Part Four
Chapter 34
INCREDULITY
"I don't believe it! Thank you. You may leave."
The uerpee messenger smiled gratefully and rollicked out the door. Inabee sat down as if stunned.
"Igilvee!" he said to himself.
He looked down at the idascee in his hand. It was from Inaquee. "Be advised," it read, "Igilvee was captured by omofinishees, and is being held in hut aternilnilquinaquee on authority of Usunee." Inaquee's signature looked genuine. The seal of the First Hand was on the top of the idascee. He looked up, but the uerpee was gone. He should have questioned her, he thought belatedly.
"I can't believe it!"
He achingly pushed himself up out of his saddle-chair, and shuffled to his window, dropping the ready signal flag out over the sill. Then he teetered belaboredly back toward the archives.
Inabee was the most aged of the First Hand, older than Usunee by some two hands seasons, and he felt it this morning. He was accustomed to resting late, but had been awakened by the uerpee with the idascee at this insanely early time. The sun was still rising! he noted sourly. But he knew there would be no chance to catch up on his sleep this day, if the remarkable message should prove to be genuine. If it was not some clumsy forgery, he thought, it might just provide the opportunity he had been waiting for all this time: to discredit Usunee, and possibly Usunee's foul concubine Inaquee as well. Inabee curled the corner of his mouth into what passed with him for a smile, in spite of the pain in his back and joints. What was a little pain? What was a long lifetime of subservience? Retribution would only be that much the sweeter.
He shuffled into the chamber which held the archives of Inabee. The archives were inherited with the office and the name, of course, and Inabee had held the name long enough to have made a thorough study of the archives many times over. Nevertheless, today he wanted to re-examine what records he had of the Orsnumquammee. He may find something interesting.
The archives of Usunee held by far the most comprehensive collection of documents of any of the First Hand, but the archives of Inabee were not to be slighted on that account. In his back chamber, Inabee had reference to much of the same information Usunee could call up, and Inabee's was not cluttered with the everyday idascees and trivial messages which Usunee felt compelled to retain in perpetuity. Inabee began to collect every scrip he could find mentioning the Orsnumquammee.
"I came as soon as I saw the flag!" panted a harried asmee coming through the door in a flurry of flailing arms and legs. "Why are you up so early? What is your need, Inabee?"
"Why are you such an ufobee? Ah, 'mediushee," Inabee said curtly without looking up. He waved his arm vaguely. "Look for 'Orsnumquammee.'" Inabee and his omomediushee (his clerk, whose name was Usunusquaternilquinaunee to everyone but Inabee) set to work gathering together idascees about the Orsnumquammee. Inabee's legs soon nearly gave out, and he sat to read through the growing mound, often stopping to compare articles, or sort them out, or rest. They kept at it for quite a while: there turned out to be many old, old things, interesting things, in the archives of Inabee.
"Ercusstee! 'InabinaniltrinaquinaTRINAunustree!' Bah!" he snapped his fingers. "I can't believe it! A one-hand promotion. Aexfee!"
"Quiet, ermisvee! At least we will be reassigned," remarked Binatree glumly. The two outriders were on foot, trudging away from their interview with Inaquee.
"Together! I could scream! Icsee, good InabinaniltrinaquinaTRINAbinatree, you see what obediance gets you! You see what valor gets you!" Unustree turned in the road to face back toward Inaquee's hut, and shouted defiantly. "You see what doing the impossible gets you! An odee cipiacee ONE HAND PROMOTION!"
"Ssssh! And a hand-day furlough," Binatree added helpfully.
Unustree hit him on the back of the head with an open hand. "Anusvee ebeshee! 'And a hand-day furlough!'" he mocked. "I can't believe it!" He kicked at the dusty path, almost falling down in the attempt.
"At least we're out of the fens! I'm glad for that!" said Binatree, cringing in anticipation.
Unustree slapped him again. "Ermisvee! I can't believe you! you, you - " he struggled for a word derogatory enough to express his disgust, in vain. "Bah! We got odee cipiaceed! Don't you know that?" He swatted Binatree's head. "Can't you get (slap!) that (slap!) into (slap!) your (slap!) EBESHEE (slap!) HEAD?! Augh! Odee cipiaceed!"
