The Hour of the Gate

by Alan Dean Foster

  Then he sauntered back to the thick wooden table in the center of the room. Boating equipment, hooks, ropes, woodworker's tools, braces and pegs and hammers lined the other two walls.

  At the back was a staircase leading downward. Possibly it went to the hold, or to clammier and more suitable sleeping quarters.

  Leaning forward across the table, the frog clasped wet palms together and stared across at Clothahump and Jon-Tom. His long legs were bent sideways beneath the wood so as not to kick his guests. Caz was standing near one wall inspecting some of the aquatic paraphernalia. Talea hunted for a suitable chair. She finally found one and dragged it up to the table, where she joined the other three.

  "My name's Bribbens Oxiey, of the sandmarsh Oxieys," the frog told them. "I'm the best boatman on this or any other river." This was stated quietly, without any particular emphasis or boastfulness.

  "I know every loggerhead, every tree stump, every knot, boulder, and rapids for the six hundred leagues between the Teeth and Kreshfarm-in-the-Geegs. I know the hiding places of the mudfishers and the waterdrotes' secret holes. I can smell a storm two days before it hits and ride a wave gentle enough not to upset a full teacup. I even know the exact place where ten thousand years ago the witch Wutz tripped over the cauldron full of magic which doubled the river, and I know therefore whence comes the name Sloomaz-ayor-le-Weentli."

  Jon-Tom gazed back out the still open door, past the dangling Pog, to what still appeared to be a quite ordinary stream. Somewhere, he imagined, the river had to fork, hence the nicknames River of Twos, Double River, and the others. Since the fork was not here and was unlikely to be between this spot and the mountains, it had to lie upstream.

  He would soon have the chance to find out, he thought, as he returned his attention to the conversation.

  "I can turn my craft circles 'round any other craft and reach my destination in half their time. I can ride out weather that puts other merchantmen and fisherfolk under their beds. I'm not afraid of anything in the river or out of it.

  "I personally guarantee to deliver cargo and/or passengers to their chosen destination for the agreed-upon fee, on the date determined in advance, if not earlier, or to forfeit all of my recompense.

  "I can outfight anyone, even someone twice my size," he said, glancing challengingly at Jon-Tom, who tactfully did not respond, "outeat any other intelligent amphibian or mammal, and I have twenty-two matured tadpoles who can attest to my other abilities.

  "My fee is one goldpiece per league. I'm no cook, and you can provide your own fodder, or fish if you like. As to drink, river water's good enough for me, for I'm as home in it as in this house, but if you get drunk on my craft you'll soon find yourself swimming for shore. Any questions so far?"

  No one said anything. "Anyone care to dispute anything I've said?" Still no comment from the visitors. Full of impatient energy, Talea left her seat and stalked to the door, stood there leaning against the jamb and staring out at the river. Bribbens watched her and nodded approvingly.

  "Right." He leaned back in his chair, picked idly at the tangled fringe of his right sleeve. "Now then. How many of you are going, is there cargo, and where is it you wish to go?"

  Clothahump tapped the table with short fingers. "There is no cargo save our nominal supplies and personal effects, and all of us are going." He added uncertainly, "Does our number affect the fee?"

  The frog shoved out his considerable lower lip. "Makes no difference to me. Fee's the same whether one of you goes or all of you. The boat has to travel the same distance upstream and the same distance down again when I return. One goldpiece per league."

  "That's part of the reason for my inquiry," said the wizard.

  "The goldpiece per league?" Bribbens eyed him archly.

  "No. The direction. You see, it's downstream we wish to go, not up."

  The frog belched once. "Downstream. It's only three days from here to the base of the Teeth. Not much between. A couple of villages and that's all, and them only a day from here. No one lives at the base of the mountains. They're all afraid of the occasional predator who slinks down out of the Teeth, like the flying lizards, the Ginnentes who nest in the crags and crevices. I hardly ever find anyone who wants to go that way. Most everything lies upstream."

  "Nevertheless, we wish to travel down," said the wizard. "Far farther, I dare say, than you are accustomed to going. Of course, if you chose not to go, we will understand. It would only be normal for you to be afraid."

