Now for the elf. Okra was tempted just to toss her out without the rope. But she knew that Mela and Ida wouldn't appreciate that. Of course she might make a mistake and tie the harness just a little too tight; who would know it hadn't been an accident?
But she discovered that no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make the harness too tight. Her hands insisted on doing it just right. What was the matter with her?
Then she realized that it was because of the same thing she resented about this elf: her status as a major character.
No major character could suffer anything truly bad. They could be frightened, and get into extremely awkward situations, but they always somehow got out of them. The irony was that it was Okra who was getting Jenny Elf out of this awkward situation. She had to help her enemy, because of the power of the magic that Jenny's illicit status had. How disgusting!
So she carried the elf to the edge and let her gently down, resenting it all the way. She would have to find some other way to be rid of her.
Okra jumped down, then carried the two creatures in turn to the hole in the floor. Again she let each down, while Ida went below to remove the harness.
Finally they took the goblin girl and lowered her down to join the others. All three were safe, because the roc bird was far too big to fit through the hole.
Now it was time to deal with the roc. Ida remained with the three below, while Mela and Okra made ready to brace the big bird. If Roxanne tried to attack, Okra would slow her down again. But they needed to be in the same time frame now.
Okra held the seed of Thyme. "Slow us down to regular speed," she told it.
That was the wrong directive. The huge bird, formerly hold aloft by the goblin girl's wand, and only now beginning its slow fall, dropped to the floor with a feather-denting plop. She blinked and looked around.
Okra realized that Roxanne had just been dealing with a goblin girl with a wand, and now faced an ogre girl instead. Well she might blink; she might think that the one had changed into the other. But in a moment she would realize that the wand was gone.
She did. She pounced on Okra.
"Slow her down!" Okra told the seed. Then the roc was frozen in the air just before her talons were able to close on Okra.
Okra walked around to the bird's rear. Mela had been standing to the side; now she went to hide under the ramp that led up to closed doors. "It's your show," Mela said. "Keep getting behind her, until she pauses long enough to listen."
"Suppose she doesn't understand me?" Okra asked.
"Then we're in trouble. We may just have to leave the seed of Thyme here, with the roc in slow motion, and hope the effect wears off after we are safely away from the castle."
Okra thought about that. "Let me test it," she said. She set the seed down.
Immediately the roc resumed motion. She bounced on the floor, her talons closing on air.
Okra hastily picked up the seed again, and the bird stopped moving. Now she knew: the seed obeyed only the one who was holding it. If they tried to leave it behind, Roxanne would get it and be able to slow the escaping party down, and they would all be in her power.
"We are in trouble," Mela said.
Okra had another notion. "Seed, speed the roc up to about three-quarter speed." Ogres couldn't do fractions, but she was distressingly lacking in stupidity and did understand them. It was one of her several secret shames.
The bird finished her bounce and skidded along the floor. Then, realizing that she had missed her prey, she got her balance and looked around. Her motions were moderately slow, as if she lacked urgency. At regular speed they would have been alarmingly fast.
"Roxanne!" Okra called. "We must talk!"
The bird turned, set herself, and leaped again at Okra. This time Okra walked away, and Roxanne missed. The slowdown was just about right; Okra now had better reflexes, and could avoid the pounces.
"We must talk," Okra repeated.
But the bird would not listen. She continued to go after Okra, thinking she was just about to catch her.
"Speed us up," Mela said. "We'll have to talk with the folk we just rescued, so that we can get them to use the wand for us. Then we'll be able to suspend the bird in the air again, and make her listen."
Good notion! Okra speeded them up, and the big bird went still. They climbed down through the hole to where the other four waited. "It's been such a long time, I was getting worried," Ida said.
"That's because you remained in fast speed," Mela said. "We slowed down to normal speed to try to talk to the roc, but she won't listen. So now we need to consult with these three, to see what they know that might help us."
Okra stood before the three. "Speed them up," she told the seed of Thyme.
