"That's what I mean," Derian said, keeping his own grin alive. He had a strong feeling that showing any annoyance would lose him marks in a game in which he didn't know the rules. "We know Plik was taken from here into the copse. What have you got to add?"
"That he's quite probably alive."
If the Meddler had expected cries of joy and excitement at this, he was disappointed. Stony stares met him from all eyes but Derian's, and Derian just waved a hand and laughed.
"We'd figured that out on our own, and the good noses of Blind Seer and Truth confirmed it. What else do you have to put on the table?"
The Meddler's grin didn't fade. If anything, he seemed pleased. "You're wondering what's inside that copse. I can tell you what was there, but I'm going to be up-front with you. I don't know what's there now."
"What do you mean?" Derian asked sharply.
"I'm being literal," the Meddler said. "I have some idea what was there before, when the twins first arrived and set up camp, but after the copse arose, well, that's where my information ends."
"Might be of some use," Derian said. "I don't suppose you could sketch us a map."
"I'm a little insubstantial now," the Meddler said, sweeping his fingers through the coals of their fire. "But I can tell you what I know and you can draw from that."
"We can work with that," Derian said, "but before we get to mapmaking, I've got a question for you."
"Ask."
"What's your part in all of this?"
"All of this?" the Meddler feigned confusion.
"We found figurines in your apartment."
"Prison."
"Whatever."
"Figurines of people we knew and of a couple of people we've since learned were the twins. We have our speculations, but before we let you draw us a map and chase us into that copse, I think you'd better tell us about your involvement with Melina, with Dantarahma, with Valora... and why with those three fine examples of your handiwork we should have anything to do with you and your twins."
"To rescue Plik?" the Meddler suggested.
'To make sure we have a chance of rescuing Plik," Derian countered. "I'm not charging in there until we know a whole lot more."
TIREKEEPER LISTENED WITH ADMIRATION as Derian began to attack the Meddler. She didn't like or trust the strange wolf-headed human, but she also was all too aware that what he was willing to tell them might make the difference when they went after Plik.
Her approach would have been to threaten, try to bully, even to trade - all tactics a wolf knew well. Derian's bullying took a different approach. He had managed to twist things so that he made it sound like the Meddler needed to do something for them.
Blind Seer swished his tail through the dry leaves in gentle applause, and they settled down to listen.
"I don't know why I should try and explain myself to you," the Meddler said. "You're not going to believe anything I say."
Derian grinned. "Still, you might as well have a chance to present things as you'd like us to see them. Otherwise, we'll just be conjecturing from incomplete information."
The Meddler began by recounting the circumstances of his long imprisonment, how he had been locked away by those who did not trust either his motives or his power. Harjeedian stirred restlessly during this part of the account, no doubt because the Meddler made quite clear that his opponents were sorcerers, not divine beings.
Since the sorcerers were widely viewed as those who abused divine Magic, that put the Meddler squarely on the side of the deities Harjeedian served. No wonder the aridisdu was uncomfortable.
The Meddler presented his centuries of captivity in a manner that Firekeeper couldn't help but find moving, even as she looked at that wolf's head on those human shoulders and felt herself prickling with distrust. She noted that the Meddler had a long wolf's tail as well, and that he sat leaning forward, arms resting on his knees, so as not to inhibit its motion.
Eventually, the Meddler began speaking of how the bonds of his prison began to fail.
"But not enough to set me wholly free," he admitted. "At first I was overcome with joy, for I had some freedom. Later, I felt worse than I had before. I had grown somewhat resigned to my captivity. Now, glimpsing hints of the world, having occasional contact from some drifting mind, I felt the sharp pinching of my bonds once more.
"Magic had bound me, and my initial thought was that magic was what I needed to be free. I probed, fishing on a very insubstantial line for those minds that were interested in the ways of old magic. I will not bore you with the number of times I felt a nibble, only to feel that nibble drop away. Time for me was not what it is now, but I think my first 'fish' was Dantarahma. Not only did he reside closest to my prison, but he was eager for power and that eagerness made him bite.
"Dantarahma was very important to my growing awareness of the outside world. He sensed the maimalodalum's awareness of his probings into magic and sent out spells to dampen their ability. I have no idea why, but his attempts to dampen the maimalodalum also managed to dampen the forces that restricted my roaming. I ventured farther. To the north I found and hooked Melina. Through her mind I learned of the three artifacts, and decided I needed Valora as well. However, through my contact with Melina and Valora, I learned how acutely fearful of magic the northern lands could be. Therefore, I
quested elsewhere and, to the south, I found Isende and Tiniel.
"You know what happened with Melina, with Valora, and Dantarahma as well. Your interest - and mine, I'll admit it wholeheartedly - is with the twins."
The Meddler spoke with such earnestness and intensity that Firekeeper found herself almost forgetting his reputation. A trapped animal will gnaw off a limb to escape. How was what the Meddler had done any different? Then the wolf-woman remembered the lives that had been ruined because the Meddler had meddled, and she hardened her heart.
The Meddler glanced at her, his golden brown eyes seeming to say that he knew she still doubted his good motives and that he was wounded. What had he done that she would not had their situations been the same? But he said nothing direct, and went back to his tale.
