Finally I said, "I'm not sure." I paused. "It started with the hiccups."

  While I was explaining, Master Ebbe returned with three guards. One stood at the door to the chamber, one at the door to the wardrobe closet and the king's empty bedchamber, and one loomed over me.

  The council members tried to illuse-all except Ijori, who went to the window and stared out into the night.

  I wished I could illuse words into his mouth and make him mean them, words like "I believe you." Words like "I know you too well to think you'd enjoy duping people." Words like "dear heart, sweet, love."

  He said, "Oochoo, come."

  She went to him, wagging her tail. He patted her head. She licked his hand and then returned to me and curled up at my feet.

  A dog could judge ostumo.

  198

  "I can't illuse," Master Ogusso said, giving up. "My throat must be arranged differently from hers."Princess Elainee said, "Even if Lady Aza sang for Her Majesty tonight, Queen Ivi herself commanded us not to sing."

  "She told me to!" Ivi said, glaring at me. "She said that if we were ever found out, I should distract everyone by ordering them not to sing."

  "We never spoke of being found out."

  Ijori's back was to the room, but I saw him watch my reflection in the window.

  I sang:

  "I'm an

  innkeeper's daughter. An honest inn, the Featherbed. No rooms for deceivers."

  "I don't believe Her Majesty was blameless," Sir Uellu said. "She was weak, certainly, and-"

  "I was powerful!"

  ". . . and her judgment was poor. However, a pernicious influence was at work, which even a stronger mind couldn't

  199

  resist." His gaze shifted to Ijori."What influence?" Princess Elainee asked. "Whose influence?

  I wondered if Sir Uellu had identified the advisor Ivi sometimes spoke of.

  "I can now explain both the illusing and the extraordinary rise to prominence of an innkeeper's daughter."

  My heart rose into my throat.

  "Lady Aza's voice has power and range beyond anything I've heard." He looked in turn at Master Ogusso, Princess Elainee, and Ijori. "What quality do several of the best singers in Ayorthaian history share?"

  Ijori looked blank, then shook his head vehemently.

  Princess Elainee said, "Oh!" in a shocked voice.

  Master Ogusso said, "You mean . . . ?"

  Sir Uellu nodded. "They had a drop or two of ogre blood in their veins."

  I felt as if I was falling. I remembered the library keeper singing about Queen Amba: that she had a marvelous voice, and people thought she was an ogre's great-granddaughter.

  Sir Uellu was still speaking. "Lady Aza, I suspect, has more than a few drops of ogre blood. She may be an ogre's first cousin. I had only to hear her and look at her to think it."

  200

  TWENTY-FIVEI vi looked surprised and delighted.

  I had never felt such fury. I stood and sang, flooding the room with sound. "I am no ogre!"

  But I wasn't sure.

  I lowered my voice and spoke. "I am no traitor."

  Ijori stared at me, as they all did, as if I were a creature in a menagerie.

  I sang, flooding the room again, "I am loyal to Ayortha-a-a-a-a." I held the a, made it reverberate against the walls.

  Oochoo barked. The bailiff nodded at the guards. I continued to blare forth. A guard advanced on me. I stopped singing.

  Ijori sang, his voice full of horror. "I kissed you!"

  I hated him.

  Both Ivi and Princess Elainee cried, "You kissed her?"

  "I wish you hadn't," I said. "Someone as faithless as you."

  201

  At least he looked disconcerted."She can't be allowed to do this illusing," Princess Elainee said. "We can't trust our ears."

  "She did worse than illusing," Sir Uellu said. He addressed me. "You won the queen's affections and gave her advice that would cause a rebellion."

  "Rebellion!" Ivi cried.

  I sank onto the bed. "I didn't! I wouldn't! Why would I?"

  "Ah!" Sir Uellu said. "Because you'd also insinuated yourself into the prince's affections. The queen would be overthrown. You'd marry the prince and become queen."

  The room was spinning.

  "He'd marry her?" Ivi said.

  Ijori said softly, "I'd hoped to wed her."

  "Oh, son," Princess Elainee said.

  I was going to faint, or retch. I lowered my head to my lap.

  "Wed her?" Ivi said. "Wed her! Guards! Imprison her."