The three became animate. "Oh, where are we?" the elf girl said. Okra saw that the elf was holding a cat; somehow she hadn't noticed, before. Maybe she had more ogreish dullness than she thought.
"How did I get down here?" the goblin girl said.
"Who are you?" the winged centaur foal said. All three of them seemed somewhat confused. That might be because two of them had been in a cage a moment before, by their perception, and the third had been facing the roc.
"I am Okra Ogress," Okra replied. "This is Mela Merwoman, and this is Ida Human." She indicated her companions. "We have come to save you and to give the seed of Thyme to Roxanne Roc. But Roxanne won't listen to us."
The centaur seemed to reorient most swiftly, as was to be expected. "You used magic to conjure us out of the roc's chamber?"
"This seed of Thyme," Okra said, showing it. "We made it speed up our time so we could rescue you without the roc stopping us. But now we need to talk to her."
"Jenny can do that," Che said. "But the castle remains sealed. So unless you can persuade her to let us go, it may be pointless."
"Well, maybe she will let us go in exchange for the seed," Mela said. "We brought it to her, but we don't have to give it to her until we're safe, I think. And the Simurgh did want her to understand that you are not to be hurt."
"Yes, the winged monsters are supposed to protect me," Che agreed. "Because I'm a winged monster too. But Roxanne has been egg-sitting here for centuries, so didn't get the word. I'm glad you came; we do need help."
"But we can't just go without the egg," Gwenny said.
"And we'll need to travel very swiftly," Jenny said. "Because Gwenny has to take the egg back to Goblin Mountain tomorrow." Then she looked uncertain. "Or maybe today; we can't be sure how much time has passed, now."
Okra frowned. She wasn't here to help the elf! "We're just here to save the centaur and give the roc the seed of Thyme."
"But I am Gwendolyn Goblin's companion, and I am here to help her get the roc's egg," Che said. "So if I am to be saved, Gwenny must be helped."
Mela frowned. "That doesn't sound quite like centaur logic."
"Well, I'm not a grown centaur. It is centaur foal logic."
"And Jenny is my friend, and she's giving a year of service to the Good Magician to help me in my quest, so she must be helped too," Gwenny said. "Otherwise she won't be able to meet her commitment."
"I'm sure that's not what the Simurgh said," Okra said.
"But as it happens, you need Jenny," Che said.
Okra almost choked. "I don't need the elf! I want to be rid of her!"
"She's right," Jenny said. "Because I got the character she wanted."
Okra stared at her. "You know?"
"I learned. And I didn't even seek it. I didn't know there was a choice being made. I just got lost following Sammy, and showed up here. Maybe I should go back, after I finish my service to the Good Magician."
Okra was getting to dislike her less. She turned to the centaur. "Why do you say I need the elf?"
"Because her cat can find almost anything, including what you might need, and Jenny can talk to Roxanne with her dreams."
Okra had to admit that those were adequate recommendations. "So we find out how to settle with Rox
anne, and set you three free," she said grudgingly. "Then we go."
"We shall need your help also to get to Goblin Mountain in time," Che said. "The Simurgh surely sent you for this reason too."
"Yes, that makes sense," Ida said.
Okra, about to disagree, found herself agreeing. She was getting as confused as the rest of them! "Well, let's get this done," she said.
So Jenny Elf went up to the roc's chamber with them. There she did her thing, which turned out to be a sort of stupid humming or singing. Okra soon lost interest and looked around the chamber—and found herself abruptly in another world. This one was very pretty, even to an ogre's perception, with hard gray mountains on the horizon, turbulent storm clouds in part of the sky, and big gaunt iron-wood trees in the foreground.
How had she come here? She was the one with the seed of Thyme, so she couldn't have been slowed way down and moved. She would have had to be moved a long way, because this scene was on the ground, while the Nameless Castle was on a cloud in the air. In fact, she saw the castle, on one of the clouds in the distance. Who had conjured her to the ground?
Jenny Elf and her cat were also there. "How did this happen?" Okra asked her.
