The Tiger's Egg (10 page)

M
iles Wednesday, ledge-bound and terror-tied, stared in disbelief at the flailing, wailing form of the fortune-teller. He could not understand what his eyes were telling him. It seemed as if time had frozen, and Doctor Tau-Tau was suspended in midair while the entire cave from the ledge downward had shattered into a million moving spirals, like the pattern on Fuat's face. A dozen heartbeats passed before he realized what had really happened. There was no deep hole before them, nor had there ever been. The mouth of hell was nothing more than the vast cave above them reflected in a wide, shallow pool that almost
completely covered the floor of the cave. With no breath of wind to disturb it the pool lay deep underground like a perfect mirror, and the ledge they stood on was nothing more than a slice of the cave floor that rose above the level of the water.

Doctor Tau-Tau sat in the center of a web of ripples like a spider's breakfast. He had ceased to struggle as it dawned on him, too, that he had been deposited in a few inches of icy water instead of plummeting to his death far below. He was sobbing quietly now with a mixture of terror and relief, but even if you had been there you would not have heard him, for the moment he had landed with a splash on his backside the Fir Bolg had begun to laugh.

They hooted and cackled with laughter. They slapped their knees and bent double and dropped their spears with a clatter. Their laughter echoed around the cavern walls and Fuat, daughter of Anust, daughter of Etar, laughed the loudest of all. “The Shriveled Fella would have loved that one, may the gods put the juice back into him,” gasped the little old woman. The tears streamed down her cheeks, and she slapped one of her hairy companions so hard on the back that he fell to his hands and knees.

Miles felt as though he would be sick. He stepped cautiously out into the pool, grateful that the image of the bottomless hole was still fractured into expanding ripples. The water was as cold as ice. He waded slowly forward until he reached the spot where Doctor Tau-Tau sat, and helped him to his feet. Tau-Tau shuffled through the water beside him, dazed and sniveling, until they reached the ledge. If he noticed the Fir Bolg's amusement at all he showed no reaction, but allowed himself to be led back along the tunnel, this time by Miles, who followed their giggling captors by ear through the inky darkness.

They were returned to their cave, where Doctor Tau-Tau collapsed quivering in a corner. Fuat spoke briefly to the guards, and turned to leave. “Wait,” said Miles. “Why are you keeping us now? You know we don't have what you're looking for.”

The little woman grinned at him. Her teeth were small and pointed. “You will be let go in the morning,” she said, “but not the
far rua
.”

“You mean Doctor Tau-Tau? You don't need him,” said Miles. His earlier anger at Tau-Tau had drained away, and now he felt only pity. “He's been through enough.”

Fuat cocked her head and raised her eyebrows.
“He had no right to come here, nor yet to leave.”

“But you're letting me go. Why not him?” asked Miles.

“You have a debt to pay. You must return the Tiger's Egg to the Fir Bolg.”

“I don't even know what it is!” protested Miles. He thought for a moment. “I'll need Doctor Tau-Tau to help me find it.”

The woman cackled. “That one couldn't find his nose with his hand,” she said, “but he will find his way into the pot. There will be feasting tomorrow for the last journey of the Shriveled Fella. The winter has been hard, and we are sore tired of running on empty bellies.”

“You can't eat him,” whispered Miles, thinking desperately. “What about his life? You'll be in debt to his family.”

“That we will,
cyart go lore,
” said Fuat. “A couple of rabbits should pay that, when the spring comes.” She turned and cracked her switch at the guards, who hastily prodded Miles backward into the cave.

“We've had no food or water,” Miles called after Fuat.

“Amoroch,”
she said. “Food there will be, tomorrow.” She disappeared, laughing, into the gloom.

Miles looked over at Doctor Tau-Tau, who sat
slumped in the corner staring at the floor. He glanced out of the cave to make sure the guards were not watching either, then he reached up and groped anxiously in the small hole where he had left Tangerine. To his relief he found him at once. The little bear climbed into his hand and Miles lifted him carefully down and returned him to the pocket of his dressing gown with a sigh. “Now all we have to do,” he whispered under his breath, “is to find a way out of here.” Tangerine, always a better listener than he was a finder, grasped his master's finger happily and said not a word.