They shuffled along utterly thoughtless for a while.
"RIGHT UP THE TAIL!" Unustree shouted suddenly.
Binatree looked around uneasily. Unustree was getting out of control. An eminafee discreetly bent at her gardening, but sniggered audibly. Some uerpees turned and rollicked away from them, hiding behind the corner of a hut.
"WITHOUT ISCISFIOPEE!" Unustree bellowed, his harsh voice cracking under the strain.
"Ssssh! Please, Unustree!" Binatree begged. "Stop talking that way! Everyone is listening! You will get us in real trouble!"
"Icsee, real trouble! Icsee!" Unustree suddenly stopped in mid-stride. "Binatree," he said with a weird calmness, a strange half-smile creeping across his face, "are you satisfied with a one-hand promotion? as if it was possible!"
"Well, curse it! I, well, that is, what is he getting at? satisfied?" Binatree stuttered aimlessly.
"Ermisvee! If you are happy," Unustree lowered his voice, "leave me now. Otherwise... heh, heh, heh!" He called to his iscelervee to come to him.
"Aexfee! Unustree," whined Binatree, "what are you going to do? Unustree!?" He watched with a sick, sinking feeling as Unustree mounted and strode away. "UNUSTREE! Aexfee! What is he doing? Curse him! Come, ofaexedee! Let's go! Curse it!"
"So Igilvee is here? That is very exciting." Usunee's controlled croak belied his words.
"Icsee! It is most incredible, is it not?" Inaquee gushed. "I can't believe those ebeshee omofinishees actually did it."
"Exactly. Perhaps," Usunee drawled, "they didn't."
"You should hear their reports of the things Igilvee can do!"
"I intend to."
"And some of the things they said it told them! Unbelieveable!" Inaquee went on.
"They said."
"And their description of Igilvee matches yours exactly!" she said.
"Their description. So you have not seen 'Igilvee' yet?" he queried.
"Well, gulp! no," she admitted. "I thought perhaps you would prefer to have the honor of seeing it first."
"'Honor.' This 'honor' should be as much yours, Inaquee, as mine," Usunee said wryly. "Accordingly, you may wish to accompany me now."
Inaquee was caught off guard. "What? Now?" she cried. "Where are you, that is, where are we going? Of course I will accompany you, Usunee!"
"Wise decision." He snapped his fingers. "Uerpee," he muttered to the little eminafee who soon appeared, "iscelervees!"
Usunusquaternilquinaunee happened to be resting his eyes for a moment. "What is this? Inabee!" he whispered breathlessly, pointing through the window toward the road outside. The old asmee looked up from his desk and squinted to refocus his eyes.
"Interruptions! What is it, 'mediushee?" he grunted. "I can't make it out. What do you want?"
"I can't believe it! Why, it's Usunee, riding openly with Inaquee!" gaped the omomediushee.
"So it is," Inabee grunted unconcernedly, but his mouth curled into a tight arc. He watched silently as the two riders disappeared down the road. He could guess where they were going: hut aternilnilquinaquee. He neatly removed the pile of idascees from the seat in front of him, and arranged those before him on the desk in even stacks. "Good! 'Mediushee," he barked with finality, "help me stand. We are going to take a little ramble."
The clerk's eyes fairly popped. Inabee, ancient Inabee, wanting to take a 'ramble?' "I can't believe it! Er, where to, superior?" he asked politely.
"Insolence! As if you need to know!" Inabee reminded him of his place, but then relented. "Just next hut," he said. "I think we shall peruse the archives of Usunee for a while."
"Oh, odee cipi- Oh, my! Look at who approaches!"
"I don't believe it! Think fast, colleague! Inaquee AND Usunee!"
The omofinishees posted as guards beside the door to hut aternilnilquinaquee snapped to attention, then struggled to prostrate themselves in homage to Usunee as the First Hand leaders neared.
"Nice. Rise," Usunee commanded, and waited patiently while they awkwardly regained their feet. "Open."