  My stomach churned. I stood and lurched to the wash-stand. Oochoo came with me. As I threw up into the basin, the others decided it would be too dangerous to consider my fate in my presence. The bailiff stationed guards outside. The council and Ivi exited into the king's bedchamber. Ijori called Oochoo, and she left me.

  I was alone. I collapsed onto the rug. I closed my eyes and

  202

  didn't move for a long while.If I'd been pretty, I'd have been safe. If I'd had an ordinary voice, I'd have been safe. I dragged myself up and went to Ivi's dressing table. Ugly, in the ordinary mirror. Ogreish? Maybe.

  I looked into Skulni, and my face became beautiful. No trace of ogre in that face. How I'd love to be beautiful when Ijori and the rest returned! I'd laugh at their shock. I'd laugh and laugh.

  The image faded. I pulled open the dressing table drawer. I'd looked in it a thousand times, and I found no potion now either. I stared down at the tabletop, at the cosmetics and the mirror and the golden flute. Why would a woman who had no music in her keep a flute on her dressing table?

  I knew why.

  I unscrewed the flute's mouthpiece. Two small vials slid into my shaking hand. One was made of green clay, the other brown. Neither was much bigger than my thumb. Each bore a label. The green vial's label read "Beauty." The other label read "Disguises."

  I uncorked the green vial and raised it to my lips.

  How much should I drink? I lowered the vial, aware of my marble toe.

  203

  I wondered when the others would return.The tumbler Sir Uellu had brought me was on the floor by the bed, still half filled with water. I carried the vial to it and tipped in four drops. The potion was clear, but the water turned cloudy. I returned to the dressing table and emptied the draft down my throat. It was mildly salty, nothing worse.

  I watched myself in the ordinary mirror, not in the hand mirror. I wanted an honest reflection.

  Nothing changed. Perhaps it had no magic for humans with ogre blood.

  A blaze ripped through me, from my scalp to my toes. My eyes watered and burned. I ran to the washstand and threw the water left in the pitcher on myself. The fire roared on. I saw my hand holding the pitcher. The skin was red and coarse, the texture and color of a tongue.

  The fire passed. But then my bones, my muscles, my bowels, my heart, were squeezed and twisted, wrung, as if by a giant washerwoman. I felt myself fall. Then I felt nothing.

  I awoke on the floor, free of pain. I saw a section of rug, my sleeve, my wrist, and my hand. I moved a finger to prove it was my hand. It didn't look like my hand. It was too pretty.

  204

  The finger moved.I flew to the mirror. There I was-my beautified face- in the ordinary mirror. And not merely my face-my neck was graceful, and my shoulders were narrower. I was commanding, but no longer oppressive.

  The midnight-blue gown had become too big, and it was wet around the shoulders where I'd tried to douse myself. I was glorious in the gown nonetheless. I would be glorious in a potato sack.

  I smiled at my image. Oh, such a smile! A wounded bird's spirits would lift at that smile.

  I sang softly,

  "Some lovethe rainNotI.I love the cloudless sky."

  I had become the cloudless sky. I wondered if my marble toe had become flesh again. I concentrated. No, it was still marble.

  Perhaps I could win Ijori back. He couldn't hate me when I looked like this. He'd listen to me now.

  But I hated him.

  "You are fairest now, fairer than . . ."

  I spun around, but no one was there. I spun back and

  205

  looked down and saw a face in the hand mirror. The creature in the mirror. Skulni!He had a man's face, a sharp face-small features and small ears and a nose that came to a point. He was smiling at me, his eyes slits of merry spite.

  "Fairer than Queen Ivi. You are the fairest one of all."

  His voice was flat, with no music. It was sugary and insinuating, the voice of a spider inviting a fly in for ostumo.

  "Finish the potion, Lady Aza, or your beauty will be fleeting."

  I touched my ivory cheek. I didn't want to revert.

  But I didn't trust him, and I didn't want to burn up again or be squeezed again.

  "Hurry! They'll be back soon."

  I opened my reticule and dropped in the vial. I'd decide later.

  "When you leave this room, the vial will remain. The potions stay with the mirror. Drink up."

  I took the vial back out of the reticule.

  "Drink." He chuckled. "Or your love will return and see you change from fair to frightful."

