Warmth rushed through her limbs, and the boundaries between her and the world fizzled away, leaving only a happy buzzing. She felt light as a speck of dust. Tabiyeh waited, hovering before her as though drinking her in.
Yahgurkin hardly noticed as she fell, but a moment later a host of grinders scooped her up onto their backs and started toward the gazebo. She reached out to pet one before she drifted off into a peaceful sleep. It was up to the others now.
45
Mulrox and Tork snuck down the corridor, moving as quickly as they dared. His heart was beating furiously in his chest, but his limbs were so full of energy, he almost felt as though he could fly straight there. They followed the twisting passageway until it spilled into an expansive hall.
“This is it.” He shivered.
Mulrox’s head swiveled like an owl’s. Row after row of pillars stretched out away from him as far as the eye could see, repeating vertical lines diminishing into the distance. The columns and arches cordoned off the cavernous space into tiny alcoves of shadow and light. The room was disorienting. He couldn’t begin to take the measure of its true size.
Just as in his hut at home, the cellar would most likely be somewhere near the opposite end of the hall. He was tempted to charge into the darkness, cutting straight through to get to Yvwi and the others. Although the room appeared empty, something told him it would be best to stay hidden for as long as possible.
“We’ll sneak around the edge.”
Mulrox and Tork hung to the back of the chamber until they reached the far wall and then began their way deeper into the room.
The walls were richly decorated, paneled and inlaid with a smooth marbled stone. Paintings hung in gilt frames, depicting all manner of things: an ogre on top of a mountain staring up into the sun, an empty dock. Mulrox wanted to stay and peer at each one, but there was no time.
Every few feet, the wall gave way to an archway leaning over a new passage that twisted out and away from the main chamber. Frescoes decorated the arches with symbols and drawings, and torches dotted the walls, illuminating the openings. It was near impossible to see more than a foot into the corridors. Still he tried, desperately looking for the red door that would lead to his friends. After he had passed several of the openings, Mulrox began to feel there was something strange about the archways. At first, he couldn’t place it, but then the torch next to him spluttered and he caught a flicker over the opening. Mulrox leaned forward. It was not open at all but covered in a shimmering membrane like a soap bubble.
“What is that?” Mulrox whispered.
Portal.
Though the hall spread out behind it, he could see another image, fainter but clearly there: a familiar-looking grove of old growths, a circle of trees reaching up from the grave of another, miniature mushrooms sprouting up from their branches. He half expected to see Rodenia fall out of her tree any second.
Mulrox shook his head and backed away, his brain a jumble.
Tork pulled at his shirt, urging him forward.
He was rushing now. The next archway held the same glimmer of light. Mulrox peered through the wash of colors, and there among a dark wood was an enormous, hollowed-out tree. He could almost smell the musty insides of the burned bark.
“She’s been spying on us this whole time,” he said.
When at the next one he saw his own living room overflowing with glamoured sheep, Mulrox’s head snapped back. He took a deep, shuddering breath. No wonder she had seemed to know so much, to have all the answers.
The tips of his ears began to burn. He would destroy the portals. As soon as he found the others, he would come back here. No one deserved to be spied on and manipulated like this.
Mulrox was startled out of his thoughts by a thump.
He looked up. All he could see was the flicker of shadows rippling out across the floor as though the flagstones themselves were moving.
THUNK.
Something was here with them. It sounded like the dull slap of wood against stone.
KERPLUNK .
It was getting closer. They had to hide.
There were the portals: they could slip off to any one of these places and be safe, free of Tabiyeh and the mind palace. But he couldn’t leave, not yet.
Other sounds began to plague him: the clicking of metal against the flagstones, the sound of little paws, a swishing. Mulrox pulled Tork along behind him, rushing past several portals until they came to an open corridor.
A splintering crash echoed from their left.
Mulrox’s heart lurched, and he dove into the alcove, concealing himself amidst the shadows. Did Tabiyeh know he was here? Had she set something loose to capture him?
Tork?
Here.
Tork sidled up next to him.
Mulrox took a deep breath to steady himself. Whatever it was, it hadn’t found him. Not yet. “We have to keep going,” he whispered.
He leaned forward to step away from the wall, but something hit him. Mulrox was yanked backward. A burly arm pressed hard against his neck and shoulders.
He tried to scream, but a large, calloused hand covered his mouth.
“Shut it, mush brain.”
Mulrox twisted and kicked at his assailant.
“Ow, quit it,” the voice whispered again. “Stop messing around. It’s me.”
The hands about his mouth and shoulders fell free, and Mulrox whirled on his captor. “Groxor?”
“Yep, I’m back.”
“Why?”
“They have Yahgurkin,” Groxor said. “That purple tornado threw this dust on her and she zonked out. We followed her in here, but then I got split up from the others.”
“Others?” Mulrox could barely understand what Groxor was saying. He still couldn’t believe Groxor, of all ogres, was here, had come for him.
“Yes, we followed the light from the garden down to this place.”
“But how?”
“Snap out of it,” Groxor whispered. “It’s all falling apart. Griselda, Ulgorprog, and that’s just the start. That light took Yahgurkin, which is bad, you can be certain. And I… I’m infected with your stupid rhymes!” Groxor shook his head. “We have to find Yahgurkin.”
