03 Drowned Wednesday by Nix Garth

Author:Nix, Garth [Nix, Garth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: &WORKING
Published: 2010-04-10T21:24:01+00:00

"Okay," said Arthur, ready to bargain. "What payment do you want for the lo cation, to start with?"

"We deal in information," said Monckton. "So if we answer your questions, we'd like you to answer an equivalent number of ours."

Arthur had been expecting to pay a ransom in gold or treasure. This seeme d too easy

"Is that all?" he asked.

"That may be more than it seems," Longtayle advised.

Arthur shrugged. "I don't have anything to hide. At least I don't think I do."

"Then you shall ask three questions of us," said Monckton. "And we shall as k three of you."

"There's no trick to this, is there?" Arthur asked suspiciously. "I mean, what I just asked doesn't count as a question, does it? Because I'm not agreeing t

o that." "Only significant questions count," said Monckton. "So, you want to know what we know about Feverfew's secret harbor?"

"Yes," said Arthur. "That's my first question. Where is it?"

In response, Longtayle unrolled a very large map that took up most of the tab le. It was labeled the border sea and was nearly all blue water, with occasio nal small flecks of land, each neatly marked in tiny cursive script.

Arthur looked over the map eagerly, taking in place names like Port Wednesd ay, the Triangle, Mount Last, and Swirleen Deep. At first glance, he couldn 't see anything labeled Feverfew's Secret Harbor, so he went back to the to p left corner to start a systematic search up and down, only to be interrup ted as Longtayle carefully placed a small ivory carving of a white whale on

the map and tapped it twice.

"It's there," he said. "We believe Feverfew's secret harbor must actually be inside Drowned Wednesday."

"Inside her!"

"More exactly, we believe the secret harbor is a miniature worldlet that i s anchored inside Drowned Wednesday's stomach. It can be accessed in only two ways. One is via a unique augury puzzle that Feverfew possesses, made for him by Grim Tuesday, like the worldlet itself. The other is directly f rom Wednesday's stomach."

"But it can't be inside her," said Arthur. "She returned to her normal human form. How could a whole secret harbor still be in her stomach?"

"I am not a metamathic sorcerer," said Longtayle, "but I believe the expla nation is something like this: The secret harbor is contained within a bub ble of the Secondary Realm that has been brought into the House. The size of that bubble may change from minuscule to gigantic without affecting the

world it contains. When Lady Wednesday used the Third Key to return to he r former shape, the bubble shrank with her. When she grew again, it grew. But the world inside the bubble did not change."

"And you can get into it from Wednesday's stomach?"

"We believe so," said Longtayle. "Or out of it. We think Feverfew had the w orldlet sorcerously placed inside Wednesday for two reasons. It would be th e ideal hiding place, but also would provide unparalleled opportunities for

recovering salvage. You are aware that anything lost always turns up event ually in the Border Sea?"

Arthur nodded.

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