The guards looked at each other nervously, but dared not disobey, and the door was carefully unbolted. Outwardly unconcerned, but inwardly quaking, Usunee waddled in, closing the door behind him.
"'Finishees," Inaquee, left outside, addressed the guards. "Has anything happened?"
They looked at each other again. "It, er, it calls to us," volunteered one.
"Curse it! Icsee, Inaquee," agreed the other, "It wants us to open the door!"
"It is very hard not to listen, very hard!" said the first.
"Oh?" questioned Inabee. "How is that?"
They looked at each other again.
"Now we're in for it! We don't know," one complained. "It just tells us, and we want very much to do it! We don't open the door, of course, but we want to very much! It almost makes us forget our duty."
"I will have to change these guards soon," thought Inaquee.
Monwyrt had spent a rather miserable night in his cell. He had found it to be furnished with some rudimentary items: a small, short bench; a low upholstered, rounded, swale-backed thing of unknown utility; and a satisfactorily cushioned but ridiculously short cot which was impossible for him to lay down upon. He slept on the floor. Luckily, he had still been wearing his pack when they had trapped him, so he had his old skin (which was wearing thin, but still quite serviceable) and his supply of food. Unluckily, his water-bladder was dryge, and he could not convince his witless guards to fill it for him.
He had discovered a tiny window, shuttered on the outside, in the morning. He pushed it open, and was rewarded with a fresh breeze and an oblique view of the river. One of the guards heard it open, and came around to shut it again. But when she looked in out of natural curiosity she came suddenly face to face with Monwyrt, to the surprise of both. Monwyrt caught her eye as she attempted to close the shutter, and said, "No! leave it open!" quite forcefully. She acquiesced immediately, as if the thought had never occured to her to shut it, and when the other guard asked about it, she informed him that it was better left open, as it was too small to escape through.
The whole hut was too small, Monwyrt thought with irritation. He could stand fully upright only in the very middle of the floor without banging his head on the clay roof, and the greatest length of that floor measured only three paces. The wall was an incredible three hands thick at the window, and he could only assume it was equally strong all around and above. He was constantly reminded of his little chamber back in the mines.
He heard the guards talking, and he heard the bolts drawn back. Usunee waddled in and seated himself across the saddle-chair. Monwyrt remained seated on the floor before the window, his back to the wall. Usunee looked around suddenly.
"Espavees?! It is big! So, you are Igilvee!" said Usunee uncertainly, at last. He was feeling very unsure of himself at that moment.
"That is the name you have given me, Usunee," Monwyrt replied coyly. "Why have you trapped me here?"
"The name I have given him. Hmm. Perhaps it was Usunee who named him originally. I am sorry. Are these accomodations not satisfactory?" he asked.
"Don't pretend to misunderstand me," Monwyrt said bluntly. "Why am I held here against my will?"
"It does indeed speak Eatopygiasteen! but with its mouth!? The archives said... Was it against your will that you were brought to Bisuree? or did I anticipate you incorrectly?" Usunee returned.
"There is no need to keep me here. I pose no threat to the Eatopygiastees," reasoned Monwyrt.
"Perhaps true. Ah, but have you considered whether the Eatopygiastees pose a threat to you?"
"Um!" Monwyrt said hotly. "They threaten to imprison me, and, what is nearly as bad, let me die of thirst!"
"Let you die? You? You jest with me, Igilvee," Usunee said with a slight smile.
"Not at all. I want out of here. I am thirsty."
"Thirsty. Igilvee, you are here for your own protection," Usunee explained. "We Eatopygiastees have not seen any other race before. Some few of us know what you are, but the rest... well, they may not be... kind."
"Let me out," Monwyrt demanded unequivocably. "I will take my chances defending myself."
"I dare say. But when you do, whether you 'defend' yourself successfully or not, there will be a casualty on one side or the other," Usunee said. "I am the first member of the First Hand. I can not let that happen."
"It sounds as if it is not for my own protection that I am imprisoned, as you have said," noted Monwyrt.
"I must be careful! You turn my own words against me," Usunee protested.
