Glyneth knelt beside Kul, who lay with eyes closed. Glyneth stroked his forehead. "Kul, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you."
"I am here with you. Can you manage to climb upon the wole? We will take you to a quiet place in the forest and you shall rest until you are well."
Kul opened his eyes. "The wole is an uncertain creature. It has done me a great harm."
"Only at the bidding of Visbhume's pipes. Otherwise it seems an orderly creature, and it runs well."
"That is true. Well then, let me see if I can climb on its back."
"I will help you."
Attracted by the activity, folk from the town had started to gather and some of them began to jeer Glyneth's attempts to help Kul. Glyneth paid the crowd no heed, and finally Kul half-climbed, half-fell aboard the wole. Now the crowd moved in close and surrounded the wole and started to pluck tassels from the rug. Glyneth brought a Tormentor bulb from the wallet and tossed it into the crowd, which immediately dispersed amid cries of pain, and the wole was free to go its way.
An hour later Glyneth took the wole veering across a meadow and behind a copse, where she dropped anchor and set up the house. Kul for a period lay in a daze, and Glyneth watched him anxiously. Was her imagination playing her tricks, or were odd changes occurring within Kul, causing his expression to move and change and at times even blur?
Kul opened his eyes to find Glyneth watching him. He spoke in a soft drained voice. "I have had strange dreams. When I try to remember, my head swims." He made a fretful movement and started to raise himself, but Glyneth pushed him back. "Lie quietly, Kul Rest, and never mind the dreams!"
Kul closed his eyes and spoke in his vague soft voice: "Murgen spoke to me. He said that I must guard you and bring you back safe to the hut. It is proper that I love you, because that is my reason for being alive. But you must not waste your emotion on me. I am half-beast, and one of the voices I hear is the voice of the feroce. Another voice is reckless and cruel, and it urges me to unspeakable deeds. The third voice is the strongest and when it speaks the others are still."
Glyneth said: "I too have thought long and deeply. All you say is true. I am awed by your strength and grateful for your protection, but I love another part of you: your kindness and bravery, and these were not taught you by Murgen. They come from somewhere else."
"Murgen's orders ring in my mind: I am to guard you and bring you safe to the hut, and since we have no better place to go, that shall be our destination."
"Back the way we came?"
"Back the way we came."
"Whenever you are strong enough to traveclass="underline" then we will go."
Chapter 17
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE FINAL GOBLIN FAIR of the Season, Melancthe arrived at that inn near Twitten's Corners known as The Laughing Sun and The Crying Moon'. She engaged her customary apartments, then at once went off to the meadow, where she hoped to find Zuck and remind him of their contract in connection with the flowers.
Zuck had only just arrived and, with the aid of a nondescript boy, unloaded his goods and appurtenances from a pony cart. At the sight of Melancthe, he politely nodded and touched the brim of his cap with his first two fingers and proceeded with his work; apparently the provision of flowers for Melancthe had not yet occupied his attention.
Melancthe made a sibilant sound of annoyance and confronted Zuck where he worked at his shelves. "Have you forgotten our agreement?"
Zuck paused in his work and gave her a blank side-glance. His face cleared. "Ah, yes! Of course! You are the lady who so anxiously wanted flowers!"
"Quite so, Zuck; have you forgotten so soon?"
"Of course not! But many small details throng my mind and detract from my attention. Just a moment."
Zuck gave the boy instructions, then took Melancthe to a nearby bench. "You must understand that in our business we often deal with persons who talk largely but put little gold upon the counter. As I recall, you wished another flower or two, to grace your lovely hair."
"I want all the flowers, be they one, two, ten or a hundred."
Zuck nodded slowly and looked off across the meadow. "At last we understand each other! Such flowers command large prices; I already have a list of customers as impatient as you, and I have yet to consult my supplier in regard to the produce of his secret garden."
"Your other customers must look elsewhere, and you will be adequately paid, never fear!"
"In that case you must apply to my booth tomorrow at this time, when I hope to have definite news from the gardener."
Melancthe could extract no further information from Zuck, and most especially he refused to identify the mysterious gardener who nurtured such remarkable blooms, and at last Melancthe returned to the inn, fretful and dissatisfied but unable to implement her wishes.
As soon as she was out of sight, Zuck thoughtfully returned to his work. After a bit he called to the boy, who on closer inspection seemed to be either full falloy, or falloy with traces of goblin and humankind. His stature was that of human youth, with a supple easy quality to his movements; otherwise he showed a silver skin, pale green-gold hair and enormous eyes with dark silver pupils in the shape of seven-pointed stars. He was a pretty lad, calm, slow and even somewhat naive. Zuck had found him a willing worker and paid him well, so that, in general, affairs went well between the two.
Zuck now called the boy's name: "Yossip! Where are you?"
"Here, sir, resting under the cart."
"Come here, if you please; I have an errand for you."
Yossip came around to the front of the booth. "What is this errand?"
"No great matter. This summer you came to work one day with a fine black flower, which, as I recall, you left on the counter, and which I later gave away to one of my customers."
"Ah yes," said Yossip.
"A flower from my secret garden."
Zuck ignored the remark. "I am of a mind to put out some trifling decoration, to distinguish our booth and mark it from the ruck. To this end, a few flowers might be just the thing. Where did you obtain the black blossom?"
"Out in the forest, along Giliom's Lane, at a place I like to consider my secret bower. This summer I found only a single bloom, though I noticed several buds."
"A few flowers may be enough. After all, we are not flower-merchants or herbalists! How far is the garden? Direct me and I will cut exactly to my needs."
Yossip hesitated. "I remember neither landmarks nor exact distances. I myself will find the place with difficulty. Still, if you want the flowers, instruct me, and I will bring them here."
"A good idea," said Zuck. "Take the pony cart, so that you may make haste. Ride out Giliom's Lane this very moment; cut neither buds nor seed-pods, only those flowers which have come into full bloom. In this manner we will not injure the growth."
"Just so," said Yossip. "I will need a sharp knife to cut the stems and a bite of bread and cheese to stay me along the way, which, as I recall, is two or three or even four miles down the lane."
"Go then, and do not loiter!"
As soon as Yossip had departed, Zuck closed the booth. He borrowed a mount from an acquaintance at a nearby booth and set off after Yossip. He rode with stealth and caution, pacing himself by the squeak and clatter of the pony cart. When the lane turned, Zuck hastened forward, to peer along its way ahead, and then ride swiftly to the next turning, so remaining close behind Yossip but always out of sight.
The sound of the cart suddenly ceased. Zuck dismounted, tied the horse and advanced on foot. The cart had halted in the middle of the lane and Yossip was nowhere to be seen.
"Well done!" said Zuck to himself. "Here is the site of the mysterious garden! It is all I need to know!" Now—to return to the booth in haste, and Yossip would never know that his secret had been broached.