Queen of Stars by Duncan Dave

Author:Duncan, Dave [Duncan, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2014-01-21T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Everyone was always telling him that he was smart for his age, so it was to be expected that Izar only needed a few days to work out what was going on, really going on, in Segin. The odious Elegy—if he could call him Impy, then he could call him Elegy, at least behind his back—was always around, clinging to Mom like barnacles to a rock, and being obnoxious to everyone else, especially Rigel. But Rigel never seemed to mind and wouldn’t listen to rude remarks about the consort, even when he and Izar were alone. Yet he did seem to mind, or he minded something, because if he wasn’t kept entertained, he would sit and brood, which wasn’t like him. When that happened, Izar would find something specially awful to do, just to distract him. It was a kindness.

The big breakthrough came after Dschubba came to Segin on what Elegy called a play date. Izar preferred to think of it as a learning conference, because they exchanged all sorts of useful stuff, ’specially whatever they’d picked up recently about fornication and how really disgusting it could get, and so on. Izar didn’t have many buddies, and he never got to visit the ones he did have now. Ever since the Family had kidnapped him, Mom kept him chained up like a dog and insisted that he invite pals to come and see him instead of the other way around. So Salm or Ukdah or Dschubba would come for the day and sometimes sleep over. Luckily the royal domain had more entertainments to offer than any other.

As soon as he arrived in Segin, Dschubba produced a new amulet he’d picked up—he was vague about where or how, so Izar knew better than to ask. It was a pink jewel. Just clip it in one ear and you could eavesdrop on conversations that were miles away, Dschubba explained. Well, maybe not miles, but a very long way away. If you could see ’em, you could hear ’em. They tried it out in the great hall, which was pretty big, and it worked fine.

Obviously a royal imp like Izar needed that amulet. He needed it more than he had ever needed anything he had ever seen in his whole life, but he was careful not to seem too eager.

“What’s it worth?”

“Not trading.”

“Yes, you are. If I offer enough you’ll trade. Name your price.”

“Name your offer.”

Izar bet the farm. “A ride on a hippogriff?”

Dschubba gasped. “Up in the sky?”

“High enough to see the edge of the world. It’s dangerous, so p’rhaps we’d better not.”

Dschubba stared hard at the gem resting on his grubby palm. He closed his fingers around it. Then he gulped and said all right, if he really, truly got to see the edge of the world.

That left Izar with the problem of producing what he’d just agreed to produce, and Rigel certainly would not cooperate. Not without wanting to know why, and that was obviously impossible. So there would

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