Harpy Thyme (30 page)

“Who?”

“The demoness.”

“Oh. Demons count even less than nymphs do, because they can't interact with me or the castle.”

Metria appeared. She was exquisitely garbed, showing less of her voluptuous body than usual. Her dress was of silk and gauze, and she wore a sparkling necklace, and a tiara in her glossy hair. “I have learned something about this castle of the Notar Republic,” she said. “No demon can interact with you within it, but any demon can outside it. And anyone who marries you can interact with you in the castle, because it will then accept that person as its mistress.”

“Why, that's true,” Veleno said, surprised. “I had forgotten. I thought it didn't matter, because no demoness had any interest. Are you saying that you do?”

“Yes. I will marry you. For a price.”

“A price?”

“Let all the captives go. All the nymphs, and the mortal folk, and the walking skeleton too.”

“I told you before: I can't let the nymphs go until I find the right one.”

Metria considered. “Well, when you're sure that I'm the right one.”

“The moment I find love, none of them will matter. They'll all be freed automatically, and your friends too.”

“Automatically?” Gloha asked.

“When this castle dissolves.”

“Oh, the geis,” Metria said. “Yes, that's right. So we don't have to worry about that. Still, we must bargain. I want you to feed everyone who needs it now. These two here, and Trent in the other cell.”

“If you marry me tonight, they shall eat tonight.”

“Deal. Let's do it.”

Gloha cleared her throat.

“But there's something else I have to tell you,” Metria added. “You know I'm a demoness. I can't really love anyone. But I can pretend to, and make it so good it will fool you. Maybe it will fool the castle too.”

It was Veleno's turn to consider. “It seems worth a try. If it doesn't work, the castle won't dissolve, all the captives will remain, and the goblin girl will have to marry me next.”

“Hey, I'm not agreeing to that!” Gloha protested.

“You don't need to. I'll simply start starving you and your friends again, until you change your mind.”

“Your logic is inescapable,” Gloha said cuttingly.

“So let's get with it,” Metria said.

“Come down to the nuptial chamber.”

“First feed my friends.”

He sighed. “Very well. I have a tray here. I will fetch another.”

Metria reconsidered. “I don't want a stupid simple chamber wedding. I want a full-scale bash.”

“But that will take time.”

“I can wait if you can.” Metria's dress shifted, becoming a fancy wedding gown. “Don't you want to do it right, for once?”

“That would mean having witnesses and all that inconvenience.”

“There can be witnesses. Let my friends attend. The nymphs too.”

“But I'd have to let them out of their cells.”

“So the castle's still tight, isn't it?”

“One's a Magician. He could change one of the others into a monster to devour me.”

“He has a point,” Graeboe said. “He has no reason to trust us.”

“Make them take oaths of nonhostility,” Metria said. “In this castle, all oaths are binding, even if the people who make them aren't honest.”

“You have learned about it,” Veleno said.

“Sure. The Notar Republic isn't really the castle, it's a situation. Anything it oversees has to be true. Wherever the castle is, that's a piece of the Republic, and its law governs. So the oaths will do it.”

Veleno looked at Gloha and Graeboe. “Will you make the oath of nonhostility? That means you can't do anything hostile to me, such as trying to act against my interest. Such as trying to escape.”

Gloha felt a chill. “Oh, I don't like this,” she murmured.

“You don't have to swear to marry him,” Graeboe pointed out. “Just not to hurt him.”

It occurred to her that the freedom of the castle would be a lot more comfortable than confinement to this chamber. For one thing, she needed to get to the privy room. “All right.”

“Then swear, and I'll give you the freedom of the castle,” Veleno said.

Gloha closed her eyes, nerved herself, and spoke. “I hereby swear the oath of nonhostility to the proprietor of this castle.” At that point she felt several loops of a silken cord settle around her and draw gently tight. She opened her eyes, surprised, but there was nothing to see. She realized that these were the ties of the binding oath; it bound her invisibly, but securely.

Graeboe took the oath. Then Veleno unlocked the door. He handed Gloha the key. “Let your other friends out-but only after they make the oath. I'll go see about more food, and arrangements for the wedding.”

Surprised again, Gloha took the key. “You have this tray,” she said to Graeboe. “I'll have the next. After I release Trent and Marrow.”

