Serpent Mage (20 page)

“That's enough, Grundle!” Alake snapped. “What he says makes perfect sense.”

“Oh, he can talk well enough,” the dwarf returned. “Not that he said much of anything, if you'll notice. But I'd like to hear what he's got to say about the dragon-snakes.”

The elf maid had returned with the water. Handing the pitcher to Alake, the elf said, in a low voice, “Grundle is right. We need to know about the dragon-snakes.”

Alake gave Haplo an apologetic glance. “Sabia and Grundle fear that you have been sent by the dragon-snakes to spy on us. I have no idea why, since we are their captives and we go to meet our doom willingly—”

“Wait! Slow down.” Haplo raised a hand to halt the flood. He eyed the young women. “I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. But, before you explain, let me tell you that the person who sent me is my liege lord. He is a man, not a dragon. And from what I've seen of dragons in my world, I wouldn't do a damn thing for one except kill it.”

Haplo spoke quietly, his tone and manner convincing. And, in this, he spoke the truth. Dragons in the Labyrinth are highly intelligent, fearsome beings. He'd seen other dragons during his travels. Some were evil, others purportedly good, but he'd found nothing in any of the creatures he trusted.

“Now,” continued Haplo, seeing the dwarf opening her mouth, “suppose you tell me what you three are doing on board this ship all alone.”

“Who says we're alone?” Grundle struck in, but her protest was faint and halfhearted.

It wasn't so much that the three girls believed him, Haplo realized, but that they wanted to believe him. After Haplo'd heard their story, he understood why.

He listened with outward composure to Alake tell their tale. Inwardly, he was fuming. If he had believed in a Higher Power controlling his destiny, which he most assuredly did not, despite Alfred's tricks to convince him otherwise,
¹
then he would have thought the Higher Power was laughing heartily. Weakened in his own magic, weaker than he'd ever been in his life, Haplo'd managed to get himself rescued by three sacrificial lambs trotting meekly to their deaths!

“You can't be serious.

“We are,” said Alake. “It is for the sake of our people.”

“You chose to do this? You haven't tried to escape? To get away?”

“No, and we won't, either,” said Grundle resolutely. “This was our decision. Our parents didn't even know we were leaving. They would have tried to stop us.”

“And they would have been right!” Haplo glared at the three. Trotting along to their deaths … and taking him with them!

Alake's voice sank to a whisper. “You think we're fools, don't you?”

“Yes,” Haplo answered bluntly. “These dragon-snakes, from what you've told me, have tortured and murdered people. And you think they're going to keep their word, accept three sacrifices, then meekly slither away?”

Grundle cleared her throat loudly, drummed her heels on the deck. “Then why make the bargain at all? What do the dragon-snakes get out of it? Why not just murder us and be done with it?”

“What do the dragon-snakes get out of it? I'll tell you what they get. Fear. Anguish. Chaos. In my land, we have creatures that live off fear, thrive off it. Think about it. These dragon-snakes, if they're as powerful as you say, could have come in the night and attacked your seamoons. But, no. What do they do? They come by day. They wreak havoc on small numbers of your people. They give messages, demand sacrifices. And look at the results!

“Your people are far more terrified now than they would have been if they'd had to beat off a sudden attack. And the three of you running off like this has only made things worse for your people, not better.”

Alake wilted beneath Haplo's glowering gaze. Even the stubborn Grundle appeared to lose her defiant attitude, and began to tug uneasily at her side whiskers. Only Sabia, the elf maid, remained cool and calm. She sat on her stool, straight-backed, upright, looking distant and aloof, as if she alone were content with her decision. Nothing he said had made a difference to her.

Odd. But then the elf maid was odd. Haplo couldn't figure out why. There was something about her…Her.

Haplo noticed, suddenly, the way Sabia was sitting. When she'd first sat down, she kept her knees close together, ankles demurely crossed beneath the long skirt. But during Alake's long retelling of their woeful tale, the elf maid had relaxed, forgotten herself. Now she was sitting spraddle-legged on the short stool, her knees akimbo, her hands resting on her knees, her feet tucked behind.

If I'm right, Haplo thought, this is certain to clinch it. They'll have no choice but to go along with me.