  Bribbens leaned forward sharply, was eye to eye with Clothahump across the table, his body stretched over the wood, webbed hands flat on the surface.

  "Bribbens Oxiey is afraid of nothing in or out of the river. Visitor or not, I don't like your drift, turtle."

  Clothahump did not pull away from the batrachian face inches from his own. "I am a wizard and fear only that which I cannot understand, boatman. We wish to travel not to the base of the mountains but through them. Down the river as far as it will carry us and then out the other side of Zaryt's Teeth."

  The frog sat back down slowly. "You realize that's just a rumor. There iftay not be any other side."

  "That makes it interesting, doesn't it?" said Clotbahump

  Fingers drummed on the table, marking time and thoughts. "One hundred goldpieces," Bribbens said at last.

  "You said the fee didn't vary," Talea reminded him fror the doorway. "One gold piece a league."

  "That is for travel on earth, female. Hell is more expensive country."

  "I thought you said you weren't afraid." Jon-Tom was careful to make it sound like a normal question, devoid of taunting.

  "I'm not," countered Bribbens, "but neither am I stupid If we survive this journey I want more in return than personal satisfaction.

  "Once we enter the mountains I shall be dealing with unknown waters… and probably other unknowns as well. Nevertheless," he added with becoming indifference, "it should be interesting, as you say, wizard. Water is water, wherever it may be."

  But Clothahump pushed away from the table, spoke grimly. "I'm sorry, Bribbens, but we can't pay you."

  "A wizard who can't transmute gold?"

  "I can," insisted Clothahump, looking embarrassed. "It's just that I've misplaced the damn spell, and it's too complicated to try and fake." He checked his plastron again. "I can give you a few pieces now and the rest, uh, later."

  Bribbens rose, slapped the table loudly with both hands. "It's been an interesting conversation and I wish you all luck, which you are going to need even more than you do a good and willing boatman. Now if you don't mind excusing me, I think my supper's about ready." He started back toward the stove.

  "Wait a minute." Clothahump frowned at Jon-Tom. Bribbens halted. "We can pay you, though I'm not sure how much."

  "My boy, there is no point in lying. I don't do business that way. We will just have to—"

  "No, we can, Clothahump." He grinned at Mudge. "I'm something of a beggar in wolfs clothing."

  "Wot?" Then the otter's face brightened with remembrance. "I'd bloody well forgotten that night, mate."

  Jon-Tom unsnapped his cape. It landed heavily on the table and Bribbens eyed it with interest. As he and the others watched, Jon-Tom and Mudge slit the cape's lining. Coins poured from the rolled lower edge.

  When the counting was concluded, the remnant of JonTom's hastily salvaged gambling winnings totaled sixty-eight gold pieces and fifty-two silver.

  "Not quite enough."

  "Please," said Ror, "isn't it sufficient? We'll pay you me rest…"

  "Later. I know." The boatman would not bend. "Later is a synonym for never, female. Would you wish me to convey you 'almost' to the end of me river and then make you swim the rest of the way? By the same light, I will not accept 'almost' my determined fee."

  "If you're as able as you are stubborn, you're for sure the best boatman on die river," grumbled Jon-Tom.

  "There's something more." Talea was still leaning in the doorway, but now she was staring
outside. "What about our wagon and team?"

  "Sure!" Jon-Tom rose, almost bumped his head, and looked down at Bribbens. "We've got a wagon which any farmer or fisherman would be proud to own. It's big enough to carry all of us and more, and sturdy enough to have done it all the way across the Swordsward from Polastrindu. There are harnesses, yokes, four solid dray lizards, and spare wheels and supplies, all made from the finest materials. It was given to us by the city council of Polastrindu itself." Bribbens looked uncertain. "I'm not a tradesman." "At least have a look at it," Plor implored him. The frog hesitated, then padded out onto the porch, ignoring Pog. The others filed out after him. .

  Tradesman or not, Bribbens inspected the wagon and its team intimately, from the state of the harness buckles to the lizard's teeth.

  When he was finished underneath the wagon, he crawled out, stared at Clothahump. "I accept. It will make up the difference."