“And I'll make sure of those wedding arrangements,” Metria said with enthusiasm. “Oh, I'll make Xanth's most beautiful bride.” She vanished.

Gloha followed Veleno down the stairs. Things had happened so swiftly she felt dizzy. But at least now there was a chance for things to work out better.

“That way,” Veleno said, pointing to a side passage. He continued straight ahead.

She followed the passage, and came to the cell. “You got free!” Trent cried gladly.

“Not exactly. Metria is marrying Veleno, so he is giving us the freedom of the castle, provided we swear an oath of nonhostility. We can't try to harm him or to escape, until it is clear that the marriage is valid. Graeboe and I made the oath, and you must make it now.”

“I am not ready to make that oath,” Trent said mildly.

“Then I can't unlock your cell.”

“This is interesting. Have you learned honor?”

“I thought I always had it. But it doesn't matter. When I made the oath, invisible bindings bound me, and I must honor it. It's a geis.”

“An obligation of honor,” he agreed. “If Metria's marriage doesn't work, what becomes of you?”

“Then I am back where I started. I haven't agreed to marry him, but I would get locked up and starved until I did agree. And so would you and Graeboe.”

“Yet you honor your agreement, despite this risk?”

“Yes. Now are you going to make the oath? You will be fed anyway, but I can't let you out without that oath.” She hesitated. “Please, Magician, I don't want to leave you confined.” In fact she didn't want to leave him at all. She remembered how he had confessed his desire to transform Cynthia Centaur back to human form, for a reason he didn't need to state, considering Cynthia's interest in him. Gloha couldn't help wondering how it would be to be transformed to human woman form, at least for a night with him. Of course the Magician had no notion of her interest, and she would not tell him. She just-wished.

“I don't need to make the oath,” Trent said. “Neither does Marrow.”

“Yes you do. Because otherwise I can't let you out.” The binding oath held her firmly, though she really wanted to free him so she wouldn't have to leave him here and go about her remaining business alone.

He smiled. “Let me explain. You meant well, but you came within transformation range just now. I could have changed you to a flea, and picked up the key ring as it fell to the floor. Then we would have been free without the oath.”

“Oh!” Gloha said, stepping hastily back. She knew it was true. “Why didn't you?”

“Because part of what I learned during my exile from Xanth was honor. I have never since that time played false to any person or creature. It would not have been honorable to use your naiveté to trick you into violating your oath. So though I am not entirely at ease with the compromise you made with the master of this castle, I must adhere to the deal you made, and may offer no hostility to him. My continued incarceration thus becomes pointless.” He pushed on the door, and it swung open. Gloha gaped. “How did that get unlocked?” Marrow held up a crooked bone. “Skeleton key,” he explained. “I have learned how to adapt. I wish I had thought of this before Graeboe got caught, but my hollow head isn't always efficient with thoughts. Once I did think of it, it seemed best to wait until we knew the full situation of the castle.”

“You mean you could have gotten out without making the oath-if I hadn't made it?” Gloha asked, appalled.

“True,“ Trent said. ”But it was your decision to make, as this is your quest we are on."

She shook her head. She could only hope that Metria's decision to marry Veleno worked out. Otherwise the demoness might have made more mischief than she knew.

They went downstairs. Gloha located the castle privy, then checked the rest of the main floor layout. It seemed to be a well-designed castle, but very quiet, because there were no servants. There in the castle dining room Veleno had laid out several more pies from his courtyard pie trees. The fare here was limited, but that couldn't be helped. They were hungry.

“I'll take mine up to eat with Graeboe,” Gloha said. She would rather have remained with Trent, but the giant needed her company more. She laid the key ring on the table where Veleno would find it, and started off.

“I shall wait here for Veleno to reappear,” Trent said, sitting down to attack his pie.

“I shall release the nymphs,” Marrow said. “They don't need oaths either; they are harmless.“ He picked up the key ring. ”And they surely appreciate weddings."

Gloha wasn't sure about that. Each nymph had been married to Veleno for one evening, and then suffered what must have been by Notar Republic rules an automatic annulment when she didn't remember it next morning. But she agreed that it wasn't right to leave them locked up.

