“Mudge, we can't just abandon them now.”

“Oi, can't we, then?” The otter eyed him coolly. “Just watch me.”

“Going to find your own way out?” Jon-Tom inquired calmly.

At the door the otter paused with one hand on the handle. Then he turned and waved an angry finger at his friend. “'Ere now, if I didn't think you'd get your bloody overbearin' self killed after all these years, I bloody well
would
take off on me own!”

“Of course you would.” Jon-Tom suppressed a smile. “I know that I wouldn't have a chance out there without you to watch over me.”

“Well, as long as you know that,” said the otter huffily. He stepped aside to let Naike and the Princess pass.

The rotunda was still deserted save for the two somnolent attendants, who rested upright in their chairs like a pair of soft sculptures. Around them, the compound still slept. Of particular note, no outraged trumpeting reverberated from a distant, isolated corridor.

Still safe, Jon-Tom assured himself as he wondered how much longer the stupid spell (as it were) would hold.

The portal next to Aleaukauna's yielded to another of the ornate keys on Naike's ring. She pushed past him, whispering urgently into the moonlit interior. From out in the rotunda Jon-Tom could see that the chamber closely resembled the one that had been home and cell to the Princess.

“Umagi! It's Aleaukauna. Rouse yourself. From Harakun have come brave ones to free us!”

“Really?” The voice was quite deep, Jon-Tom thought, but still distinctively feminine. “It's about time. I wish I could speak as well for my own ineffectual followers.”

There was a blur of activity within. Then the Princess and Naike stepped back, trailed by a massive shape draped in yellow and black suede.

Princess Umagi of Tuuro Exalted was a very graceful, very imposing, and very large mountain gorilla. Jon-Tom estimated her weight at between three hundred and four hundred pounds (it was hard to be any more precise because nearly everything was concealed beneath the flowing suede). Resting on massive feet and one set of knuckles, she used her other hand to brush back the tail of the black and silver scarf she had tied around her forehead. A matching, transparent veil masked her face.

Jon-Tom found himself thinking not about her, but about Manzai. Then he leaned over to whisper to Mudge.

“Well?”

“Well, wot, mate?”

“Aren't you going to be polite and kiss her hand?”

“Ain't sure I could lift it, mate. Why don't you give it a go?”

Jon-Tom straightened. “I'll stick with a simple hello, as always.”

Princess Umagi hugged Aleaukauna, the mongoose all but vanishing within the expansive simian embrace. “The others?” the she-gorilla inquired.

Aleaukauna nodded emphatically. “Each in their turn. We'll leave no one here for our captor to toy with.”

From the next cell they liberated Quiquell of Opan, a silky anteater fluid of form and tongue. That extraordinary organ bestowed a grateful lick upon each of the rescuers in turn, wrapping entirely around a startled Jon-Tom's face before the tip eventually touched him on the lips. It was, he reflected somewhat dazedly, a kiss of thanks like no other.

In contrast, her voice was whispery and barely audible—a reflection of the extremely narrow physiognomy from which it emerged.

“Half done,” announced Aleaukauna briskly as they moved along.

Who next? Jon-Tom found himself wondering. Or rather, what next? One of the attendants let out a snuffle and he turned sharply in the sleeping raccoons' direction. How much longer could the rescuers count on passing unnoticed? It struck him that they were playing their luck for all it was worth.

From the next chamber they freed Seshenshe of Paressi Glissar, a lynx of fine form and grand manner. She was effusive in her thanks, giving Jon-Tom a nervous moment to admire the whitest, sharpest teeth he had ever seen so near to his own.

This won't be a problem,
he tried to convince himself as Naike struggled with the lock to the next cell.
Everything's under control.

Then the Lieutenant shoved aside the barrier to liberate the next princess, and the spellsinger's control went as shaky as his legs.

Chapter 9

ANSIBETTE OF BOROBOS
had hair the shade of imperial topaz and eyes of translucent lapis. Six feet tall, she seemed formed from what at first glance appeared to be an unholy amalgam of taffy and marble. There was entirely too much of what she was to be restrained within a single epidermal envelope, yet somehow her body succeeded in sustaining this unprecedented feat of physiological legerdemain.

She was, if anything, more than human. Her natural grace left him feeling like a beached sturgeon.

Mudge eyed his friend appraisingly. “
Tch
—utter loss o' the critical faculties. Note the vacant expression, the slack jaw, the limp upper limbs.” He jabbed his friend sharply in the ribs.

Jon-Tom blinked angrily. “What was that for?”

“Sorry, mate, but you were forgettin' to breathe.” He rubbed his paws together. “One more to go an' then we're out o' this gilded cesspool. That is, if you can get your legs to work.”

Princess Ansibette's voice was a duet for harp and celesta.

“Oh, thank you, thank you all for your bravery and courage!” Like her royal sisters, she advanced to individually praise her rescuers. Unable to move, Jon-Tom awaited what was to come.

She took his hand and shook it firmly before moving on to likewise acknowledge Mudge and the others.

It broke the spell and enabled him to move, though his head threatened to twist completely around atop his shoulders.

“She's just another damn spoiled royal,” the otter reminded him. “One more we'll 'ave to baby-sit until we're clear o' this dump.”

“Right.” Jon-Tom managed to mumble. “Just another ex-prisoner. Or ex-collectible.” It was easier to think about Manzai than about… than about…

He pressed on, resolutely struggling to keep his eyes to himself.

“'Onestly.” Mudge murmured his disapproval. “'Umans!”

“One last chamber, and then all are freed and we can be off.” Aleaukauna did her best to hurry Naike along.

Her urging was superfluous. Even as she spoke, the Lieutenant was turning the key in the lock. Awakened by all the activity, Pivver of Trenkuhan was already dressed and waiting for them.

She was smaller than the princesses Ansibette and Umagi, but as tall as Aleaukauna. Perfectly groomed deep brown fur shone from beneath green and gold silks while alert eyes darted from one rescuer to the next. Legs and arms were as short as her tail, but her torso was sinuous and supple.

She was, in short, an otter, and it was Jon-Tom's turn to chortle.

As Aleaukauna started off, Naike was forced to restrain her.

“Your pardon, Highness, but we cannot flee that direction.”

“why not?” Quiquell demanded to know.

“Because there's a temporarily loopy elephant blocking the way, and he's shut up behind doors we don't know how to open,” Jon-Tom explained. “We'll have to find another way out.”

“You were fortunate to get this far,” Princess Pivver declared admiringly.

“Oi, fortunate's our middle names!” Mudge's whiskers quivered. The otter was the only creature Jon-Tom had ever met who could strut sitting down.

Pivver was lovely, he had to admit. For a member of the
Lutrinae.
As for Mudge, he was floating along a finger's width or so above the floor. His friend, Mudge. Mudge the Flagrant, Mudge the Lecherous, Mudge the …

You're worrying too much,
Jon-Tom admonished himself. Pivver was a royal princess. No doubt she knew how to handle rogues, even one who had participated in her rescue and to whom she might feel she owed something. Not that it was any of his business.