"Those figurines in which you place such significance are not dreadfully magical in themselves. They are aids to concentration, that is all. I used them to focus on what my chosen subjects were doing. When - as in the case of the artifacts stored in the castle at Silver Whale Cove - I learned of something that I thought might assist my subjects to enhance their, magical abilities, well, I did my best to encourage them to do so.
"So when I realized that Isende and Tiniel were not only possessed of a peculiar sensitivity, but were also through their father direct heirs to magical ability, I grew quite excited. For the longest time, I could do nothing to stir the twins from their own purpose, for they were intent upon getting their family recognized as a voting clan within their resident city-state. Only when that plan failed and the twins were discouraged could I prompt them to seek some other way of claiming their rightful heritage.
"It wasn't easy, not in the least, nor will I expect you to sympathize with my fear as the twins made their way alone through wild lands. They took with them no servants, no guards, only what provisions they needed, and the knowledge of where their family holdings had been.
Had the distance been greater, had they been less careful, they might never have succeeded, but they came to what had been the Setting Sun land grant. Within a few days they located what had been the residence of their father's ancestors."
Derian interjected. "Wait a moment. We came well guarded, and with several companions who are more than a little skilled with weapons - or at least with claws and fangs."
"And you have barely managed to survive," the Meddler said. "One of your number is crippled, and all of you are scarred."
"Right," Derian said. "Did you protect the twins?"
"I did not," the Meddler said, "for there was nothing much to protect them from. The blood briars did not grow here, nor did the bracken beasts prowl. This was a
forest much like any forest. The weather was kind, and the twins' hardest labor was clearing a trail for themselves and their pack animals. Both had some skill with the bow, and they had brought with them a pair of bird dogs. Really, they faced little more of an ordeal than any pair of campers might."
Firekeeper frowned. "What of the Royal Beasts - or the Wise Beasts? Didn't these object to the twins' coming?"
"These are southern lands," the Meddler said. "Gak, the city-state in which the twins were born, has residents who are closer to Liglim in their religious practices than otherwise. The twins behaved respectfully. In turn, the Wise Beasts watched the twins, but they did not see two such pitiful young humans as invaders."
"Even our pack," Blind Seer said, "would not have felt that two alone were such a threat. If they had tried to settle down, then perhaps, but the policy that guided us when we guarded our own border was always to let those hunters and trappers who dared cross the Iron Mountains come and hunt... as long as they went. We hid from them, so they would not bear tales, and warned the other Royal Beasts to do the same."
Firekeeper nodded. "So these twins came, and nothing harmed them, and they went to the old lair. What then?"
The Meddler stretched as a man might, and went on. "This 'old lair,' as you call it, had not been built merely as a place to eat and sleep and store away a bit of food. It had been built to be the heart of a farming community - and as a bit more. Remember, those who came here practiced sorcery, and their dwelling must be a place where those arts could be practiced. It held a library and a workshop and other things as well. When the Plague came and the residents fled, they could not take everything with them. It may be that they had learned of the general uprising against the magical arts and all those who practiced them. Communication over distances was not as difficult then as it is now.
"In any case, they took care to seal the main stronghold as well as they could, and to hide away those things they could not take with them. Remember, you know that the Plague would end the rule of magic in the New World, but they did not. They thought this sickness would set them back a season, maybe a year or two, and then they would rebuild. They did not know this was the end.
"As in the north, the Beasts were active in destroying things of magic, and when the humans had gone, they broke into the estate and destroyed what they could. Outbuildings were burned and even portions of the main stronghold were damaged beyond use, but a few places remained sealed, hidden behind fallen timbers or simply unrecognized for what they were.
"When Isende and Tiniel came, they initially despaired. If I did anything at this point, I merely gave them courage to continue. I gave them images of the indignities they had suffered in Gak, reminded them of their resolve. I did nothing but restore to them their own hearts when those hearts might have become broken by despair."
"How noble," Derian said, and Firekeeper could hear the sarcasm in his tone.
The Meddler apparently did not. He inclined his head as in thanks, and continued.
"The twins found shelter in the ruins, made friends with some of the yarimaimalom. Later, they found remnants of old orchards and such that enabled them to extend their stores. Even while they concentrated on building a home for themselves, they did not lose sight of their larger goals. Each day they reserved a time when one or both of them would explore the ruins. Usually, they would find nothing but some tool or bit of goods that would make their stay more comfortable, but on one memorable day Tiniel found the library. It was not a magical library - by a pact among many nations those were not permitted in the New World - but it was a library that had belonged to sorcerers. Here they found knowledge that had been lost, hints of how magic could be performed."
Harjeedian interrupted, frowning. "This is something I do not completely understand. We have fine libraries in u-Nahal, but I do not think we have books such as these." "You might be surprised, Aridisdu," the Meddler said, "what is known to the iaridisdu of your temple. But that is neither here nor there. Let me explain. Let us say you have never seen dancing and you find a book in which a dance is described. This description would not be enough to tell you how to perform that dance - not unless the book was quite unreasonably detailed - but it would give you some sense that dancing involved movement to music, movement of both hands and feet, perhaps in coordination with a partner."