“What do you think's happening right now in your family?” Haplo demanded of Alake. “Instead of preparing for war, as he should be doing, your father is now afraid to do anything! He doesn't dare attack the dragon-snakes while they have you captive. He's gnawed by remorse, grows weaker with despair every day.”

Alake was weeping silently. Sabia reached out, took hold of her hand. Haplo rose to his feet, began to pace the small cabin.

“And you.” He rounded on the dwarf. “Your people? What are they doing? Arming themselves, or mourning the loss of their princess? All of them, waiting. Waiting in hope and in dread. And the longer they wait, the larger their fear grows.”

“They'll fight!” Grundle insisted, but her voice quivered.

Haplo ignored her, continued to pace, ten steps each
direction, every turn bringing him nearer Sabia, who was busy trying to comfort Alake.

Grundle sprang up suddenly from her stool, stood facing Haplo defiantly, small hands on her hips.

“We knew that our sacrifice might be for nothing. But it seemed to us that if there was the tiniest chance that the dragon-snakes would keep their part of the bargain, then it was worth it to save our people. And I still say so. What about you Alake? Sabia?”

Alake's brown eyes shimmered with tears, but she managed to nod emphatically.

“I agree,” said Sabia, her voice muffled by the scarf. “We must go through with it. For the sake of our people.”

“The dragon-snakes keep
their
part of the bargain, eh?” Haplo eyed them in grim amusement. “And how about you? What about you keeping your part of the bargain? If these beasts are, by some remote chance, fair and honorable, how do you think they'll react when they find out they've been cheated?”

Reaching out his hand, Haplo caught hold of Sabia's veil and yanked it off.

Sabia snatched futilely at the scarf. When that failed, she averted her face, lowered her head. “Really, sir, what are you doing?” Too late, she brought her knees together, crossed her ankles.

“Three royal daughters.” Haplo raised an eyebrow. “What were you planning to tell the dragon-snakes? That elf maids all look like they've got an apple stuck in their throats? That all elf maids have strong jawlines and well-developed, muscular shoulders? That this is why their chests are flat? Not to mention other accoutrements not generally found on maidens.” Haplo shifted his gaze meaningfully to the elf's groin.

Sabia blushed as deeply as if he
had
been a she. He stole a glance at Alake, who was staring at him, stricken, then at Grundle, who sighed and shook her head.

The young elf stood up, faced Haplo defiantly.

“You are right, sir. I thought only to save the girl I loved and was to have married. It never occurred to me that this
deception would give the dragon-snakes the chance to claim that
we'd
broken faith with them.”

“We never thought about that!” Alake clasped her hands together, fingers twisting nervously. “The dragon-snakes will be furious …”

“Maybe it won't matter.”

That was the dwarf, Grundle, causing trouble again. Haplo could have cheerfully strangled her.

“Devon's not a princess, but he's a prince. As long as the dragon-snakes have three people from royal households, what do they care if we're male or female?”

“They did say three daughters,” Alake murmured, looking pathetically hopeful. “But perhaps Grundle's right…”

Haplo decided that it was time to end this once and for all. “Did it ever occur to you that the dragons may not intend to kill you? They may have other plans for you, plans that require females. Breeding, for example?”

Alake moaned, covered her mouth with her hands. The elf put his arm around her comfortingly, said something to her in a low voice. Grundle was as pale as the dwarf's nut-brown skin would allow. She collapsed back onto a stool, stared unhappily at the deck beneath her feet.

I meant to frighten them. I succeeded, and that's all that matters, Haplo told himself coldly. Now they'll go along with me. No more arguments. I'll take over this ship, ditch these three mensch somewhere, and get on about my business.

“What do you want us to do, sir?” asked the elf.

“First, what's your real name?” Haplo growled.

“Devon of the House of—”

“Devon will do. What or who's steering this ship? Not you, I take it. Who else is on board?”

“We … don't know, sir.” Devon said helplessly. “We assume it's the dragon-snakes. Their magic …”

“You haven't tried to change course? Stop the ship?”

“We can't even get close to the steerage. There's something horrible in there.”

“What is it? Can you see it?”