"I would not, if it were impossible to do," said Monwyrt. "But I must take your words for what they mean to me, and if they seem to turn, I must ask you what they mean."
"Fair enough. Guard!" Usunee called out suddenly. "Bring Igilvee some water! I am sorry," he turned back to Monwyrt. It was only a moment before Monwyrt's skin was filled and returned to the hut. The Traeppedelfere momentarily abandoned his manners as he filled his mouth with the cool, sweet water. "I do want you to be comfortable," Usunee claimed.
"Then let me out."
"I can not do that."
"You can let me out! I know you can!" Monwyrt spoke with renewed vigor. "But you are saying that you will not let me out."
"Icsee. We understand each other," Usunee sighed.
"Not in the least!" Monwyrt cried. "What do you want with me?"
Usunee closed his eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. Then, to the Traeppedelfere's surprise, he rose and went to the door. "Inaquee!" he called.
"Icsee, Usunee?" came the answer from outside.
"I wish to speak with Igilvee. Please remove yourself and the guards to the next hut. Promptly." He shuffled not back to the saddle-chair, but to the cot, and creakily reclined on it. Monwyrt, touching pressed fingertips to his chin, watched his movements with curiosity. Through the little window he could see the surprised asmee and eminafees rollicking with all possible speed away from his prison.
Usunee suddenly looked very old. "Igilvee," he began after some deliberation, "for several seasons now, I have had terrible dreams!"
Monwyrt groaned. "Dreams?!"
"Dreams," Usunee continued, heartened. "Tragic dreams, dreams of death and destruction. Black nightmares!"
As Usunee forced himself to relive his dream, he felt himself becoming more and more agitated, anxious, nervous, and reluctant. Heavy drops of perspiration formed on his jowls and chin. He unthinkingly began a cycle of clenching his eyelids tightly shut, then springing them wide open as if gasping for air after holding his breath as long as possible. He clung to the sides of the cot with paling fingers, and his voice came straining through a tight and constricted throat. He was terrified.
At the same time, he was flooded with relief.
For seasons he had been persecuted by this same dream, this nightmare, without a hope for reassurance, or even interpretation. He, after all, was Usunee! There was no higher authority to whom he could go for guidance or advice, and he took it upon himself to understand his dream as best he could and try to lead his folk accordingly. He thought he had made wise and prudent decisions. But the nightmare, after respites of perhaps many hand-days, or only one night, would always return, as if to taunt him with the insufficiency of his plans. It was maddening.
But when Inaquee had come to him with word of the omofinishees' "sighting," suddenly a ray of hope shined upon him, and ever since then he had eagerly anticipated Igilvee's arrival. At last, he could consult with not only a figure of unimpeachable wisdom, but an Orsnumquammee! myth, legend, and deity personified. And, he had convinced himself despite any apparent discrepancies with the lore, this was asuredly Igilvee.
Back; far, far back in time; before living memory, before the invention of the idascees, before The Curse; in the dim, murky reaches of ancestry remembered only as hints of suggestions of half-conscious recollections of tales told of yet older tales, the Orsnumquammee appeared. The oldest, the very oldest, idascees told in stinted language scratched in a vanished hand of the then already ancient legend of the deliverance of the Eatopygiastees. The race was on the verge of extinction, trying to eke out an existance in a hostile land, not knowing that the very air of the place was tainted, poisoned. They had become a grotesque, twisted, and sickly folk through generations of beating out a hard and meager subsistance there, the legend ran, and the Orsnumquammee (or Orsnumquammees - the curious tongue of the ancient script seemed to imply a plural) brought the whole suffering race to the present site of Bisuree. And it all happened (most disturbing to Usunee's mind), purportedly, as best as could be interpreted, in some kind of mass dream. Usunee personally believed the dream was induced by the Orsnumquammee, somehow. Others, though, discounting the whole myth, held that the Orsnumquammee themselves were nothing more than a hallucinated figment induced under the diseased dreams of the tortured race. At any rate, Bisuree was founded, the Eatopygiastees flourished, and the Orsnumquammee departed.