"I see," Harjeedian said, and from his tone Firekeeper thought the Meddler's taunt had stung more than a little, "and it was this sort of book that the twins found?"
"That type, and more than one of that type," the Meddler agreed. "And this is where my own knowledge of what happened here in the south becomes less clear. This is around the time that you, Harjeedian, brought Derian, Firekeeper, and Blind Seer south with you and all of Dantarahma's well-laid plans began to go awry. I was already somewhat aware of these three, and more than once I ' have wondered if someone acting against me arranged for you to learn of them."
"Eh?" Firekeeper said, suddenly acutely interested. "What is this?"
"Probably nothing more than paranoia on my account," the Meddler said. "After all, there were very reasonable and logical reasons that the disdum would learn about you, and once they knew of you, nothing was more reasonable than that they would seek to know you."
Firekeeper decided that the Meddler had a point, and if she wanted to rescue Plik they need not follow such a tenuous trail.
"Go on," she said, "your tale is interesting, but Plik needs us."
The Meddler nodded. "He may indeed, but I, for one, take hope in the fact that he was taken alive."
"As do we all," croaked Bitter. "Now, tell on."
"I have told you that the figurines were aids to concentration on my part, and from this you have surely surmised that I could not concentrate easily on all my subjects at once. By this time, Melina was no longer a matter of concern. Valora was useless to me, and the twins seemed to have settled into a life of contented reading and foraging. I put all my attention into watching Dantarahma, endeavoring to contact him and put the idea into his head that the solution to all his problems could be found on Misheemnekuru. I had not counted on the severe resistance I would meet. Rationally, Dantarahma could work his mind around to the idea that there was nothing sacred about those islands, but emotionally the resistance persisted; he would not go there himself. What he did do - and I assure you this was all on his own - was evolve the idea that there was something on those islands that was opposing him."
"And," Truth said tartly, "we know what happened then. Destruction and the death of many good folk, both beast and otherwise. And, of course, the minor side effect of my being driven insane. But you had nothing to do with this ..."
Again the Meddler seemed immune to the sarcasm.
"I'm so very glad that you understand," he said. "Again, you know the details of those days far better than
I do, for I only experienced them at a distance and through Dantarahma's perspective. When it was all over and Dantarahma gone to answer for his deeds, I turned again to the twins. You can imagine my complete astonishment when I discovered that they were gone."
"Gone?"
The exclamation came from every throat.
"Gone. I could not touch their thoughts as once I had done, nor could I find their physical bodies. My freedom - as I have already told some of you - had been somewhat enhanced by the events surrounding the end of Dantarahma and the fall of the Tower of Magic. However, even with this expanded perspective, I could not find any trace of the twins. What I did find was a copse in place of the cluster of buildings in which they had made their new home. That copse resisted my probing so completely that I knew it was not a natural forest at all, but a barrier meant to keep out any who pried. Moreover, the forests in the surrounding area had changed. The yarimaimalom had not yet abandoned the area completely, but the retreat had begun. The blood briars were twining through the forests, and the bracken beasts prowled.
"I will admit that I was close to despair. Despite all I had do
ne to gain my freedom, I remained trapped. Most of the hopes I had nurtured were either dead or vanished. Only Valora remained, and she was queen of an isolated island realm. Valora's experiences with Melina had enhanced her native distrust of magic. Even so, I probed after her again, hoping to detect some indication she had changed. While I was probing after Valora, I came across a faint trace or scent that led me to Truth.
"Valora proved hopeless - at least for my purposes - so now I focused on Truth. I hoped that if I set in motion the means to return this Wise Jaguar to her sanity, I might make myself an ally. I cannot say I have done so, not as I might have wished, but now at least your company shares a goal with me."
"Oh?" Firekeeper said, and heard herself echoed by throats human and not. "How so?"
The Meddler smiled. "I wish to find out what happened to the twins. They were my associates after a fashion, and I am concerned about them."
Firekeeper did not believe concern was the full reason for the Meddler's interest, but oddly she did not doubt that it was at least a partial truth. In all the accounts they had been told of the Meddler, his greatest flaw seemed a tendency to become passionately involved.
Derian said, "And you think that if we go looking for Plik, we'll learn what happened to your twins."
"That's right," the Meddler said. "And I would like to know what happened to them."
"And perhaps," Harjeedian said, "find out what skills they may have acquired."
"Oh," the Meddler said, "that would be nice, for the twins certainly have learned something. Haven't they?"
XIX
THE MEDDLER VANISHED SOON THEREAFTER, again promising them his aid and assistance.
"I wish we knew for certain he was gone," Derian said, looking around uneasily. "He seems a nice enough fellow, reasonable, eager to help, but - maybe it's being able to see through him from time to time - he makes my skin crawl."
Truth sniffed the air, then said to Firekeeper, "I have taken scent of both here and the other here. I think the Meddler is gone. He may not be completely honest with us, but in one thing I am sure he is - even freed from his prison, he is not as strong as he should be. I think his effort to make contact with all of us wearied him."
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