"I did it," Jenny said. "It's my talent."
"You're a sorceress!" Okra exclaimed.
"No, only an elf girl. I can imagine a nice place, and anyone who hears me sing and isn't paying attention can join me in it."
"But what's the point?" Okra demanded. "We need to talk to the roc."
"That's right," Mela said, appearing. "Because now I'm in it too. But this isn't getting our business done."
"When Roxanne appears, we'll be able to talk to her—in this dream," Jenny explained.
"So where is she?" Okra asked, looking around.
"Well, her attention has to wander, before she can come in. But we talked to her before." Jenny looked around also. "Funny she isn't here yet, though."
"Oh, I just realized!" Mela exclaimed. "She's still in slow motion, or we're in fast motion. It will take ages for her to join us!"
Okra glanced at the seed. "Maybe I can speed her up. But if I do, could she eat us instead of joining this dream?"
"I'm not sure," Jenny said.
"Well, let's find out," Okra said, satisfied to make Jenny squirm. "Seed of Thyme, make Roxanne join our speed."
"But—" Mela and Jenny said together.
Then the roc appeared. "Hey, I'm here again!" she said. She spread her great wings and launched into the sky.
"Hey, Roxanne," Jenny called. "We have to talk to you."
The roc looped about. "Who has to talk to me?"
"Okra Ogress, there," Jenny said.
Okra realized that Jenny had done it back to her. This might be a dream world, but could the roc eat a person here?
"Well, then, I'll eat her first," Roxanne said. "I don't know how you got out of the cage, but this time I'll make sure of all of you. You won't escape after I've eaten you." She oriented on Okra and swooped down.
Okra lifted the seed. "Slow her to three quarters of our speed," she said.
The bird's wing beats slowed. She lost elevation faster than she wanted to. She had to pump harder to avoid crashing into the ground. Even in a dream, that might hurt. "What have you done to me?" she squawked. Even her words were slow.
"I used the seed of Thyme to slow you to three-quarter speed," Okra replied. "I can slow you further, if you don't behave."
The roc landed bumpily on the ground and hopped toward them. Her hops were slow, and she seemed to hang longer in the air than she should. It would be easy to avoid her. "What is this seed of Thyme?" she asked, still speaking in a somewhat measured manner.
"The Simurgh gave it to me, to give to you. But you must free your captives and not try to eat them."
"And you must give us the egg," Jenny called.
"Never!" Roxanne cried. "The Simurgh sent me to egg-sit, and I must protect that egg until it hatches."
"But we need it," Jenny said.
"You can't have it! I know the Simurgh would never have given it to you."
It did seem odd to Okra that the Simurgh would send a roc bird to protect the great crystal egg, then allow it to be taken to a mountain of goblins. "Why do you have to have it?" she asked the elf.
"Because Gwenny Goblin has to fetch what is between a roc and a hard place, or she won't get the chance to be the first female goblin chief. And the egg is what's between the roc and the hard stone nest."
"You can't have it!" Roxanne repeated.
Okra realized that there might be something else here. "Is the egg the only thing in the nest?"
"It must be," Jenny said. "We saw it."
"Yes, that's all I allow in the nest," Roxanne agreed.
"What about stray feathers?" Okra asked.
Jenny looked at her, astonished. "Why that would count, too! Maybe we don't need the egg!"
"Still, you tried to steal the egg," Roxanne said. "So I must eat you." "But you can't eat Che Centaur," Okra said. "No winged monster can."
"Nobody ever told me that," Roxanne said. "As far as I'm concerned, he's a thief, too, and deserves to be eaten."
"But if we took only a feather, and promised never to return," Jenny said. "Then—"
"No. You tried to take the egg."
"But suppose we gave you the seed of Thyme?" Okra asked. "Would that make you change your mind?"
"I don't want to slow myself to three-quarter speed!" Roxanne said.