Miles sat himself down beside Doctor Tau-Tau. The fortune-teller was shivering in his damp dressing gown. He seemed to have physically shrunk since he had been hurled into the water, and in the dim light of the cave it looked as though his hair had begun to turn white. Miles searched for a way to distract him from his ordeal.

“Are the Fir Bolg related to The Null in some way?” he asked.

Doctor Tau-Tau sat up straight. “Why on earth would you think that?” he asked.

“Because they're so hairy,” suggested Miles.

The fortune-teller snorted. “Both ants and antelopes have legs,” he said. “That doesn't make
them first cousins. Anyway,” he added hastily, “I've never heard of The Null. Don't know what you're talking about.”

Miles sighed. He wondered why it was so difficult to get a straight answer from anyone older than himself. He tried again. “It was the Fir Bolg who raided your wagon, wasn't it?”

“Possibly,” said Tau-Tau cagily.

“What were they looking for?” asked Miles.

“For the Tiger's Egg, of course,” said the fortune-teller.

“I need to know more about this Tiger's Egg,” said Miles, “if I'm to get us out of here.”

Doctor Tau-Tau thought about this for a moment. “It's a very rare thing, a precious stone that contains the captured soul of a tiger. It's believed there's only one still in existence, and that one was in the possession of Celeste, at least for a time. I've searched for it for many years, but it still eludes me.”

“How can a stone contain the soul of a tiger?” asked Miles.

“It can be created only by a powerful shaman,” said Tau-Tau. “The shaman takes the soul of a real tiger and traps it in the stone. The tiger can never die as long as his soul remains in the Egg. He becomes a sort of living ghost in thrall to the
master of the Tiger's Egg, like a striped genie.” He thought about this for a minute. “Like a genie,” he said, “with stripes.”

“But why would anyone want to trap a tiger's soul?” asked Miles.

“There's great power in a Tiger's Egg,” said Tau-Tau, straightening himself up a little. “It contains the wisdom, courage and strength of the tiger who endowed it, but its owner must already be wise and strong to be able to control it. Some say that the Egg can also give immortality to its master.”

“The Egg my mother had,” said Miles, “did it belong to the Fir Bolg?”

“Celeste borrowed the Egg from the Fir Bolg for twenty-one years, in exchange for some service she was to render them; I never found out what it was. That time has now expired.”

“And you brought me here to give it back?” asked Miles.

“Certainly not!” said Tau-Tau in a loud whisper. The background noise in the cavern beyond had fallen to a murmur. It seemed that whatever the Fir Bolg recognized as night had fallen, and they had settled in their caves and hollows to sleep. Miles felt a wave of tiredness wash over him at the thought. His stomach was hollow and his eyelids drooped.

“I don't understand,” he whispered with an effort. “Then why are we here?”

Doctor Tau-Tau's shoulders slumped. “It's all been a misunderstanding,” he said. “At first I was unsure if you were telling the truth about your encounters with a tiger. I didn't believe it was possible that you could possess a Tiger's Egg without knowing about it, but the Egg showed up clearly in your cards. Along with the fact that you were the son of Barty and Celeste,” he added hastily. “I felt sure that you had swallowed the Egg as an infant, and that the Fir Bolg would know a harmless way to get it out of you. I was confident I could get us out of here easily, once I had it in my hands.”

“But it wouldn't be yours, even if we had it. It belongs to the Fir Bolg, doesn't it?”

Doctor Tau-Tau shook his head. “It wouldn't be safe with the hairy little primitives. Cortado would find out where it was before long.”

“The Great Cortado?” said Miles in astonishment. “How does he know about the Tiger's Egg?”

The fortune-teller shrugged. “No idea,” he said. “But if it got into his hands we'd all be a tiger's breakfast. I'll only ever be safe if I get to the Egg first. And that goes for you too.”

“
I'll
be safe?” said Miles angrily. “You nearly had
me killed just trying to find it!”

“Not at all,” said Tau-Tau, smiling weakly. “They would never have cut you open. I had the situation completely under control.”

