Roxanne's thought reviewed the time scale. Yes, there did seem to have been several centuries. She slept so much and so deeply that it was hard to tell.

"But who built the Nameless Castle? Who laid the egg? What will hatch from it?"

Roxanne did not know. It was not hers to reason why, merely hers to do and fly. To egg-sit until it hatched. That she would faithfully do, because she did not want to annoy the Simurgh again.

"But Che Centaur is protected by all winged monsters, by order of the Simurgh," Gwenny said. "The same bird who sent you here for your community service. You will annoy her something awful if you eat him."

Roxanne knew nothing about that. She had never left the Nameless Castle, because she couldn't fly, and had not questioned any of the intruders before eating them. Why should she take the word of an attempted thief that the Simurgh had said not to eat him?

Gwenny shook her head, baffled. The roc's thought made sense, on her terms. How was she to be convinced that she was mistaken?

Then Gwenny heard something. It was a low humming, perhaps singing, the words not quite distinguishable. The roc, intent on Gwenny and the endangered egg, was not listening to it.

It was Jenny Elf-trying her magic. It worked only on those who were within hearing range but not paying attention. So it wouldn't affect Gwenny this time, because her mind was right on things, but it just might work on the roc, if the roc's attention remained distracted from the elf.

Gwenny saw the dream forming, however, because of the lens in her eye.

It was like a cloud over Jenny's head, where she hid under the ramp.

Within that expanding cloud a scene appeared, at first vague, then clarifying. It was of a gra.s.sy glade, with flowers in the foreground and misty mountains in the background. In the middleground were glades and sparkling streams and all manner of handsome trees. It was completely lovely, as Jenny's scenes usually were.

Gwenny wished she could step into that dream, as she had so many times before, but she couldn't afford to. If she did, she would lose concentration on the wand, and the egg would drop and shatter, leaving the roc nothing to do but destroy all the intruders immediately. If she set the egg down first and stepped into the dream, the roc could recover the egg and then hunt them down. So she had to remain alert. But she could watch it from outside. This was a new experience, seeing reality and the dream at the same time.

Jenny appeared in the dream. She walked among the flowers, which was one of her favorite things to do, being careful not to step on any. She bent down to sniff a big purple pa.s.sion flower, carefully, because girls were not supposed to get too much of that sort of thing. Not even those who had been inducted into the Adult Conspiracy.

Sammy Cat appeared in the dream. He was snoozing in life, near Jenny he did the same in the dream. There was even a dreamlet cloud over his head within the dream, but its details were obscure. Probably he was dreaming of himself dreaming of himself dreaming, and so on, each dream cloud smaller until they became pinpoint small and vanished.

Roxanne Roc appeared in the dream. She looked surprised. She was surprised; her own thought cloud showed it, with a picture sliced diagonally. One part was where she had just been, in the Nameless Castle; the other was where she was now, in a lovely glade with an elf girl.

Which one was she to believe?

"Why h.e.l.lo, Roxanne," Jenny said in the dream.

Gwenny couldn't actually hear the words, but she saw Jenny talking and knew that was what she would be saying.

"What am I doing here?" Roxanne asked. She could talk directly to Jenny now, because that was the way of it in her dreams. All barriers between creatures were broken down, and everybody got along harmoniously.

"You are in my dream," Jenny said. "It is nicer than reality, because everything is perfect, here."

T"hings won't be nice for me until I can fly again," Roxanne said.

"Why, you can fly, here," Jenny said.

Amazed, Roxanne tried it. She spread her wings and took off-and sailed into the deep blue sky. In a moment she was playing tag with a pa.s.sing cloud. It was wonderful!

But Gwenny couldn't watch all of this. Jenny had given her a chance to get them free. So she moved her wand and set the egg carefully back down into the nest, then stashed the wand in her pack. She ran across the chamber to the row of cages against the wall. They were up above her head, because though Roxanne could not fly, she was such a big bird that she could reach far up. So Gwenny had to climb up the wall. That was no trouble, because the wall here was made of rough-hewn cloud stuff and was easy to grab on to. Also, she remained fairly light, because it had not been all that long since Che had lightened her so that he could carry her up to the Nameless Castle.