"But with it you could make yourself any speed—or anything else any speed," Okra said. "It is a very powerful thing. That is why I am able to stop you. I just change your speed to something that can't hurt me. If you had it, you—" She paused, realizing the roc-sized significance of it. "You could speed up the egg until it hatches, and you would be free!"
"Free!" Roxanne exclaimed, excited.
"And all you have to do is let them go, with a feather," Okra said. "Will you do that?"
It was evident that even a firmly mind-set roc had her price. "If that is all, yes."
"Then let's get out of this dream and fetch that feather," Jenny said.
But Okra was more cautious. "Truce?" she asked the roc.
"Truce," the bird agreed. "But if you try to steal the egg again, I'll eat you."
Jenny clapped her hands, creating her own distraction, and the dream vanished. They were all back in the roc's chamber. They could no longer talk with Roxanne, but the bird understood them well enough.
"I'll go get the feather," Mela said. "You don't want to get in range, Okra, just in case."
That made sense. Mela walked to the egg. Roxanne approached it also, but did not try to attack. Actually she was still at three-quarter speed, which helped.
Mela looked in the nest. "There's no feather here," she said.
"Oh, there must be!" Jenny cried in anguish.
"Maybe something else?" Okra asked.
"Nothing but an old shed claw," Mela said.
"A claw will do, if it's been between the roc and the hard place," Okra said.
Mela hauled out the claw. It was as long as she was, a talon like a long sword. "Come to think of it, this must always have been between the roc and hard places, because every time she lands on a mountain or the floor or the nest, or picks up a stone or a bone, this claw was between her and it. Once she lost it, it's been in the nest." She faced Roxanne. "Is it all right to take this?"
The bird nodded. It wasn't as if she didn't have plenty of other talons.
"Then will you let us go, if we give you the seed of Thyme?" Okra asked.
Reluctantly, the bird nodded again.
"And you know that if you break this agreement, you'll be in trouble with the Simurgh?" Okra asked. "Because she's the one who sent us here?"
Roxanne jumped. It was obvious that she didn't want that. The Simurgh had given her a way to get free whenever she chose; why should she throw it away by angering the Simurgh anew?
So Mela hauled the talon away, str
uggling with its weight, and Okra walked to the nest and put the seed of Thyme in it. Immediately the time became normal for all of them; her commands no longer applied. "All you have to do is hold it and tell it what to speed up or slow down," she said. "Maybe you had better test it before we go, to make sure it understands you."
Roxanne came to the nest, reached inside it with her beak, and brought up the seed. She tucked it under a wing feather, and squawked.
Suddenly she was a blur of motion. Light flooded into the chamber. The bird had activated the seed and speeded up, or made the rest of them slow. They were now at her mercy.
Then things returned to normal motion. Mela, Jenny, and Okra stood unharmed. The bird had not taken advantage of her power over the seed to eat them. She had only tested it. Fortunately.
"Then we'll go now," Okra said.
Roxanne nodded.
They climbed back down through the hole, and then walked out through the open castle. Okra carried the talon, which was too heavy for Mela to haul for long. Soon they came to the front gate and crossed the drawbridge, which was now down for them. Roxanne had opened everything during her trial with the seed.
Okra had wound up helping Jenny Elf, too. Okra hoped she would not regret this foolishness. It was unogreish, for one thing. And it still didn't help her achieve her desire to become a major character.
CHAPTER 16.
Arrival
Che was amazed at recent developments. One moment he had been in the cage; the next he had been in the downstairs chamber with his friends, facing a buxom merwoman with legs, a surprisingly small and unugly ogress, and a young woman whose identity he had almost mistaken. But he had been able to reorient rapidly, as was proper for a centaur, because he had seen two of them in the tapestry. They were Mela Merwoman and Okra Ogress. Even as he placed them, they were introducing themselves and the third, who turned out to be Ida Human. They had been sent by the Simurgh to save Gwenny Goblin's party, for the Simurgh was the original winged monster who had declared that Che would someday change the history of Xanth and should be protected. To facilitate that, the ogress had brought Roxanne Roc a seed of Thyme.