“It didn't look like that when you were flying into the mouth of hell,” said Miles sharply. He regretted the words as soon as they had left his mouth, but they could not be unsaid.

Doctor Tau-Tau cringed at the memory. “That's harsh,” he said, then after a moment's thought he added, “but fair. Even a farsighted man such as myself can occasionally make an error of judgment. And now we'll probably rot in this damp hole, because there's little prospect of anyone finding us.”

“They've told me I can go tomorrow,” said Miles.

Doctor Tau-Tau sat bolt upright. “But you're just a tent boy!” he said. “What about me?”

Miles sighed. “I won't be going anywhere,” he said. “I'm not leaving until I can get us both out of here.”

“But you must!” exclaimed Tau-Tau. “You can go for help. How else will anyone know where I am?”

The fortune-teller's wheedling tone made Miles think of the conversation he and Little had overheard under the tamarind tree in Larde, and suddenly the other voice they had heard from Tau-Tau's
wagon clicked into place. “
You
told Cortado about the Tiger's Egg!” said Miles.

“What are you talking about?” said Doctor Tau-Tau shiftily. “I would have nothing to do with that little villain.”

“He was in your wagon at Larde,” said Miles. “I overheard you as I walked by.”

“I-I . . . b-but . . . ,” stammered Tau-Tau. He stopped and buried his head in his hands. “I had no choice,” he said in a muffled voice. “I woke up with a knife at my throat and that lunatic sitting on my chest. I had to tell him something that would make him spare my life, and the Tiger's Egg was the first thing that came to mind.”

“Why would the Great Cortado want to kill you?” asked Miles suspiciously.

“That goes back to Celeste's death,” said Doctor Tau-Tau. “Cortado had always suspected Celeste held some power over the tiger, but he didn't know what it was. When she died he demanded that I reveal the secret to him. I told him I had learned nothing about the tiger from Celeste but he did not believe me. He flew into a rage and said that if I did not reveal the secret to him he would kill me. I had to flee for my life there and then. I traveled overseas for many years, and I only came back when
news reached me that he had been locked away in an asylum.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I should have known that no hospital could hold him for long. As soon as he escaped he came to Larde to find the boy who had brought down the Palace of Laughter, and instead he found me in my wagon, with my name painted on the side like a signpost.”

“What exactly did you tell him about the Tiger's Egg?”

“As little as possible. I just wanted to be rid of him until I could formulate a plan. I told him that the Egg was probably somewhere in Larde, where Barty and Celeste's son had supposedly died in the orphanage, or else it was still hidden in the circus. He told me to stay with the circus and continue searching for it, while he looked in Larde, just as I hoped he would.”

“I didn't die in the orphanage!” said Miles.

“I can see that,” said Doctor Tau-Tau, “but that was the story that was put about at the time, and I had no reason to disbelieve it until you . . . until the cards revealed who you were.”

Miles sat back against the cold stone of the cave wall. “Then all we have to do is tell the police that the Great Cortado is hiding out in Larde,” he said.

Doctor Tau-Tau sat bolt upright, and the whites
of his eyes shone faintly in the darkness. “Are you mad?” he hissed. “Those fools will just send him back to the hospital, and how long do you think it will be before he's back out and lying in wait with a butcher knife? Besides, it's not that simple. He has . . . something I need.”

Miles looked at him in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“He has the notebook,” sniffed Tau-Tau. “The one that tells how to master the Tiger's Egg.”

“You mean it has an
instruction
manual?”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Doctor Tau-Tau. “It's one of Celeste's old diaries, in which she was gathering everything she could learn about the Tiger's Egg. Cortado found it when he broke into my wagon, and he took it with him when he left, to ensure that I would come to him if I found the Egg.”

“My mother's diaries?” said Miles. “How did
you
come to have my mother's diaries in your wagon?”

“Diary, my boy. I had only one. The other two were lost when I fled the Great Cortado in the first place. I took over Celeste's old wagon on my return, and I came across this one diary hidden behind one of the seats. It was only because I was repainting the wagon inside and out that I found it at all.”