as he rubbed the circulation back into his wrists.
"I still need the duar." Loud noises reached them from
somewhere on the level above, and he hurried his introduc-
tions. '-'That's Mudge, I'm Jon-Tom Meriweather." He
recalled the song he'd sung prior to "Eye of the Tiger."
"By any chance would your name be Sage, Rosemary, or
Thyme?" Somehow Scarborough didn't seem a possibility.
"Close enuf. Ah am called Rcseroar."
Jon-Tom nodded to himself. Once again his songs and
his desires had gotten themselves thoroughly mixed. He
took a deep breath, repeated the gist of a by now familiar
story.
56
Alan Dean Foster
DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
57
"We're trying to help a wizard who is dying. Because
of that a jealous wizard is trying to prevent us from doing
so. He had us captured, brought here, and locked up."
"That's no business of mine," said the tigress. "Yo
really think man eyes are pretty?"
"Extremely so." Why didn't Mudge chip in with a
word or two? he wondered. He was better at this sort of
thing. But the otter hugged his comer of the cell and kept
his mouth shut. Jon-Tom plunged on. "Like topaz."
"Yo have a gift of words as well as music, don't yo?
Well, let me tell yo, ah am not subject to the simple
flattery of the male of any species!''
"Of course you're not. I didn't mean for you to think I
was intentionally flattering you, or anything like that. I just
made a simple statement of fact."
"Did y'all, now? Where do yo have to go to help this
dying friend of yours?"
"Across the Glittergeist Sea."
"So ah'm that fah west, am ah?" She shook her head in
wonder. "It's a peculiah world we live in."
"You don't know the half of it," Jon-Tom muttered.
"Ah've nevah been to an ocean, much less the
Glittergeist." She looked out through the bars. "So that's
yo instrument fo making magic?"
"It is. Also, the keys are on the table nearby. If we
could get ahold of the rope attached to the duar, we could
maybe drag the keys over here." He eyed the stairwell.
"But I don't think we've got much time."
"Well, sugah, if it's the keys you want. . ." Roseroar
put one paw on a bar to the left, the other on the bar
immediately opposite, inhaled mightily, and pushed. Mus-
cles rippled beneath the armor.
There was a groan and the metal bent like spaghetti. The
tigress stepped through the resultant gap, walked over to
the table, and picked up the keyring.
"Yo still want these?"
Mudge was already out in the corridor. Jon-Tom was
eht on his heels. He snatched the duar and slung it over
his shoulder.
"I think we'll be able to manage without them. Roseroar,
you're quite a lady."
"Aye, with a delicate and ladylike touch," Mudge
"Ah think ah like you two," she said thoughtfully,
staring at Mudge, "though ah can't decide if y'all are
trying to be funny or flattering." She gestured with the two
heavy swords. "Ah hope fo yo sake y'all are trying to be
funny."
Jon-Tom hastened to reassure her. "You've got to take
whatever Mudge says with a grain of salt. Comments like
that are part of his nature. Sort of like a disease." He
turned to bestow a warning look on the otter.
"Ah can see that," said the tigress. "Well, ah don't
know how ah'm going to get home, but ah sure don't
fancy this hole. Let's go somewhere quiet and talk."
"Suits me," said Jon-Tom agreeably.
At that moment the porcupine appeared at the top of the
stairs, preceded by a pair of big, heavily armed wolves.
They saw Roseroar about the time she saw them. She
emitted a battle cry, a mixture of roar and curse, that shook
moss from the ceiling. Waving both swords like propel-
11'' lers, she charged the stairway, which cleared with astonishing
speed.
Mudge executed a little bow and gestured with his right
hand. "After you, master o' magic and spellsinger
extraordinaire."
Jon-Tom made a face at him, hurried to follow Roseroar
upward. From ahead sounded shouts, screams, frantic
cries, and yelps. Above all rose the tigress's earthshaking
growls.
"Don't be so quick to compliment me," Jon-Tom told
the otter. "She's not what I was trying to conjure up."
"I know that, guv'nor," said Mudge, striding along
happily in his companion's wake. "It never is, wot? But
58
Alan Dean Poster
even though you never get wot you're after with your
spellsingin', wotever you gets always seems to work out."
"Tell me that again when she finds out there's no way I
can send her home-"
"Now, mate," Mudge told him as they started up to the
next level, "wot's the use o' creatin' worry where there
ain't none? Besides," he went on, his grin widening, "if
she turns quarrelsome, you can tell 'er 'ow beautiful 'er
eyes are."
"Oh, shut up."
They emerged into the main guardroom, which looked
as if a modest typhoon had thundered through it. Every
table was overturned and broken furniture littered the floor.
Broken spears and pikes sopped up spilled liquid from
shattered jugs. A couple of the guards remained, decoratively
draped over the broken furniture. None offered a protest as
Jon-Tom and Mudge began to search the still intact chests
and drawers.
One .yielded Mudge's longbow and arrows, another
Jon-Tom's ramwood fighting staff. There was no sign of
the full purse Clothahump had given him, nor did he
expect to find it. Mudge was more disappointed than his
companion at the absence of the gold.
"Bloody bedamned stinkin' thieves," he mumbled, ig-
noring the fact that he'd lifted a purse or two in his own
time.
"Be quiet." Jon-Tom led him up the next flight of
stairs. "From the way you're carrying on, you'd think this
was the first time you'd ever been penniless."
"I'm not sayin' that, mate," replied Mudge, putting a
leash on his lamentations, "but when I gets friendly with a
bit o' gold or silver and it ups and disappears on me, I feel
as if I've lost a good friend. The loss strikes me to the
quick."
"One of these days it'd be nice to see you get so
emotional over something besides money."
"You do me an injustice, mate." Mudge carried his bow
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
59
in front of him, a hunting arrow notched and ready to fire.
If the fates were kind they'd give him one clear shot at
Chenelska or his bullyboys. Nothing would please him
more than to be able to give the coati the shaft.
"You want emotional?" he continued as they climbed.
"You should've seen me at Madam Lorsha's."
"I'm talking about honest emotion, about caring. Not
lust."
"Cor, you mean there's a difference?"
The third landing was the last. They emerged into a
small open square lit by torches and oil lamps. To their left
was the city wall, to the right the outermost buildings of
the town. The light danced wildly as sources of illumina-
tion were hastily moved to different positions. Shouts and
yells filled the air.
Jon-Tom ducked as a wolf whizzed over his head. It
pinwheeled once before striking the wall with a sickening
thud.
Roseroar's efforts threw everything into confusion. Horns
and shouts were beginning to rouse a whole section of the
community. Lights were starting to appear in nearby windows
as residents were awakened by the commotion.
Mudge bounced gleefully up and down, pointing at the
evidence of the chaos the tigress was causing. "Wot a
show! The poor buggers must think the 'ole bloomin' city