“No. I've been bound up for some time. You're not aware of that?”
DeFloraine-Marie rolled her eyes. “Well, you or your monster will have to think of something. I expect you'll have to kill Oberbyght before he'll let Finn go. I'd happily do it myself, but I don't carry weapons of any sort. That's not what I do.”
Letitia knew this was so. DeFloraine-Marie wasn't wearing enough to hide anything at all. Letitia wondered if she dressed that way all the time. A cloudy wisp of lace, a sparkle of gems here and there didn't seem the right outfit for sneaking about in drafty passageways. The palace was such a dank and dreary place, it was a wonder the princess didn't have a chronic runny nose.
“I would suggest,” Julia said, “that we move along quickly in whatever direction you feel would be best.”
Her silver snout was rigid, her golden scales aquiver, signs that told Letitia the lizard sensed the need for action of the most immediate kind.
“She means now. She means we don't have time to stand around.”
“Oh? And why would that be?” DeFloraine-Marie flicked a mote off her bare and perfect shoulder. She was clearly bored with this venture, ready for something new.
“We are pursued,” Julia said. “Badgies, and not too far behind.”
“Nonsense. No one knows about these inner corridors but me. I assure you there's nobody here.”
“If Julia says they're here-”
“ Julia — and I cannot believe I am calling a machine by a name-that thing may smell Badgies, I'm certain the halls are full of them now. And yes, we will move on, as I was about to suggest myself.”
“Good,” Letitia said. “We are in your hands, m'lady. I'm sure you won't lead us astray.”
DeFloraine-Marie left Letitia with a withering glance and stomped off ahead.
“She didn't care for that,” Julia said.
“Exactly what I had in mind, then. She is truly the most annoying, irritating-”
Letitia stopped, nearly stumbled as a tremor, a quake, a deep and distant rumble shook the narrow walls. Dust rained down from above. A herd of beetles scurried across the floor and disappeared.
“When the bugs go, it's time for me to go too,” Julia said. “That's never a very good sign.”
“What was that?” Letitia braced her hands against the wall. “I think something exploded somewhere.”
“Don't stand there,” whispered the princess. “Do I have to tell you every time?”
She stared at Letitia, her face the color of ash. Soot smudged her nose, and a spiderweb fluttered in her hair. Letitia noted with disgust that the soot set off her pale complexion, and the spiderweb looked nice.
“You heard that, I suppose. Is the place falling apart or what?”
The princess didn't answer. She turned quickly and raced down the corridor, past fallen stones, past ancient brick and timbered walls. Shafts of errant candlelight from royal bedrooms, ballrooms, kitchens and halls pierced the holes and cracks in the walls.
Once, Letitia heard peals of laughter. Once, she heard a woman cry.
No wonder the princess is jaded beyond her years, Letitia thought. As a child, she must have seen everything from here.
“They're coming, Letitia. I don't care what m'lady says, we've got Badgies on our tail.”
“I know. Even I can hear that. Wait,” Letitia said, hurrying to catch up with DeFloraine-Marie. “They're there, and they're not far behind us, all right?”
The princess showed Letitia a gentle, lofty smile. “We don't have to do a thing. We're there.”
“What? I don't see a thing, we're where?”
“The peephole's gone, but I'm quite sure. I told you I remember anything I really want to. Obern Oberbyght's chambers are right here. Behind this wall.”
Letitia stared. “You think Finn's over there? Behind this? What are we supposed to do now? Isn't there any way in?”
“It's a wall, Mycer. What did you expect, a door with a nice shiny knob?”
As the princess spoke, another tremor shook the passageway. A fine veil of ancient mortar fell between Letitia and DeFloraine-Marie.
“I hate this, I really do.” The princess wiped a dainty hand across her face.
“Whatever's doing that, it's getting louder. I hope we're not buried in here. Julia, Finn's over there. We've got to get through.”
“Excellent idea,” Julia said, waddling over splinters, stones and fallen bricks. “That sound, by the way, is from that Millennial Bell, the thing that wakes the royals from their naps. It sounds quite different up here than it does down below, but it's the very same. I'm sure Her Ladyship will be glad to explain.”
“There's nothing to tell. Your creature's right, it's a bell.”
The princess seemed uneasy. Her lovely lips twitched, and she stared at the ceiling above.
“Look. I got you here, all right? Don't complain to me, that's all I can do. You'll have to think of something yourself.”
“You might help. I don't intend to stand here if my Finn's over there.”
Brushing dust from her eyes, Letitia turned and picked at the debris. She found a large brick, frowned at it and tossed it away. Finally, she lifted a broken plank, a thick piece of wood nearly two feet long.
“It's not much, but it's better than nothing at all. Please stand back, lady, I don't have a lot of room.”
“You're out of your mind. These walls are rotten to the core. You'll bring the whole thing down!”
“Good. That's what I had in mind.”
Letitia took a breath and rammed the timber heartily against the wall. Dust rained from the ceiling. Chunks of mortar clattered to the floor.
The princess moaned and rolled her eyes.
“The odds are good she's right,” Julia said. “You're likely to bring the place down. Still, our chances are somewhat better if you try. The Badgies I mentioned, the ones that aren't there? They are in this very passageway, as I mentioned before. My guess is they are somewhat less than eight minutes away.”
“That's impossible, you little horror. I told you no one knows about this place but me.”
“You're certain of that? No one at all.”
“My cousins are dead, and there's no one else who could possibly… know.”
DeFloraine-Marie bit her lip and frowned. “I suppose there might be. I did-meet someone here once. In this passageway, I mean. Not exactly here
“Oh, dear. I guess I forgot about that.”
“And who would that be?” Letitia asked.
“Maddigern. But there's really no concern. He wouldn't hurt me…”
FIFTY-THREE
Finn ran. Stumbled, fell to his knees on imaginary ground. Got up and ran again. It seemed like a foolish, useless gesture, but the only thing to do.
Where do you go when you run from an illusion, flee from a spell?
“Anywhere,” Finn answered himself. “Anywhere's better than nowhere at all.”
The spidery hand thundered again, pounding, crushing, grinding time to dust. The great machine clattered, ticked, hummed in the eternal sky. The horizon vanished in a blur. No way out, then, nowhere to go.
Nowhere, Finn told himself, but the worst, most horrid place he could conjure in his mind. The place where he would surely shudder into soup, porridge, mush with an odorous smell.
He ran, then, with all the speed he could muster when one is running nowhere at all, ran, and found the crawly-hole and slid under the rim of the Millennial Bell — promptly turned inside out, then outside in. Went to his knees. Retched. Tried to stand, fell down again.
“It's awfully hard coming out of those things. Jerks you around, makes you terribly sick. I see I don't have to tell you that.”
Everything was back, everything was real. The seer's cluttered chamber, the sizable sorcerer himself.
Finn stood. Shaky, dizzy and distressed, yet determined to face the magician standing up.