Gloha followed the route to the highest chamber. Graeboe had hardly started eating his pie. It wasn't that he wasn't hungry, but that he was too weak. That was what she had been afraid of.

“Come on. I'll help you.” She sat on the floor beside him. She didn't ask him if he wanted help, because then he would have remembered his pride. She just used the spoon that she had picked up with her pie. She fed him one mouthful after another. Between times she ate bites of her own pie.

“Thank you,” he said, seeming to recover somewhat. “I regret putting you to this trouble.”

“I wish I could feed you something to make you strong again,” she said wistfully.

“I am glad just to have known you.”

“Thank you.” She leaned down and kissed him on the ear.

When he had eaten as much as he could, she finished off her pie and his, then lifted him and carried him carefully down to the main floor. She wanted to be able to keep track of him, though she had no idea what she could do if he got worse.

Meanwhile, things were changing. Every chamber was lighted. Nymphs were all over the place, helping with the wedding preparations. Marrow Bones was directing the construction of benches for a number of folk to sit on. Metria was fogging in and out, giving spot instructions on decor. The demoness could not do anything physical herself, but seemed to enjoy directing all the others. The nymphs did not seem to find it unusual for a demoness and a skeleton to be supervising things. Since their memory did not extend back to yesterday, they probably thought that this was the way it always had been. Trent must have transformed one of the plants of the courtyard garden to a fabric tree, because nymphs were tearing brightly colored lengths of cloth and hanging them up as decorations. The castle was becoming festive, in strange contrast to its normal atmosphere.

Two more figures appeared. “Magpie!” Gloha exclaimed, stepping up to hug her old tutor. “What are you doing here?”

“Why, I came for the wedding, dear. And so did Dara.”

Gloha looked at the other woman. She was elegantly formed and garbed, looking much like a queen. “You're Dara Demoness? Humfrey's first wife? I've heard so much about you,” she said insincerely.

Dara smiled. “Not all of us are like Metria, as you should know from knowing Magpie.”

Metria appeared, trailing smoke. “I heard that! You lost your soul, and pzoopl you were gone. That's just like me.”

“But I reformed,” Dara said evenly. “Now I act as if I have a soul, though I don't. That won't be a problem for you, I suspect.”

“No problem at all,” Metria agreed. “I'm only going to stay long enough to find out what love is. Then I'll be out of here.”

“Oh, I don't think so, dear,” Magpie said.

“Well, what do you know?” Metria demanded. “You've spent too much time being a servant to mortals. It was bad enough with that Princess Thorn-”

“Princess who?” Dara inquired.

“Prickle, spur, barb, spine, spike, nettle, cactus, blood-red, flower-”

“Rose?”

“Whatever,” Metria agreed crossly. “Princess Rose. But then you got into lesser ones, even goblins and ogres like that Gumbo.”

“Okra,” Magpie said. “Okra Ogress.”

“Whatever. You've lost your perspective.”

“I doubt it,” Magpie said, unperturbed. “I wouldn't miss this occasion for anything.”

“Well, you might as well make yourself useful, then. The wedding's in only a time and a couple of moments.”

“I shall be glad to,” Magpie said. “The job might as well be done right.” She vanished, to reappear elsewhere in the room just in time to prevent three nymphs from hanging a festoon upside down.

“And who is your young man?” Dara inquired, glancing at Graeboe.

Gloha realized that she was still carrying the elf. Hastily she set him down. “This is Graeboe Giant. He's not my-”

“A giant?” Dara said, surprised. She looked more closely. “Why, so he is. Is the Magician Trent in the vicinity, by any chance?”

“Yes, he transformed Graeboe. It's complicated.”

“It certainly is. But it will soon simplify dramatically. I wish you every happiness together.” She moved off to untangle several nymphs who had gotten themselves wrapped in material; shapely arms and legs were waving at odd angles and screams were starting to emerge.

Gloha turned to Graeboe, embarrassed. “She just assumed we were-”

“She just came on the scene,” he said. “She doesn't know.”

Another figure appeared before them. This was a portly elder demon with a frighteningly certain face. “Of course she knows,” he said. “Are your heads full of mush? You would have seen the outcome yourselves if you had any wit at all.”