In what had to be the twentieth time in less than half an hour, Biner shaded his eyes with a broad palm and peered out over the waving green sea of treetops that was the Aroborus jungle.
And the same three questions chewed at his mind like a dog nipping uselessly at fleas. Where in the hells was Safar? Had he found Palimak? And, finally, when would they signal him to pick them up?
He kept telling himself that the constant worrying only made the hours drag on like a closely-watched sand clock, where time was measured by each slow-falling grain.
Safar hadn't really been gone that long, after all. He'd only spent yesterday afternoon and the night in the jungle. It was unlikely that he'd have searched for Palimak in the darkness. Instead he would have made camp until morning. And, now that dawn had broken, Safar, Leiria and the others were probably only just now grabbing a quick bite before resuming the search.
Logical as this line of thinking was, it did nothing to dispel the sense of dread that had been with Biner all through the night. It was one those feelings he'd learned to trust long ago. As the circus ringmaster it was up to him to make certain that all the equipment was as safe as possible. And that all of his people were healthy and concentrating on their performances.
A loose wire could send an acrobat like Arlain plunging to her death. Something as small as a toothache could break someone's focus during a particularly dangerous feat, with disastrous results.
Superb performers like Kairo tended to hide their ailments-the show must go on, and all that-and it was up to Biner to spot their weaknesses and then convince them to drop the most dangerous portions of their acts.
And then there was the audience-Biner's most important responsibility. Improperly tended fires could set the tent ablaze. Poorly constructed viewing stands could collapse. Children had a tendency to get lost in the marvelous confusion of the circus and then turn up in the most perilous situations.
As Methydia always used to say, if there were a weight hanging from a frayed rope or an untended hole in the ground, a child was certain to wander into the danger zone.
Also, there were always the rowdies, petty criminals and sometimes even cut-throats who preyed on Biner's guests. Which in his mind was the definition of an audience: honored guests to be protected and welcomed into his home, Methydia's Flying Circus.
And so Biner had spent a fretful night worrying about that vague feeling of unease he'd always heeded in the past. He'd driven everyone crazy, snooping about the airship, seeing that everything was just so.
Several times he'd roused the crew to repair things that could have waited until morning.
But mostly he'd paced the deck, peering endlessly into the night, searching for some sign of Safar. Chilled by the knowledge that his sense of dread had never failed him before. Wondering fitfully what would go wrong.
As always, when the answer finally came it was from an unexpected direction.
Arlain's voice rang clear in the early-morning air. 'Biner! Over here!'
He whirled about and he saw her standing in the aft section of the airship. She was waving furiously at him, smoke hissing from between her teeth-a sure sign of agitation in the dragon woman.
Quickly, Biner tied off the ship's wheel, then raced down the gangway and across the deck to where Arlain stood.
'What is it?' he asked.
She pointed a long talon at the shimmering gray of the distant sea. 'I thaw thomething, Biner!' she lisped, great eyes wide with concern. 'Thomething really, really thtrange and thcary!'
Just then a huge green fireball lofted high into the air-hanging at the airship's height for a second-then flaming downward like a meteor in a crisp mountain sky.
'Did you thee it!' Arlain cried. 'There it ith again!'
Biner gaped at the sight, wondering for a bewildered moment of indecision if both he and Arlain were suffering from delusions because of their worry for Safar and Palimak.
Then another green fireball arced high. And another. And another.
Realization sunk in. 'It's the
And he sprinted back to the bridge, shouting orders to the crew.
Moments later the airship was turned about and they shot off for the
Jooli hacked at the thorny barrier with all her might. But, just as before, every barbed vine she cut was immediately replaced by several others, shooting off the main branch.
Beyond the barrier was the beach and freedom from this awful jungle.
At least the spiders haven't reappeared, she thought, as she hacked once more at the thorny vines.
Then Safar shouted, 'Get back!'
She leaped away, fingers instinctively clawing madly at her hair, thinking that the huge spiders had returned after all.
But then she saw Safar loft a small clay jar into the air. It smashed just beneath the vines. A sheet of flame shot up, scorching the underbrush. Light from the outside world burst in. Then, to her dismay, she saw new vines inching forward to cover the exit to the beach.
In a calm voice, Palimak said, 'It's working father. One or two more might do the trick.'
And then she noticed just how thin and weak the new growth was. Palimak squatted and started mixing another batch of blasting elixir, while Safar fished a second clay jar from his pack.
Their flight through the jungle had been maddeningly slow. Scores of spells had been hurled at them. But each time either Safar, Palimak or Jooli had cast counter-spells, blocking their force.
Once a troop of enormous apes had threatened them, but Sergeant Hammer and the Kyranian soldiers had quickly driven them off with a barrage of arrows, backed by curses as heated as the obscenities the apes had voiced.
But then night had fallen. Just as Biner had surmised, they'd decided to camp out until first light. Leiria had suggested that perhaps they ought to signal Biner to lift them out, but Safar had been opposed.
Gesturing at their bound captive, King Felino, he said, 'Someone very powerful is supporting this fellow.
Let's call her Queen X. Although I suspect from the spoor that a€?queena€™ is a lesser title. Maybe a minor deity. Maybe not. Time will answer that. However, it's my guess that if we involve the airship before we escape this jungle we'll be giving our Queen X an opportunity to work even greater magic.'
He grinned down at Felino, who was tied securely to the large litter they'd used to drag him through the jungle. He was also securely gagged with a dirty strip of rag torn from Sergeant Hamyr's breech cloth.
An indignity the good sergeant had insisted upon. The gag was to keep their prisoner from shouting orders to any of his minions who might have followed.
'Isn't that so, Felino?' Safar said. 'Isn't she just waiting for us to let down our guard? And wouldn't she just love to cast her spell-net over the airship?'
Felino could only grunt through the gag. Muffled as his response was, it didn't take a great deal of imagination for Jooli to recognize several filthy expressions.
'My, my,' she said. 'Such language from a king.'
Leiria burst into earthy laughter. 'I've known some kings better than I like to admit,' she said. 'And this fellow is nothing when it comes to royal curses.'
Her jibe silenced King Felino for the remainder of the night. A silence he'd maintained when dawn broke, poking silvery beams down through the close-set trees.
The remainder of the trip to the thorny barrier had taken surprisingly little time. This was in the nature of journeys, Jooli thought. Slow to get there, quick to return.
Then she and Leiria and the soldiers had taken turns standing in the narrow avenue, hacking at the regenerating growth. While Safar and Palimak conferred on a magical solution.
Jooli felt left out of their endeavors. She was a witch, wasn't she? A damned good witch, even if she said so herself. Why wasn't she being consulted?
And then she realized there was no insult intended. It was merely a father and son attempting to make some sort of personal contact after a long period of mutual fear for the safety of the other.
The other thing she noticed was that every once in a while a strange tiny creature would appear on Palimak's shoulder. Apparently none of the others could see it. And even through her own sorcerous lens the creature was