But not forever, some maintained. At rare intervals, generations apart, a mysterious figure would be reported as being found. The wording was always vague, however: a literal translation would indicate that it was "felt," or "dreamt," rather than "seen." One rendition went so far as to describe the sighting as like "the image of the sun on the river, left in the eye after turning away." This figure was reported on the mountains one time, in the fens another, with the beasts of the fields, or in the paths of Bisuree. But most often, it was in the fens, near the mists. The Eatopygiastees named this figure Igilvee, the Watcher; and while not all of them really believed the old reports, neither could they explain them away, nor deny their eerie conformity, made as they were over a conspiracy-voiding span of seasons.
So, it was with a sense of breathless anticipation that Usunee began torturing himself with the recounting of his nightmare.
"Oh! There is always an enemy. We are defending ourselves, on the watch, never sleeping. We have sharpened our swords - "
"Swords?" Monwyrt wondered recessively. "Swords?"
" - we have even, in at least usunee dream, built a strong wall around Bisuree! But the enemy comes in, somehow: the enemy ignores our defenses, and walks right in amongst us, and there is nothing we can do! Nothing! I can't bear to think of it! It is horrible even when I wake!"
"What does your enemy look like?" Monwyrt asked quietly, becoming interested in Usunee's tale in spite of himself.
"What does it look like? Oh, Igilvee, that is the worst of it, that is one of the worst things about the dream!" Usunee cried. "I never see the enemy! I don't know what it looks like! I don't know how many they are, how big they are, what kind of weapons they use, where they come from, how they get in - nothing! Every time the same: we are ready to defend ourselves, and then... Aaugh!"
Monwyrt leaned forward. "And then - what? What happens?"
Usunee clenched his eyes shut again, took a deep breath, tightened his grip on the cot, and was silent for a moment. A bead of sweat ran down his jowl. "Ercusstee! And then," he began finally, "and then, the enemy begins killing us. We are powerless to stop it. One Eatopygiastee after another falls dead. I look around, and see piles and piles of my folk, all dead. Bisuree is choked with bodies. Death, death! Igilvee, what does it mean? What can we do?"
Monwyrt tried to picture the scene. "What is your wall around Bisuree made of?" he asked suddenly.
Usunee was surprised. "Wall? Why, I don't know! Why?"
Monwyrt was thinking of Todymody. "Was it a wide mound, higher than these huts?"
"Mound? No, I don't think so," said Usunee uncertainly. "It was... a wall. How could a mound keep anyone out?"
Monwyrt leaned back decisively. "Usunee," he said, putting his fingertips back together, "there is no enemy trying to attack you."
Usunee sat bolt upright and turned to face Monwyrt. "No enemy! Is this so? Is this so?" he beamed, overjoyed to hear it. His face soon clouded over, though. "Then what is the meaning of my dream?" he asked darkly.
"I have walked far," said Monwyrt. "There is no other race which is even aware of the Eatopygiastees, to my knowledge. But I think I can guess what your enemy is."
"Guess?! You just told me there was no enemy!"
"Not one that lives."
"Not one that lives? What do you mean? What do you mean?"
"Usunee," Monwyrt asked, "can the Eatopygiastees swim?"
"Can we swim?!"
"I think I know your enemy, Usunee," Monwyrt said. "I imagine that your folk cross the water only on their iscelervees. Is that so?"
"Iscelervees. Icsee, Igilvee."
"And they cannot swim by themselves?"
"Swim. You mean by 'swim' the moving on top of the water, like the iscelervees?"
"Um - er, icsee."
"It is impossible to 'swim!'"
"Nonsense!" declared Monwyrt. "I can swim!"
"You can swim! But you are not an Eatopygiastee!" said Usunee emphatically. Monwyrt eyed Usunee's broad torso, wide-set stunted legs and short arms, and understood. The Eatopygiastees could not swim. "Swim! What does this have to do with the dream? Who is our enemy? Speak!" Usunee commanded as he was accustomed to command his followers.
"Your enemy is the river."
"The river! Now it is you, Igilvee, who speak nonsense!" Usunee protested.
