interregnum, which the histories say was such a Plated fiasco, and all the
battles and fighting back to the beginning of the Gate's foundations?"
"All true," Clothahump admitted. "In all that time they have not so much as
topped the Gate. But I fear this time will be far different. Different from
anything a warmlander can imagine."
Talea leaned forward in the chair. "Why?"
"Because a new element has been introduced into the equation, my dear ignorant
youngling. A profound stress presses dangerously on the fabric of fate. The
balance between the Plated Folk and the warmlander has been seriously altered. I
have sensed this, have felt it, for many months now, though I could not connect
my unease directly to the Plated Ones. Now I have done that, and the nature of
the threat at once becomes clear and thrice magnified.
"Hence my desperate casting for one who could divine and perhaps affect this
alteration. You, Jon-Tom, and now you, my dear," and he nodded toward a watchful
Flores Quintera.
She shook black strands from her face, clasped both arms around her knees as she
stared raptly at him.
"Ahhh, I can't believe it, guv'nor," Mudge said with a disdainful sniff. "The
Plated Folk 'ave never made it t' the top o' the Gate as you say. If they did,
why, we'd annihilate 'em there at our leisure."
"The assurance of the young," murmured Clothahump, but he let the otter have his
say.
" 'Tis only because the warmlander fighters o' the past wanted some decent
competition that they sallied out from behind the Gate t' meet the Plated Folk
in the Pass, or there'd o' been even more unequal combat than history tells us
of. I'm surprised they keep a-tryin'."
"Oh, they will keep 'a-tryin', my fuzzy friend, until they are completely
obliterated, or we are."
"And you're so sure this great unknown whateveritis that you know nothin' about
'as given those smelly monstrosities an edge they've never 'ad before?"
"I am afraid that is so," said the wizard solemnly. "Yet I am admittedly no more
clear as to the nature of that fresh evil now than I was before. I know only
that it exists, and that it must be prepared for if not destroyed." He shook a
warning finger at Talea.
"And that, my dear, raises the other important advantage the Plated Folk have,
one which must immediately be countered. We of the warmlands are divided and
independent, while the Plated Folk possess a unity of purpose under their
ultimate leader. They have the strength of central organization, which is not
magical in nature but deadly dangerous nonetheless."
"That still hasn't kept them from a thousand years of getting the shit kicked
out of their common unity," she replied, unperturbed.
"True enough, but this time... this time I fear a terrible disaster. A disaster
made worse by the centuries of complacency you have just demonstrated, my dear.
A disaster that threatens to break the boundaries of time and space and spread
to all continuui.
"I fear if this threat is not contained, we face not a losing fight, my friends.
We face Armageddon."
XII
It was silent within the Tree for a while. Finally Talea asked, "What word then
has come out of the Greendowns to you, honorable magician?" Clothahump's warning
had quieted even her usually irrepressible bravado.
"From what I have sensed," he began solemnly, "Skrritch the Eighteenth, Supreme
Ruler of Cugluch, Cokmetch, Cot-a-Kruln, and of all the far reaches and lands of
the Greendowns, Commander of all Plated Folk and heir to their allegiance, has
called upon that allegiance. They have been building their armies for years.
That and this new evil magic they have acquired has convinced them that this
time they cannot fail to conquer. That self-confidence, that terrible feeling of
surety, is what came through to my mind more powerfully than anything else."
"And you learned nothing more about this new magic," said Jon-Tom.
"Only one thing, my boy. That Eejakrat, master sorcerer among the Plated Ones,
is behind it. That is something we could have naturally guessed, for he has been
behind most of the exceptional awfulness that rumor occasionally carries to us
from out of the Greendowns.
"Do not underestimate these opponents set before us, Jon-Tom." He gestured at
the indifferent Talea and Mudge. "Your friends talk like cubs, through no fault
of their own." He moved closer to the two tall humans.
"Let me tell you, the Plated Folk are not like us. They would as soon cut up one
of us to see what's inside as we would a tree. No, I modify that. We would have
more concern and respect for the tree."
"You don't have to go into details," Jon-Tom told him. "I believe you. But what
can we do from here?" He flicked casual fingers across the duar. "This magic
that seems to be in my music is new to me, and I can't control it very well. I
don't know what my limits may be. If you can't do anything, I don't see how an
ignorant novice like myself could."
"Tut, my boy, your approach is different from mine, the magic words you employ
are new and unique. You may be of some use when least you expect it. Both you
and your companion," he indicated the attentive Flor, "are impressive specimens.
There will be times when I may be required to impress the reluctant or the
doubtful."
"We can fight, too," she said readily, eyes sparkling with uncharacteristic
bloodthirstiness in that sensual but childlike face.
"Restrain yourself, my dear," the wizard advised her with a fatherly smile.
"There will likely be ample opportunity for slaughter. But first... you are
quite right, Jon-Tom, in saying that there is little we can do here. We must
begin to mobilize the warmlanders, to assuage their doubts and disbelief. They
must prepare for the coming attack. A letter or two will not convince. Therefore
we must carry the alarm in person."
"The 'ell you say," Mudge sputtered. "I'm not trippin' off t' the ends o' the
earth on some 'alf-cocked crusade."
"Nor am I." Talea rose and let her left hand drop casually to the dagger at her
hip. "We've our own personal business to attend to and care for."
"Children," Clothahump half whispered. Then, more audibly, "What business might
that be? The business of being chased and hunted by the police of the Twelve
Morgray Counties? The business of thievery and petty con schemes? I offer you
instead the chance to embark upon a far grander and nobler business. One that is
vital to the future of not one but two worlds. One in which all who participate
will assuredly go down in the memories of all those who sing songs, for twice
ten thousand years of legend!"
"Sorry," said Talea. "Not interested."
"Nor me, guv'nor," Mudge added.
"Also," said Clothahump with a tired sigh, "I will make it worth your while."
"Cor, now that be more like it, Your Imponderableness." Mudge's attitude changed
radically. "Exactly 'ow worth our whiles did you 'ave in mind?"
"Sufficiently," said the wizard. "You have my word on it."
"Now I don't know as that's exactly..." Mudge's sentence floundered like a shark
in a salt lake as he detected something new and dangerous and very unsenile in
the wizard's expression. "Wot I mean to say, sor, is that naturally that's good
enough for us. The word o' a great sorcerer like yourself, I mean." He looked
anxiously at Talea. "Ain't it, luv?"
"I suppose so," she said carefully. "But why us? If you're going to need an
honor guard, or body guard, or whatever, why not seek out some more amenable to
your crazy notions?"
Clothahump replied instantly. "Because you two are already here, have already