philologic wake of insult behind it.
Several long minutes later they watched as a thoroughly drenched figure nearly
as tall as Flor emerged dripping from waist-deep water and slogged toward them.
It was a biped and clad in what when dry would be an immaculate silk dressing
jacket lined with lace at cuffs and neck. A lace shirt protruded wetly from
behind the open jacket, the latter a green brocade inlaid with gold thread. The
white lace was now dim with river muck.
Matching breeches blended into silk knee-length stockings which rose from
enormous black shoes with gold buckles. The shoes, Jon-Tom estimated hastily,
were comparable to a size twenty-two narrow for a human, which the damp arrival
was not.
It stopped, surveyed them with a jaundiced eye, and began wringing water from
its sleeves. A monocle remained attached to the jacket by means of a long gold
chain. After adjusting it in his right eye, the rabbit said with considerable
dignity: "Surely you would not set upon a traveler in distress. I am the victim
of antisocial activities." He gestured tiredly upstream to where the boat had
vanished.
"I cast myself on your mercies, being too exhausted to fight or flee any
farther."
"Take it easy," said Talea. "You play square with us and we'll be square with
you."
"An estimable offer of association, beautiful lady." Bending over, the rabbit
shook his head and ran a clutching paw down each long white and pink ear. Water
dripped from their ends.
A few isolated patches of brown and gray spotted the otherwise white fur. Nose
and ears were partly pink. From a hole in the back of his breeches protruded a
white tail. At the moment it resembled a soggy lump of used cotton.
Mudge had been assisting Pog in trimming and tying off the end of his stitchery.
At first he'd paid the new arrival only cursory attention. Now he left the bat
and moved to join his companions. As he did so he had a better view of the
bedraggled but still unbowed refugee, and he let out an ear-splitting whistle.
Expecting the worst, the rabbit flinched back, thinking he was now about to be
attacked despite Talea's announcement of assistance. But when he got his first
look at the otter he let out a sharp whistle of his own. Mudge flung himself
into the taller animal's arms and the two spent several minutes apparently
trying to beat each other to death.
"Bugger me for a fag ferret!" Mudge was shouting gleefully. "Imagine seein' you
'ere!" He turned, panting, to find his friends staring dumbfoundedly at him."
'Ere now, you chaps don't know who this be, do you?" He whacked the rabbit on
the back once more. "Introduce yourself, you vagrant winter coat!"
The rabbit removed his monocle carefully and cleaned it with a dry sleeve. "I am
Caspar di Lorca di l'Omollia di los Enansas Giterxos. However," and he slipped
the now sparkling eyepiece back in place, "you may all call me Caz."
He frowned as he examined his silk stockings and pants. "You must please excuse
my dreadful appearance, but circumstances compelled that I exit hastily and by
unexpected aquatic route from my most recent method of conveyance."
"Good riddance ta 'em," snorted Pog, giving the horizon the finger.
"Ah, the aerial disruption that facilitated my departure." The rabbit watched as
Pog tested his repaired wing. "It was because of your arrival that I was able to
take leave so unbloodily, my airborne friend. Though I had little time for
extraneous observation I saw the disgusting manner in which you were treated. It
was rather like my own situation."
Clothahump had little time for individual tales of woe, no matter how nicely
embroidered. "Talea said that we would treat you fairly, stranger. So we shall.
I must tell you immediately that I am a wizard and that," he pointed at Jon-Tom,
"is an otherworldly wizard. With two wizards confronting you, you dare not lie.
Now then, be good enough to tell us exactly why you jumped off that boat and why
several members of its crew chased you into the water themselves?"
"Surely the sad details of my unfortunate situation would only bore you, wizened
sir."
"Try me." Clothahump wagged a warning finger at the rabbit. "And remember what I
said about telling the truth."
Caz looked around. He was cut off from the rest of the shore. Two humans of
enormous size towered expectantly over him. If the turtle was no wizard, he was
clearly convinced he was one.
"Best do as 'Is Smartship says, mate," Mudge told him." 'E's a true wizard as 'e
says. Besides," the otter hunkered down on his haunches against a smooth section
of sand, "I'm curious meself."
"There's not much to relate." Caz moved over to their smoking camp fire and
continued to dry himself. "It was in the nature of a childish dispute over a
game of chance."
"That sounds about right." Talea grinned tightly. "They did throw you overboard,
then?"
The rabbit smiled slightly, turned, and shoved his tail end toward the fire.
"Sadly, they would not have been content with that. I fear they had somewhat
more lethal designs on my person. I was forced to fend them off until your
friend with the wings momentarily distracted them, thus enabling me to enter the
river intact. Though I first tried my best to reason with them."
"Yeah," said Pog from nearby, "I saw how ya was reasoning wid dem." He flapped
experimentally, rose a few feet into the air. "Dey reasoned ya all over da
ship!"
"Ignorant peddlars of trash and quasi-pirates," said Caz huffily. He studied his
sodden lacework in evident distress. "I fear they have caused me to ruin my
attire."
"What did they catch you cheating at," asked Flor casually, "cards?"
"I beg your pardon, vision of heaven, but that is an accusation so vile I cannot
believe it fell from the lips of one so magnificent as to constitute a monument
to every standard of beauty in the universe."
"It fell," she told him.
"I never cheat at cards. I have no need to, being something of an expert at
their manipulation."
"Which means they caught you cheating at dice," Talea said assuredly.
"I fear so. My expertise with the bones does not match my skill at cards."
Talea laughed. "Meaning it's a damnsight harder to hide a die up your sleeve
than a card. No wonder your shirt boasts so much lace."
The rabbit looked hurt, ran fingers through the fur on his forehead and then up
one ear. "I had hoped to find refuge. Instead I am subject to constant
ridicule."
"Truth, you mean."
Caz readied another reply, but Flor interrupted him. "Never you mind. We're all
busy showing each other how tough we can be. We'll just have to make sure not to
gamble with you."
"Where such loveliness is present, I never gamble," he informed her. Flor looked
nonplussed.
"Well, you're well out o' it, mate," observed Mudge. "From the look o' you,
squelchy as a fish or not, you've done right well since the last we met."
"I recall that encounter clearly." Now the rabbit was cleaning his buckled
shoes. "If I remember correctly, that was also an occasion that demanded a hasty
departure."
High otter-laugh whistled over the water. "I'll never forget it, guv. The look
on that poor banker clerk's face when 'e found out 'ow 'e'd been duked!" Their
voices blended as they reminisced.
Talea listened for a few minutes, then walked to the water's edge. Flor was
sitting there, watching the two furry friends converse.
"Otherworlder," Talea began, "that Caz had a certain look in his eye when he was
talking to you. I know his type. Fast talk, fast action, fast departure. You