  "How munificent of you!" Caz had taken no part in the bargaining, but his expression revealed he was something less than pleased by the outcome. "The wagon alone is worth twenty goldpieces. You would leave us broke and destitute."

  "Perhaps," admitted Bribbens, "but I'm the only one who stands a chance of leaving you broke and destitute at your desired destination. I won't argue with you." He paused, added as an afterthought, "Dinner's about ready to boil over. Make up your minds."

  "We have little choice," said Clothahump, "and no further use for the wagon anyway." He glared at Caz, who turned away and studied the river, unrepentant. "We agree. When can we start?"

  "Tomorrow morning. I have my own preparations to make and supplies to lay in. Meanwhile, I suggest you all get a good night's sleep." Bribbens looked at the cliffs which rose to the east.

  "Into the Teeth." He fixed a bulbous eye on Jen-Tom. "You'll have no need for money in there, nor on the other side, if there is one. My offspring will find it here if I don't come back, and it will do them more good than the dead."

  Humming to himself, he turned and padded back toward his house.

  They slept in the wagon again that night. As Bribbens formally explained, their fee included only his services and transport and did not extend to the use of his home.

  But the following morning he was up before the sun and was ready to depart before they'd hardly awakened. "I like to get an early start," he explained as they gathered themselves for the journey. "I give value for money. You pay for a day's travel, you get a day's travel."

  Caz adjusted his monocle. "Reasonable enough, considering that we've given a month's pay for every day we're likely to travel."

  Bribbens looked unperturbed. "I once saw a rabbit who'd had all his fur shaved off. He was a mighty funny-looking critter."

  "And I," countered Caz with equal aplomb, "once saw a ftog whose mouth was too big for his head. He experienced a terrible accident."

  "What kind of accident?" inquired Bribbens, unimpressed.

  "Foot-in-mouth. Worst case I ever saw. It turned out to be fatal."

  "Progs aren't subject to hoof-in-mouth."

  The rabbit smiled tolerantly. "My foot in his mouth."

  The two held their stares another moment. Then Bribbens smiled, an expression particularly suited to frogs.

  "I've seen it happen to creatures other than my own kind, three-eyes."

  Caz grinned back. "It's common enough, I suppose. And I see better out of one eye than most people do out of two."

  "See your way to moving a little faster, then. We can't sleep here all day." The boatman ambled off.

  Talea was leaning out of the wagon, brushing sleepily at reluctant curls tight as steel springs.

  "Since you layabouts aren't ready yet, I'm going to take the time to secure my team and wagon and lay out fodder for them," said the frog.

  "Possessive little bugger, ain't 'e?" Mudge commented.

  "It's his wagon and team now, Mudge." Jon-Tom carefully slipped his staff into the loops crossing his back beneath the flashing emerald cape. "They're in his care. Just like we are."

  When they were all assembled on the boat and had tied down their packs and supplies, Bribbens loosed the ropes, neatly coiled them in place, and leaned on the long steering oar. The boat slid out into the river. Pog shifted his grip on the spreaders high up on the mast and watched as silver sky raced past blue ground.

  Before very long the current caught them. The cove with its mud-and-thatch house vanished behind. Ahead lay a graybrown wall of granite and ice; home to arboreal carnivores, undisciplined winds, and racing cloud-crowns.

  Jon-Tom lay down on the edge of the craft and let a hand trail lazily in the water. It was difficult to think of the journey they'd embarked upon as threatening. The water was warmed from its long journey down from distant Kreshfarm-in-theGeegs. The sun often snuck clear of obstructing clouds to lie pleasantly on one's face. And there seemed no chance of rain until the night.

  "Three days to get to the base of the mountains, you said?"

  "That's right, man," Bribbens replied. The boatman did not look at Jon-Tom when he spoke. His right arm was curled around the shaft of the steering oar, and his eyes were on the river ahead. He sat in a chair built onto the railing at the craft's stem. A long, thin curved pipe dangled from thick lips. River breeze carried the thin smoke from its small white bowl up into the sky.

  "How far into the mountains does the river go?" Flor was on her knees, staring over the front of the boat. Her voice was full of expectation and excitement.