She climbed, glancing back to make sure that Jenny's dream remained effective. She saw Jenny by the ramp and Roxanne sitting beside the nest, and the dream cloud between them, filled with its pleasant wonders. The dream roc was looping and swooping in the air, absolutely delighted. For centuries she had been grounded, for all that she was in a castle on a cloud in the air, and she was reveling in her newfound flight. She would not be eager to leave that dream in any hurry.

Gwenny reached the bottom of the cages. She hooked her fingers into their cloud-strand wire and pulled herself up to the front of Che Centaur's cage. "Che!" she whispered. "How does this thing open?"

"It is tied by a fragment of a Gordian not, " he said sadly.

"A what?"

"A Gordian not. It is a magical knot that cannot be untied by anyone except the one who tied it. The roc tied it, so she's the only one who can untie it."

"But then how can I rescue you?"

"You can't," he said sadly. "Nor can you rescue Jenny, I fear. See whether you can find some way to rescue yourself."

"I'll do nothing of the kind " she said indignantly. "You're my companion and next-closest friend. I must rescue you both."

She looked at the not. "Maybe I could cut it."

"I don't know whether that is wise."

Gwenny glanced over her shoulder at the continuing dream scene. "Jenny can't hold the roc forever. I've got to act now, if I'm ever going to."

"You may be correct," he agreed reluctantly.

Gwenny hung on with her left hand, and dug her knife out of her pack with her right hand. She set the blade at the top of the not and began sawing through it.

The not screamed and flashed. The light was almost blinding, and the sound was a shrill keening that made the very walls shudder.

The roc snapped out of the dream. She gazed wildly around, catching on to what was happening. Then she leaped at Jenny Elf, catching the girl in her huge talons before she could scramble around the ramp. She carried the girl across to the cages.

"Flee!" Che cried to Gwenny.

Gwenny let go of the cage and dropped to the floor. Her lightness made the landing tolerable. She scooted off to the side, avoiding the big bird. She found a rocky region and dived behind a boulder.

Meanwhile Roxanne had opened the cage, tossed Jenny in with Che, and retied the Gordian not. Now two of them were caged.

Gwenny realized that she should recover her control of the egg. It was the only way to restrain Roxanne, who really was trying to do her job, misguided as it was in this case.

She ran toward the egg, bringing out her wand. But Roxanne was already running toward it too, and her steps were a whole lot bigger. So Gwenny aimed the wand, but before she could loft the egg, the roc reached it and threw herself on it. She pulled cloud cord from somewhere and wrapped it around the egg and nest, tying it with another Gordian not.

It was now impossible to loft the egg; it was anch.o.r.ed to the nest, and the nest was anch.o.r.ed to the floor. Gwenny had lost her chance at it.

She should have used her wand as soon as she landed on the floor, instead of mindlessly fleeing. She had panicked, and given up her last real chance to make an even fight of it. That was hardly a chiefly thing to do, not that she would ever get a chance to be chief. So maybe she really wasn't qualified to be chief. But she hated getting her friends into this disaster with her.

The roc finished binding the egg and turned her head to fix on Gwenny.

Then she pounced.

Gwenny lofted the bird high into the air and over her own head. She hadn't even planned on that; it had just happened. The huge creature hurtled like a stone and crashed into the opposite wall, denting her tail. Her thought cloud showed a ma.s.s of squiggles and exclamation marks; she was really confused.

Well, now! Maybe Gwenny did have a chance! Because Roxanne couldn't fly, she was now helpless in the air. The wand could control her. Maybe if she got bashed around enough, she would give up the battle.

The roc righted herself and started for Gwenny again.

This time she didn't leap, she walked. It didn't matter; Gwenny lofted her again and smacked her into another wall.

The third time the bird got smarter. She extended her talons and drove them into the cloud stones of the floor.

When Gwenny tried to loft her, it didn't work, because she was locked onto the floor. She took one step, and then another, keeping one foot anch.o.r.ed.

Gwenny thought of something desperate. She ran toward the bird's anch.o.r.ed foot. Roxanne, surprised, yanked that foot out of the floor so as to grab her-and Gwenny struck with the wand in that moment and lofted her high.

But this time she did not smack the roc into the wall. It was her own turn to get smarter. She held the bird aloft.

Now Roxanne was unable to move, because she had no purchase and could not fly. Gwenny had captured her, in a fashion.