  He was too eager. I put both vials back in the flute. "Four drops will suffice."

  What were they deciding about me in the king's chambers? What was Ijori saying?

  206

  Skulni said, "If you finish the vial, I can tell you my plans for Ayortha and the queen."I didn't know what he was talking about, and I didn't care.

  I did care.

  "Tell me. Then I'll finish it."

  I heard voices and bustle in the wardrobe closet. I turned to face the door. I wanted to see their expressions when they saw me.

  Oochoo ran to me. She didn't seem to notice any change. She greeted me, and I petted her. Had I reverted in the last second ?

  Ijori came in first, but he hadn't yet taken me in when Ivi shrieked. She ran past him and-before I could protect myself-slapped me across the face.

  207

  TWENTY-SIXochoo growled and barked at Ivi. I reeled back and put my hand to my stinging cheek. Ivi edged away from Oochoo.

  Ijori said, "Aza . . ." He looked away from me and then looked back, as if he doubted his eyes. "Aza, what. . ."

  Princess Elainee said, "Am I dreaming?"

  "Did someone take her place?" Master Ogusso said. "She's so beautiful." He added, "But I think she's still Lady Aza-Maid Aza now."

  I was no longer a lady. No matter.

  Ivi came at me again. Oochoo lunged at her.

  "Don't let your dog bite me!" She ran to Ijori.

  I sang, "Do you still see my ogre blood, Sir Uellu?"

  He said, "What caused your transformation?"

  I didn't answer. I owed them no explanations.

  Sir Uellu opened the door to the corridor. The bailiff and

  208

  the two guards came in."She's so beautiful," Master Ogusso repeated. "I can't tear my eyes away from her."

  "She's too tall," Ivi said. "Like a giraffe."

  "She's perfect," Master Ogusso said.

  The bailiff nodded at the guards. They came toward me, boots thudding, swords rattling, both men bigger than even I used to be. One had a grim mouth.

  Oochoo growled and barked.

  Ijori took her by the collar and pulled her away from me. "It's all right, girl."

  He was letting them take me.

  I tried to run, but the guards grabbed me and held me. The one with the grim mouth kept tightening his grip.

  "Gently!" Ijori said.

  "What are you doing with me?"

  Ivi came to me, brave now that Ijori was holding Oochoo and the guards were holding me. "Aza. Aza. Aza. I thought we were such friends. My heart breaks, the way you've treated me. I have a tender heart, and now it's broken."

  Sir Uellu said, "For the safety of Ayortha, the guards will take you to prison."

  Prison after all! I sang, "For how long?"

  "We haven't determined yet," Princess Elainee said. "But we cannot leave you free to illuse and confuse us."

  209

  "What of my parents' inn, the Featherbed?"Sir Uellu said, "Your family has done nothing wrong."

  Ijori said, "The crown will be generous."

  "Why should it be?" Ivi asked.

  "It will be," Ijori said firmly.

  The guards gagged me and bound my hands.

  "You may take her away now," Sir Uellu said.

  The gag tore at the corners of my mouth. I started a tune in my mind as they walked me out of Ivi's chambers, a brave tune, with trumpets and many voices. It stayed with me through the castle corridors. I thought of Frying Pan being taken to prison.

  Isn't it an outrage? Isn't it a crime?

  My courage lasted until we descended into the cellar. The air that belched up from below was rank. The stone stairs were slippery. I might have fallen if not for the guards' grip on my elbows. How was I to live down there?

  The stairs ended. All I could see of the tunnel ahead was a small circle illumined by the guards' lanterns. The tunnel was hewn from solid rock, with thick timber supports every few paces. The walls glistened with slime. A rat scurried out of the light.

  210

  After several hundred yards the tunnel turned right. My steps flagged. My legs felt as if they, too, were rock. The guards towed me along. Eventually we reached a wooden door reinforced with iron.The bailiff unlocked the door.

  Four tallow lamps burned in sconces near the low ceiling. Beneath one of them a ring of keys hung on a nail. Six iron cell doors were set in three walls. There was a window in each door, striped by iron bars.

  Mounted on a wall between cell doors were iron manacles and a cat-o'-nine-tails. A lunatic's cage, big enough for a lion, stood in the middle of the floor.