  "Nobody knows," said Bribbens. "Leagues, maybe weeks worth. Maybe only a few hours."

  "Where does it end, do you suppose? In an underground lake?"

  "Helldrink," said the boatman.

  "And what's Helldrink, Senor Ranar'

  "A rumor. A story. An amalgam of all the fears of every creature that's ever navigated on the waters in times of trouble, during bad storms or on leaking ships, in foul harbors or under the lash of a drunken captain. I've spent my life on me water and in it. It would be worth the trip to me if we should find it, even should it mean my death. It's where all true sailors should end up."

  "Does that mean we're likely to get a refund?" inquired Caz.

  The boatman laughed. "You're a sharp fellow, aren't you, rabbit? I hope if we find it you'll still be able to joke."

  "There should be no difficulty," said Clothahump. "I, too, have heard legends of Helldrink. They say that you know it is there before you encounter it. All you need do is deposit us safely clear of it and, we will continue our journey on foot. You may proceed to your sailor's discovery however you wish."

  "Sounds like a fine scenario, sir," the boatman agreed. "Assuming I can make a landing somewhere safe, if there is a safe landing. Otherwise you may have to accompany me on my discovery."

  "So you're risking your. life to leam the truth about this legend?" asked Flor.

  "No, woman. I'm risking my life for a hundred pieces of gold. And a wagon and team. I'm risking my life for twenty-two offspring. I'm risking my life because I never turned down a job in my life. Without my reputation, I'm nothing. I had to take your offer, you see."

  He adjusted the steering oar a little to port. The boat changed its heading slightly and moved still further into the center of the stream.

  "Money and pride," she said. "That's hardly worth risking your life for."

  "Can you think of any better reason, then?"

  "You bet I can, Rana. One a hell of a lot less brazen than yours." She proceeded to explain the impetus for their journey. Bribbens was not to be recruited.

  "I prefer money, thank you."

  It was a good thing Falameezar was no longer with them, Jen-Tom thought. He and their boatman were at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Of course, with Falameezar, they would not have required Bribbens' services. He was surprised to discover that despite the archaic, inflexible political philosophy, he still missed the dragon.

  "Young female," Bribbens said finally, "you have your romantic ideas and I've got mine. I'm helpin
g you to satisfy your needs and that's all you'll get from me. Now shut up. I dislike noisy chatter, especially from romantic females."

  "Oh you do, do you?" Ror started to get to her feet. "How would you like—"

  The frog jerked a webbed hand toward the southern shore. "It's not too far to the bank, and you look like a pretty good swimmer, for a human. I think you can make it without any trouble."

  Flor started to finish her comment, got the point, and resumed her seat near the craft's bow. She was fuming, but sensible. It was Bribbens' game and they had to play with his equipment, according to his rules. But that didn't mean she had to like it.

  The boatman puffed contentedly on his pipe. "Interesting group of passengers, more so than my usual." He tapped out the dottle on the deck, locked the steering oar in position, and commenced repacking his pipe. "Wonder to me you haven't killed one another before now."

  It was odd, Jon-Tom mused as they drifted onward, to be moving downstream and yet toward mountains. Rivers ran out of hills. Perhaps the Sloomaz-ayor-le-WeentU dropped into an as yet unseen canyon. If so, they would have a spectacular journey through the mountains.

  Occasionally they had to set up the canvas roofing that attached to the railings to keep off the nightly rain. At such times Bribbens would fix the oar and curve them to a safe landing onshore. They would wait out the night there, raindrops pelting the low ceiling, until the sun rose and pushed aside the clouds. Then it was on once more, borne swiftly but smoothly in the gentle grip of the river.

  Jon-Tom did not fully appreciate the height of Zaryt's Teeth until the third day. They entered me first foothills that morning. The river cut its way insistently through the greencloaked, rolling mounds. Compared to the nearing mountains, the massive hillocks were merely bruises on the earth.

  Here and there great lumps of granite protruded through the brush and topsoil. They reminded Jon-Tom of the fingertips of long-buried giants and brought back to him the legends of these mountains. While not degenerating into rapids, the river nonetheless increased its pace, as if anxious to carry those traveling upon it to some unexpected destination.