But what was she to do with her captive? She couldn't hold the roc there forever, because she would have to sleep sometime. Apart from that, she had to take the egg back to Goblin Mountain within a day, and there was hardly enough time remaining for that even if she had her friends free and possession of the egg. Her situation remained desperate, no matter what happened to Roxanne.

A new cloud formed in the air between them. Whose dream was this? But it didn't form a picture; rather the entire cloud a.s.sumed a shape. The shape became that of a woman, a grown woman, with a voluptuous figure and clothing designed to advertise every curve and contour.

Then the face tonned, and it was familiar.

"Metria!" Gwenny exclaimed. "What are you doing here?

The demoness drifted to the floor, peering at her. "The goblin girl," she said. "I might ask you much the duplicate.

"Much the what?"

"Alike, identical, double, reproduction, transcript, replica, remake-"

"Same?"

"Whatever," she said crossly. "I am here on business. I thought you were going home to be monarch."

Gwenny elected not to correct the misnomer. "I am trying to, but I had to meet my little brother in a challenge. He changed the paper, and I had to fetch what was between the roc and the hard place. So we came here to fetch the crystal egg, only we're in trouble."

"Now that's interesting. How soon do you think you'll be through here?"

"If I'm not back at Goblin Mountain within another day, nothing will matter. So I guess I'll be through in a day, one way or another."

The demoness produced a notepad and pen, and made a note. "I'm working for Professor Grossclout now, setting up the special bleep, and I have to survey exotic settings such as this one. So I'll report that it will be clear next year... Thank you."

"A special what?"

"That's not a confusion, it's a censorship. I'm not allowed to say anything about it. I tried to sneak into it to find out, because curiosity is my dominant emotion, and I did see Nada Naga rehearsing, but the professor caught me, and no one ever told the professor no on anything. So now I know all about it, but can't tell anyone else. It's a phenomenal frustration."

"Well, can you maybe help us while you're here? Che and Jenny are locked in a cage, and I'm lofting Roxanne Roc, but it's an impa.s.se and I don't know what to do."

"Oh, hasn't the rescue party found you yet?"

"What rescue party?"

"The one the Simurgh's going to send, when she learns of this." Metria looked around. "It will be interesting to see whether she learns of it in time. Well, toodle-oo."

"The Simurgh doesn't yet know?" Gwenny cried despairingly. But the demoness was already fading out.

Gwenny was alone again. Her friends remained caged, and the egg was tied down. There just didn't seem to be any chance to save them and the egg and get back in time.

She pondered, and came to a conclusion. She did not have to be chief.

She was not sure she was qualified for it anyway. But she just could not let her friends be eaten.

"Roxanne," she said. "I came here to steal your precious egg. I admit that. I would be willing to borrow it and return it, but I don't think you'll agree. So now I'm ready to compromise. Let my friends and me go, and we'll leave your egg alone."

The bird considered. But Roxanne had heard what the demoness said, and now knew that Gwenny was desperate. Her thought cloud showed Gwenny falling asleep, when the roc could then get back to the floor and grab her.

"But you also heard that the Simurgh does have an interest in us," Gwenny said.

It seemed that Roxanne dismissed that as irrelevant or as an attempt to fool her. She would wait.

"Then I'll bash you against the wall!" Gwenny cried, suddenly furious.

She waved the wand, causing the bird to circle wildly in the air. But she did not follow through, because she feared that Roxanne would sink her talons into the wall and so regain her footing, which would give her the victory.

Gwenny cast about for something else. She saw the rocky region where she had hid for a moment. That was a rock garden! Now she remembered that rocs liked rocky things, such as rock candy, rock music, and rock gardens.

That must be the bird's private garden.

"I'll mess up your rock garden!" Gwenny said.

Roxanne squawked. That had gotten to her.

"Let my friends and me go," Gwenny repeated.

But the roc wouldn't. So Gwenny walked back to the rock garden, which she saw was composed of rocks of several sizes ranging from large to huge. She pushed against one, but it was too heavy for her to budge.

They all were.

Well, she could use the wand. She brought it around and the bird gyrated. oops! If she used it on a rock, she would have to let Roxanne go, and that would be disastrous. She couldn't make good on this threat either.

Gwenny sat on a rock, baffled. The guilty sparkle that stained them was finally fading, but that didn't make any difference now. Two of them were caged, and the third was mostly helpless.

She felt tears starting. What was she to do?

Chapter 14.