He reached over with his foot and rubbed out part of the line he had drawn in the snow around Colin.
'The wall around you is broken. Be free.'
Colin clutched his head, rolling his eyes like a maddened horse, and doubled over, groaning.
Quentin stepped forward, looking worried. Victor said, 'Did it work? Are your memories coming back?'
Colin straightened up, brushing his hands through his hair. 'Naw. Just joking around. But that was a damn impressive ceremony, Big Q. Thanks for trying, at least.'
Vanity said softly to me, 'Permission to whack him with a snowball again, O my Queen?'
'Denied.' I raised my voice. 'Next step. We fly to the Great Hall. We have two fliers in the group and three walkers. Which one of you two boys can carry two people?'
Quentin, who was rather short, looked up at Victor. Quentin pointed at Victor. 'Him.'
Victor said, 'I should take the two lightest people.'
Quentin snorted and said, 'I'm not carrying Colin.'
Victor said, 'Amelia? Colin? How much do you each weigh?'
Quentin suddenly got a funny look on his face. He said, 'Amelia. I have to carry Amelia.'
Vanity looked at him oddly.
He said, 'There are reasons which are hard to explain. According to the signs, she flew with me before.
The sympathies might be more favorable if I do not introduce any novel parameters into the demonstration.'
I said, 'Vanity, if you sense anyone watching us, break off. If we get scattered, we'll… meet back here, at the Kissing Well. Okay?'
Quentin said, 'It will take me a moment to prepare.'
Victor said, 'Should I wait?'
Quentin looked at me. 'Leader makes the call.'
I said, 'Let me think. If you meet Miss Daw, Colin can stop her, if he can make himself want to. Fell and Victor are at least evenly matched; so are Grendel and Colin.'
Vanity said, 'Who is Grendel?'
'Mr. Glum's first name. He's planning on kidnapping you and marrying you, so be careful of him. If you meet Mrs. Wren, Victor can neutralize her magic. Um. The same goes for me and Quentin running into anybody. We are either going to be equal to or be able to trump any paradigm we come across. I do not know how Olympians and Phaeacians fit into the chart, though. You guys take off; Quentin and I will join you.'
Quentin said, 'I have to make a preparatory lemma. I'm going uphill to that grove of trees. Follow me when I call.'
He walked away from the Kissing Well to where some clumps of trees clung to the grass that broke through the rocky soil. As he approached the grove, he put out his hand.
A long stick of pale wood came felling out of the grove toward him. It was as if an unseen stagehand, hidden just beyond the tree, had tossed him a prop. He caught the stick and walked into the trees.
We waited a moment or two, until Quentin called out that he was ready. I waved at the others to take off.
Victor, without any further ado, put one arm around Colin's waist, and told him to loop his belt through the chain links of his jerkin. But Victor simply picked up Vanity and hoisted her over his shoulder, like Tarzan picking up Jane, so her head was dangling down his back and her bottom was high in the air.
With no noise and no fuss, the invisible chessmaster picked up his Victor piece and swept him off the board and out of sight.
I climbed the rocky slope and entered the small grove of trees. There was no visible sign that Quentin had done anything in particular; no cut-open goats or candles floating in midair or anything like that. If he had made any scratches on the ground or the trees, it was too dim, in the moonlight, with the twigs and branches overhead, to see.
He said, 'Um, Amelia, I hope you won't get mad, but…'
I pulled off my scarf and handed it to him. 'You have to blindfold me. I've been through this before.'
I had my aviatrix cap (which I take along on all my es-cape attempts) folded into a bulky wad in my outer coat pocket. I put it on and began tucking my hair up.
He wrapped the scarf fabric around my head, and I donned the goggles atop them.
He said, 'Now open your mouth.'
I hooked a thumb under the blindfold and goggles and raised one corner to turn and give him a cold, one-eyed stare.
'Why exactly am I opening my mouth?'
He said, 'I thought you said we did this before… ?'
'Blindfold, yes. Gagged, absolutely not. I cannot go a week around here without someone trying to tie me up. Why the hell do you need me with a scarf in my mouth to fly?'
He pointed at the trees. Or maybe he was pointing at unseen things in the air around us. 'The long-lived ones say you tried to talk last time. They don't trust you to keep your mouth shut.'
'What if I promise?'
