Anthony, Piers Xanth 13 Isle of View

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on its way before she caught up on her sleep and demanded further information.
He saw swift little dragonflies taking off for points north, east, west, and south, leaving tiny contrails.
Dragon Net was sending out his minions to summon the creatures of the posse. The dragonflies would
know where to find the fiercest yet most disciplined monsters, and would bring them back here as fast as
possible. Cheiron was satisfied; he knew he could leave the organization of the posse to Dragon Net,
knowing that it would be competently done.
Indeed, already there was a medium-small dragon coming in. How fast word spread!
But this dragon sought Cheiron, not Net. "I have seen your foal!" he gasped, his fire almost out. He had
evidently flown swiftly, gaining on the clumsy harpy, and had a significantly later report. "He was riding
a sphinx in the company of girls and goblins, and one of them had a magic wand! They used the wand to
twist my companion and me out of the sky, but not before we could see that something strange was
afoot!"
Cheiron was amazed. Che riding a sphinx? Sphinxes cared little for the affairs of other creatures. Girls?
What were they doing in this business? Goblins on a sphinx? That was strangest of all!
He got the dragon to describe the other folk as well as it could, and gradually he pieced it together. One
girl was stunningly beautiful: that sounded like Nada Naga. Chex had said that a number of search
parties had gone out, and the two Betrothees of Prince Dolph formed one party. The dragon had also
noted the pointed ears of the elf girl. So the Betrothees could have rescued Che and the elf, and then
Prince Dolph could have come and assumed the form of a sphinx, so as to carry them. The goblins must
be prisoners, perhaps hostages. So Che had been saved.
But the dragon said the party was going north, away from Che's home. That seemed to make no sense!
The sphinx could have crunched right through the goblin camp, gone directly home, and been there by
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now. Why was it going the wrong way?
"You look puzzled, centaur," a voice said.
He looked but saw nothing. "Who are you?" he demanded, in no mood for mischief.
A form appeared, vaguely human. "I am D. Metria."
"A demon!" he exclaimed. "You're no winged monster! You don't belong here."
"Yes I am," the figure said, sprouting wings and breasts. "Yes I do. I have come to impart olds that will
interest you and cause you much perplexity."
"Impart what?"
"History, information, bulletin, communication, ancient or recent intelligence-"
"News?"
"Whatever." She flapped her wings in annoyance. "About your foal. But if you aren't interested-" She
began slowly fading.
"I am interested," Cheiron said quickly.
"Well, you didn't act interested." She faded further.
Cheiron suspected that she was teasing him. He did not appreciate it. "Either impart your news or fade
out entirely," he snapped, turning away.
"What will you give me for it?"
"Nothing, because I do not trust demons." He walked on ignoring her.
This evidently unsettled her. "Do you have a creature who can verify truth? Let me talk to that one."
"The zombie owl can do that," he said shortly. "Over there." He pointed to the perch where the decrepit
bird slept by day.
The demoness flew to the owl. "Listen, you rotter," she said, "tell the centaur whether I speak truth. The
Prince's Betrothees made a deal with Godiva Goblin of Goblin Mountain to work together to save the
foal from the Golden Horde and then decide where he should go, because neither side wanted the foal
dead. They saved the foal with the help of the foreign elf girl, and then played a game of godo to decide.
Godiva won, so they had to help her take the foal to Goblin Mountain."
The owl opened one big rancid eye. "Trhoo," it squawked.
So it was true! This complicated things further. If a deal had been made to save Che, he could not in
honor abrogate it. Goblin Mountain was bad, but not nearly as bad as the Golden Horde. "Why north?
That's not the way to Goblin Mountain either."
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"They had to flee north until Prince Dolph caught up to them," Metria said. "Then the horde had covered
all points south, so they had to plan a route the other way around the Elements, traveling together. It
seemed less risky. If the girls had won, the Prince could have taken the smaller party directly through the
air to the foal's home."
"Trhoo," the owl agreed.
"So they are all traveling together," Cheiron concluded, "because all are bound to see Che safely to his
destination."
"You got it, centaur," the demoness agreed. "Doesn't that make your tail feathers squirm?"
"Why does Goblin Mountain want Che?"
"I wasn't interested enough to investigate that."
"Fhalse," the owl said.
"Oh shut up, you odd bird!" the demoness snapped. Then, to Cheiron: "I just think you'll squirm more if
Heave something to your imagination."
"Trhoo."
Cheiron knew he would not get any more useful information from her. "Thank you, demoness," he said.
"I will take it from here."
"Aren't you going to go rescue your foal?"
"In due course."
"If you hurry, you can do it before they reach Goblin Mountain."
"I am aware of that."
Her demonic eyes glittered. "So?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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