Neal Barrett Jr - Treachery of Kings

“I wish you wouldn't do that again. It always hurts my head.”

“You're not in the trade. I wouldn't expect you to understand. The point is, you can hear the sound, can you not? You can feel the tremble and the quake. That's the part that leaks through, a little spot where everything's real and everything's not. Like a rip in your jacket, you see. It's neither inside nor out…”

“Fine. Whatever you like. Now, Oberbyght, if you're finished fooling with spells and coats, I'd like to get out of here. I intend to free Letitia and Julia if I have to stomp every Badgie in the palace into dust. This nasty business of yours has cost me precious time. If those two are harmed in any way… “

“Oh, stop.” The seer waved Finn away. “Don't threaten me, I'm weary of that. I told you, we don't have time. You can get another Mycer, I'm sure they're not that hard to find. And that horrid little machine-”

“What are you talking about?” Finn glared at the seer. “I'm not leaving them behind, you're out of your mind!”

“I don't think you have a lot of choice. The bell is merely a distraction, you know. It'll set them running amok down there, but the Badgies will pull themselves together and be on our trail quite soon.”

Oberbyght spread his hands wide, in surrender to the Fates. “I say we, my friend, for we're in this together, as it were. I cannot turn my back on Maddigern again. That's clear from the incident in the cell down there.

“I don't blame you for that. Maddigern and I were coming to this anyway. I could turn him into a wad of spit, but another of those louts would simply take his place. No, it's time for me to go, there's no doubt of that.”

He winked at Finn, turned and walked quickly across the room. From behind a muddle of glasses, jugs and jars, he drew a small purple satchel, a worn and battered thing covered with mystic runes.

“Not taking much. But one must have the essentials of his trade.”

“I think you're bonkers, Oberbyght, but that's no concern of mine. I'm going back for Letitia and Julia now. If you want to turn me into something, you'd best do it now.”

“I do wish you hadn't said that, my boy, you don't leave me any choice-”

The case against the wall gave a shriek, gave a screech, gave an agonizing groan, then split all asunder, flinging papers, books, powdery pamphlets, ancient odes, unanswered letters, false accusations, debts, bets and dreadful poems about. Forgery, perjury, inflammatory notes, and lurid tales from ancient times.

And, out of this fluttering storm came Letitia Louise, DeFloraine-Marie, hefting a sturdy plank in her hand, and a lizard with dusty scales.

“Finn, Finn!” Letitia cried, and ran into her lover's arms.

“Letitia, I can't tell you how worried I've been, how much I've missed you, dear. You cannot imagine the fearsome, yet wondrous places I've been!”

“I can't wait to hear it,” said Julia Jessica Slagg, nosing her way through papery debris. “First, however, I think you should know there's a horde of Badgies on our heels. We've about two minutes, maybe less than that.”

“Maddigern!” Oberbyght clutched his satchel to his chest. “We're off, then, not a moment to lose.”

“Off where?” Finn wanted to know. “I fear I don't see anywhere to go.”

“Of course you don't. How would you know? Up there. Up that ladder. As quickly as you can.”

Letitia reached down and plucked up Julia Jessica Slagg. “You know you're no good with ladders. You're not even very adept with stairs.”

“I can't do everything,” Julia said with a rusty croak, “though I know I'm expected to perform any sort of miracle when trouble comes along.”

While Letitia was busy with Julia, DeFloraine-Marie slipped past her like wraith and pressed her slender form against Finn.

“Here, take this,” she said, slipping something into his pocket, then whispering quickly in his ear.

She was there and she was gone, leaving Finn with the clean scent of her hair, the heat of her touch. “Wait,” he said, “what's this all about?”

Letitia turned at his voice. The princess gave her a nearly pleasant smile.

“Wherever you're going, have a nice trip. Try not to drop in again.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “I'm not an ugly little machine, but I can hear a great many Badgies down there. I think you should — stop that, get away from me!”

The seer moved so swiftly Finn scarcely saw more than a blur. He clutched the princess’ wrist in one strong hand and dragged her roughly across the room. DeFloraine-Marie kicked and screamed to no avail.

“Here now,” Finn demanded to know. “Leave her alone, what do you want with her?”

“Stay out of this, Master Finn. Tangle with me again, and I'll turn that pretty Mycer into a stone, and you can toss her at Maddigern when he comes!”

“They're coming,” Julia said, “ now.”

Obern Oberbyght was halfway up the ladder at the rear of his chamber, the princess tightly in his grasp. She kicked her bare legs, and railed at the seer with curses Finn had never heard before.

“I don't see that it'll do much good to stay here,” Finn said. “Please hurry, dear…”

Letitia didn't answer. At that very moment, Badgies spilled in through the narrow passageway, led by Maddigern himself, swinging his sword about and raging at Finn…

Finn's mouth was dry as dirt. for an instant, he was too stunned to move. In less than a blink, the seer's small chamber swarmed with angry Badgies-a throng, a mob, a veritable pack of the silver-mailed creatures, cursing, howling, shouting for blood.

“Blades and Spades, it's the King's Third Sentient Guards, and every bloody one of the brutes, unless I miss my guess!”

Finn scrambled up the ladder, urging Letitia ahead, grabbing at her legs, pushing her shapely behind. Letitia told him she didn't care for this, but Finn didn't hear.

He could feel the ladder shake, and didn't dare look back to see. One step, another, two at a time when Letitia took three.

Something seized his ankle and held. Finn lashed out, felt the grip give way, heard the Guardsman fall back.

The ladder creaked, groaned. Finn pushed frantically at Letitia, nearly lifted her off the ladder and hurled her through the narrow hole above. The ladder snapped with the weight of Badgies, flinging them down in a tangle below.

Finn desperately grabbed for the rim of the hole. Letitia's strong hands clutched his wrists and held on. Finn drew up his knees, tore one hand free, got a firm grip on the tower floor and rolled himself clear.

Angry shouts rose from below. Badgies tossed bricks, stones, jugs, and ponderous tomes at the hole, while others piled chairs, cabinets, tables, anything they could find, in an effort to reach their prey above.

“That should slow them down a bit,” Oberbyght said, grinning over Finn's shoulder at the rabble below. “Fools ought to think before they leap, but that's not the Badgie way.”

“Let me go, you oaf,” cried DeFloraine-Marie. “Get your filthy hands off me, I'm of noble birth!”

“I fear not, lady. I've become enamored with your manner, your gentle voice, your royal charm.” The princess glared, her eyes bright points of fury, her golden tresses tumbling loosely down her cheeks.

Oberbyght still held her wrists in one hand, the other tightly around her slender waist. No matter how the princess squirmed, the seer refused to let her go.

“You're going to keep her?” Finn asked. “What do you intend to do with her, seer?”

“I intend to use her lovely self to keep us alive,” Oberbyght said. “I can't tell you how pleased I am she dropped by.”

Finn looked at the fellow, and Oberbyght met his glance, in a manner that said he was certain Finn knew full well the value of DeFloraine-Marie.