"Your dream is about a flood," Monwyrt persisted. "It is not an enemy you can defeat with weapons or strength."
"Flood? What is this 'flood?'"
"Bisuree is built on the riverbank," Monwyrt explained, wondering how Usunee could be ignorant of floods. "In your dream, the water rises, and floods Bisuree. Your thin walls cannot hold it back. Your - er, what were they?"
"Omofinishees?"
"No, it was something else; but it matters not. I was saying, your defenses are useless against the rising flood waters. The Eatopygiastees drown, in your nightmare."
"Flood. The river rises?" Usunee asked skeptically. "This can really happen?"
"Um, icsee! Does it not rise each season, with the rains?"
"The rains. Icsee, perhaps this much," Usunee spread his stubby fingers, "but not enough to drown Bisuree under. That has never happened!"
Monwyrt remained unshaken. He had a natural tendency to discount dreams as omens, anyway; although the idea of a recurring nightmare did seem to lend credence to the significance of the dream. But however real Usunee's nightmare was to Usunee, to Monwyrt it seemed improbable at best, and the only interpretation of it which made any sense at all to the Traeppedelfere was the threat of a flood. Usunee's claim that the river had never flooded Bisuree was preposterous. How could that be?
"If Bisuree has never been under water," Monwyrt began authoritatively, "that can only mean that the time for a flood is coming soon!"
"Soon! What do you mean, soon?" Usunee was alarmed.
"Next wet season, perhaps," said Monwyrt.
Usunee breathed a littled easier, but was still concerned. "Perhaps. Igilvee, when this flood comes, what can we do? Can we fight it?"
"Fight it?" Monwyrt answered, "No. But there are two, that is, inabee ways to escape it."
"Escape. Tell me!" Usunee begged eagerly.
"Well," Monwyrt said, "you could build a solid mound such as I have described, around Bisuree, or - "
"Mound! But, but that could take seasons!" he complained. "If the flood comes - "
"Or," Monwyrt interrupted him soothingly, "you could simply lead the Eatopygiastees to higher ground - up the slopes beyond Bisuree, for instance - until the flood recedes again."
Usunee was overcome with joy. "The flood recedes! The flood recedes! Do you mean that we can escape the flood? That we can get above it? We can stay on dry ground?" He jumped to his feet and capered about the hut like an uerpee for a moment, but then suddenly stopped and, achingly, put his old hands on his back and sore joints, but continued smiling broadly. "This is wonderful! I can't believe it!" he cried, in spite of his pain.
Monwyrt was at a loss to explain Usunee's behavior. All this should have seemed patently obvious to anyone, he thought, yet here was the leader of a great tribe in the throes of revelation upon hearing the simplest utterance of common good sense.
Usunee's high good mood was not to be diminished. "I am released! This is wonderful!" he cried again. "The whole tribe must hear of this! Thank you indeed, Igilvee! Tonight, this very night! there will be a Conclave of Eatopygiastees! I will call for it immediately I leave you. You shall be there - everyone shall be there! This is wonderful! Tonight!" He virtually ranted, waving his arms for emphasis (as well as to maintain balance) as he rollicked to the door. In a sudden burst of dexterity Monwyrt would never have thought any Eatopygiastee capable of, he burst through the door and had it bolted on the other side before Monwyrt could even say goodbye.
Two huts down, Binatree and Unustree sat astride their ofaexedees and peeked around the back corner. "About odee cipiacee time! Ah, patient companion," Unustree commented, "at last Usunee has concluded his interview! Look there, he tells the guards to return - my, but he is excited!"
"We're dead! Unustree," Binatree whined. "I don't like this! We shouldn't do this! That is Usunee! Usunee! We are going to be - "
"Ermisvee! Then allow me to pursue my plan alone, please," Unustree said. "And shut up, you gutless ufobee!"
Binatree looked around nervously, but stayed at Unustree's side.
The guards rollicked back to their post before hut aternilnilquinaquee, much relieved to be away from the members of the First Hand, though still uneasy over their assignment. Unustree watched Usunee and Inaquee mount and stride out of sight, then he urged his steed to stand and, without consulting the trepidatious Binatree, whose opinions he had come to despise, strode onto the path toward them. Silently, Binatree followed. Unustree hailed the guards.