  A screen in one corner gave the guard privacy to use the chamber pot. A brazier of glowing coals on a wrought-iron stand dispelled some of the damp chill.

  The prison guard rose from his wooden table. "Never had such a pretty prisoner before."

  I'd longed for admiration. Now I had it.

  Frying Pan appeared in one of the cell windows. "Is that the innkeeper's daughter? Did Her Maj- What happened to the wench?"

  Lady Arona appeared in another window and stared out at me.

  "I want this one where you can see her every second, Izzi," the bailiff told the prison guard. "Put her in the cage."

  211

  Cage! There was a drumming in my ears. I stamped on my right-hand guard's foot and yanked my arm free. I punched my other guard in the eye and jerked out of his grip. He staggered back. I had lost none of my former strength.My mind sharpened. I noticed that Izzi, the prison guard, favored his left leg and that the hot brazier could be a weapon.

  I lunged for the prison door. A guard slammed it shut. He reached for me. I made a battering ram of my head and charged at the bailiff. Head met stomach, and he went down. I bounded toward the brazier.

  A guard vaulted to the top of the cage and then leaped onto my shoulders. I fell. The others descended on me.

  The bailiff rose and dusted himself off. "Take care with her, Izzi. She's part ogre."

  Izzi opened the cage, and the other guards shoved me inside. They slammed the door and shot home the bolt an instant before I threw myself against the bars. My mind was roaring. But the observant part of me noticed the bolt. No key, just a bolt. And then I caught a weakness in the cage. l threw myself at the bars again. They held against me.

  I squatted-there was no room to stand-and lowered my head to my lap.

  I heard the bailiff release Frying Pan and Lady Arona.

  212

  Their freedom would infuriate Ivi, but she would have to heed the council now. I heard everyone leave, all but Izzi. The door thudded shut."I'd let you out if I dared, sweet. I'd unbind your mouth and have a kiss. I'd make you . . ."

  Izzi and others like him were to be my companions from now on. My life had begun with abandonment-from a castle, like as not. It might end in a castle prison. As a babe I'd been thrust out. Now I was being kept in.

  I started a new melody in my mind, the song of a river, coursing down from Mount Ormallo, overflowing its banks, racing where it would, carrying away sheep and houses and people. No prison for this river. It was free free free.

  After a while, exhausted by rage and fear, I fell asleep. I woke with a start and an idea, an ogreish, persuasive idea.

  I was gagged, so I couldn't sing, but I could hum. I began to hum the Sweet Sleep Lullaby, which every Ayorthaian mother sings to every Ayorthaian babe.

  "Singing to please me, are you, sweet?"

  I hummed and worked my wrists behind my back, trying to stretch the rope that bound them.

  "It's that ogre blood, I warrant. Does your hearers no good. Does them . . ." Izzi continued to talk. My wrists burned. I kept humming.

  213

  It seemed to take hours, but I freed my hands. Unfortunately Izzi was still awake. He even sang along with my humming."Wrap your toes in moss, drape your calves in velvet, smile at your dimpled knees.

  "Sweet sleep, pale moth flutters by."

  I slowed my humming and made my voice as honeyed and resonant as I could. Sleep, Izzi, sleep. You are in your mother's womb, and her voice surrounds you.

  Let me do this, I prayed, before the guard changes and they discover that my hands are free.

  Izzi hummed along for an endless while, but then his head nodded. Soon he was asleep and snoring. Victory for the ogre.

  I untied my gag and pressed against the upper left corner of the cage door, where I'd felt the weakness. There it was again. The pin was halfway out of the hinge. Could I pull it out?

  My transformation had made my fingers thin enough to

  214

  slip between the iron bars. I reached the pin with my thumb and forefinger, but it was greasy and I couldn't get a firm grip. I tried to grasp it with the gag. However, the cloth did nothing to improve my hold. Frustrated, I let it go, and it fell outside the cage.The bottom of the cage was dirty and gritty. Still humming, I rubbed my hands in the filth, hoping to absorb the grease. I tried again to draw the pin out, but again my fingers slipped off. I pulled once more and was able to grip it, but it didn't come. I pulled again and again.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19