“No,” Devon admitted, ashamed. “We … couldn't get close enough to see anything.”

“It's a terrible feeling, I tell you!” stated Grundle sullenly, defiantly. “Like walking into death.”

“Which is exactly what you're doing now,” Haplo snapped.

The three glanced at each other, lowered their heads. Children, lost and alone, facing a dreadful fate. Haplo regretted his harsh comment.

You don't want to frighten them too much, he cautioned. You're going to need their help.

“I'm sorry I upset you,” he apologized gruffly. “But we have a saying in my world: The dragon is always smaller in the eye than in the mind.”

“Meaning it's better to know the truth,” said Alake, wiping away her tears. “You're right. I'm not nearly as frightened as I was. Though, if what you say is true, I have more reason to be.”

“It's like having a tooth pulled,” said Grundle. “You always suffer more thinking about it than having it done.” She cocked a bright eye at Haplo. “You're pretty smart… for a human. Where did you say you came from?”

Haplo looked sharply at the dwarf. A shrewd thinker, that one. He would have to keep an eye on her. Right now, though, he didn't have time to waste fending off her needling jabs.

“You shouldn't be as concerned about where I've been as where you're going unless we can get this ship turned around. Which way's the steerage from here?”

“But how will you do that?” Alake asked him, drawing near. Her eyes, when she looked at him, were warm and soft. “It's obviously being controlled by powerful magic.”

“I have some knowledge of magic, myself,” said Haplo.

Ordinarily, he preferred to keep such knowledge to himself, but in this case, the mensch would see him using his magic. Better to prepare them in advance.

“Do you?” Alake drew a deep breath, “So do I. I've been admitted to the Third House. What House are you?”

Haplo recalled what little he knew of the human's crude talent for the arcane, remembered that they loved nothing
more than to shroud even the most rudimentary magical spells in mystery.

“If you are that high in the ranking, you must know that I am not permitted to speak of it,” he said.

His mild rebuke did him no harm with the human girl. By her shining eyes, her admiration for him increased.

“Forgive me,” she said immediately. “It was wrong of me to ask. We'll show you the way.”

The dwarf cast him another shrewd glance, tugged at her side whiskers.

Alake guided him through the small, narrow corridors of the ship. Grundle and Devon came along, the dwarf pointing out to him the various mechanical devices that powered the vessel, which she called a “submersible.” Haplo, glancing out the portholes, could seeing nothing but water, lit by a soft, blue-green light, above, below, and all around.

He was beginning to think that this so-called world of water was, in truth, a world made of nothing but water. There must be land somewhere. Obviously, people who built boats to sail the seas didn't live in those seas like fish. He was intensely curious to know about the seamoons the dwarf had mentioned, must try to think of a way to find out that wouldn't start the wheels turning in the heads of these mensch. He also needed to know more about the seawater itself, whether his growing misgivings about it were true.

Grundle and Devon were, between them, explaining how the submersible operated. Built by dwarves, it was powered by a combination of dwarven mechanical ingenuity and elven mechanical magic.

It seemed, from what Haplo could piece together out of the somewhat confused explanation given him by the dwarf, that the main difficulty in sinking (sailing) a vessel was to get it away from the influence of the seamoons. Due to the gravitational push (not pull) of the moons, the submersibles, which were filled with air, were naturally less dense than the water around them and tended to float toward the worlds as though being drawn by a rope. In order to cause the submersible to sink, it was necessary to increase the density of the ship without flooding it full of water.

Here, Devon explained, was where the elven magic came in. Special magical crystals, engineered by the elven wizards, could increase or decrease their own mass on command. Called mass displacers, these crystals actually solved two problems for ships. First, by increasing the mass in the keel, the ships could sink into the sea as their density became greater than that of the water around them. Second, as the ship sank away from the influence of the outward-pressing gravity of the worlds, the mass displacers provided an artificial gravity for the occupants of the submersible.

Haplo only vaguely understood the concept, understood nothing of “outward-pressing gravity” and “mass displacers.” Understood nothing, except that they were magic.

“But,” said Haplo casually, appearing to be intensely interested in a rat's tangle of ropes, pulleys, and gears, “I didn't think magic worked in the seawater.”