"Aexfees! How goes the post?" he called cheerily.
"What concern is it of yours, ebeshee? We've had better," they conceded. "Why do you ask?"
"Why are you so ugly? We have been sent to relieve you," lied Unustree convincingly. "You are free to go to your huts for the day."
"Ugly, eh? Who sent you? Where is the idascee?"
"Ercusstee! Usnilunee ordered us to replace you at mid-day," Unustree said, falteringly.
"Gulp! He said it was to be discreet," added Binatree unexpectedly. "There was no idascee."
"No idascee? We are here at Inaquee's order, not Usnilunee's," said one of the guards.
"It is not mid-day yet," said the other guard, looking up at the sky. "But I wouldn't mind having the rest of the day free!"
"Inaquee left word with Usnilunee," Binatree explained quickly. "Usnilunee is our direct superior. And we were, well, we were eager to get a look at the Orsnumquammee. We came early." Unustree looked at Binatree with a renewed respect.
"Good enough for me! It's all yours Ebeshees!" said the first guard. "But if you will listen to me, you won't look at it!" She turned to the other. "Let's go. Ha, ha!"
As soon as they disappeared, Unustree hastened to the door and opened it. "Igilvee! Igilvee!" he called to a surprised Monwyrt.
Monwyrt jumped to his feet, cracking his head on the low ceiling. "Unustree! What are you doing here? I could throttle you for penning me up here!"
"Throttle?" wondered Binatree.
"Never mind!" said Unustree quickly. "I've changed my mind about bringing you here. One hand promotion!"
"It's a little late for that, isn't it?" asked Monwyrt wryly.
"It isn't too late to let you go!" exclaimed Unustree.
"Let him go! No, Unustree, you can't!" cried Binatree miserably. "Is that why you wanted to come here? Odee cipiacee!"
"Let me go?!" cried Monwyrt. He was squinting at the sunlight streaming through the open doorway. "It may be too early to let me go. It would be hard to leave Bisuree without being seen now." He thought a moment. "And besides," he added, "I need a batohram, or some kind of boat."
"What the odee cipiacee is that? Tell me what you mean," said Unustree. "I'll get you one."
"Get me a batohram before the Conclave tonight, and I'll forget your bringing me here!" cried Monwyrt.
"Done!" exclaimed Unustree without knowing what a batohram was.
"Conclave! Did you say Conclave!" squeaked Binatree excitedly. "Did you say Conclave?"
"Shut up! You stay here!" Unustree barked to Binatree. "And shut that door! I'll be back soon." He mounted his iscelervee and raced off, leaving a confused Binatree and a smiling Monwyrt behind.
Usunusquaternilquinaunee climbed down the steps, gingerly carrying a crumbling bundle of idascees to Inabee. "I believe these are also about Orsnumquammee," he said, "but I cannot understand the manner of the tongue well."
"Ugh! Put them here," Inabee tapped the desk to the side. He was busy poring over some obtuse but, he hoped, potentially rewarding idascees. After a long time spent in scrutiny, he looked up in disgust. "Ercusstee! Not a groat!" he spat. "Put it back, 'mediushee."
He turned his attention to the rest of the collection before him. "What's this? 'Mediushee!" he rasped, picking up the new bundle. "This says it's about The Curse! Put this back, too!"
"Look at it again. Here, Inabee," said the clerk patiently, pointing to a faint scratch near the corner of the idascee, "I thought that meant 'Orsnumquammee.'"
Inabee peered at the spot. His eyes suddenly grew wide, and he eagerly opened the packet and studied its markings closely. "I don't believe it!" he muttered again and again. After quite some time, he looked up, and twisted the corner of his mouth up into his peculiar grin.
"Put the rest of these away," he said, waving at the idascees scattered about the large chamber which held the archives of Usunee. "Let us attempt to depart prior to Usunee's return." He held up the packet. "With this, I will soon be Usunee! At last!"
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