Mulrox nodded. “I think I know where they are keeping her. This way.”
But Groxor was staring at something behind Mulrox. The giant ogre winced and then cowered against the wall.
Mulrox turned, expecting the worst. But there was nothing behind him except Tork waiting expectantly.
“What?”
“It… it…” Groxor stammered.
Tork scuttled forward.
“Get it!” Groxor squealed.
Mulrox let out a sigh of relief. “That’s Tork, Groxor. It’s fine. She’s on our side—”
But before he could finish, Tork shot forward and headbutted Groxor in the stomach. He stumbled forward out of the alcove back into the hall.
Don’t throw! Bad ogre! Throw bad!
“Well, she’s on my side.” Mulrox couldn’t help but giggle. “I guess she remembers you.”
“What? How?”
“From the woods. You threw her.”
Tork looked like she was winding up for another charge, but Mulrox hurried to her side, laying a hand on her back. “We have to save the others,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere with that thing. You can’t trust it. It’s vicious. It’s—”
Tork clanked her legs, and Groxor threw his arms over his face cowering.
“Tork!” Mulrox said, though he couldn’t help but smile. “We’ll deal with this after we find the others.”
The grinder nodded, and Groxor slowly unfurled himself.
“Alright, let’s go,” Groxor said. “But she should know that if I threw her once, I can do it again. I’m Ulgorprog’s youngest raid leader in a century. I know how to stand my ground. I—”
Tork’s circular saw leg whirred, and Groxor sidestepped, placing Mulrox between them.
* * *
; Groxor, Mulrox, and Tork continued along the wall. Mulrox tried to stay alert, but it was hard to hear much of anything over the pounding of his heart. They wound past portals and corridors, on and on, but the room showed no sign of ending.
The wall curved back out to the left and then to the right. As they came around the bend, Mulrox had a clear view of the other end of the hall for the first time. And right in front of them was the door. It was unmistakable, the peeling red paint, the whorls and knots, the worn-down handle.
“Groxor,” he whispered. “That’s it. That’s where the Vaccus is. They’ll be through there.”
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
Now was the moment. He was going to face the Vaccus.
They stepped forward together.
From all around them came the scuttling and scraping of hundreds of legs, the arrhythmic scuffle echoing off every cranny. Grinders poured in from the shadows. They charged between the ogres and the door and threw their arms up in a phalanx of tools.
There was something else coming, floating down the middle of the grand hall. Tabiyeh.
“You’re supposed to be resting.” She sparked, zapping a nearby pillar.
Mulrox’s confidence withered as she continued. “Everything is exactly the way you like it. And yet, here you are. With them.” She waved at Tork and Groxor. “I told you—”
An ear-splitting yodel tore through the room, and before Mulrox knew what was happening, Groxor was charging full speed at Tabiyeh, teeth bared and fists up.
A grinder grabbed for the ogre’s legs, but he kicked it aside. Another dove in front of him, but he vaulted over the grinder’s outstretched arms. Groxor landed on one leg in front of the wall of grinders. He was falling toward them. He tried to stop, to skid to a halt. He twisted, his arms pinwheeling, but it was too much. Groxor crashed straight into the grinders. They were on him in moments, crawling up over top of one another, leaping onto his legs and shoulders, pinching and poking.
Help!
Behind Mulrox, Tork was being dragged bodily down the hall by a gang of the glamoured grinders.
“Only us now,” Tabiyeh said.
“Let them go.”
“No. In a few hours, you’ll have everything you’ve ever wanted and you’ll be thanking me. Until then, we are going to do what I say.”
Mulrox reached out with his mind, probing at the grinders. He had turned Tork over to his side—there shouldn’t be any reason why these grinders would be any different.
Hello, he tried.
There was the faintest flicker of a response. But this was quickly drowned out by an echoing grinder refrain; work, duty, duty, work.
“They won’t help you,” Tabiyeh said. “They know it’s for your own good. They would never stand in the way of your success.”
“Success?!”
“Yes. It’s what you’ve wanted all along.”
“You have no idea what I want. All you’ve done is spy on and manipulate me. You don’t know anything about me.”
Tabiyeh laughed, a bitter, unhappy laugh. “I know you, Mulrox. And all the things you want to be. Famous, respected… loved.”
“I am loved.”
“They don’t love you. But they will. Just wait.”
“I don’t know how you got in my mind, but I won’t let you destroy it or my friends.”
“Got in? You let me in. You made me. You haven’t guessed? Don’t you remember who you were to meet in Sounous?” Tabiyeh stopped spinning. The waves of purple light flickered and faded.
In front of him stood a single red shape.
“What are you?” Mulrox asked. But he knew. He had seen her often enough in his daydreams.
Whereas all the other ideas had been vague shapes and outlines, Tabiyeh towered over him, larger than life and etched in painstaking detail.
At her center was an ogre, a tomato-red ogre with a scrawny neck and ridiculous overbite. It was dressed in richly embroidered clothes with a long, flowing cape draped over its shoulders. Around its neck hung several medals polished to a high gleam, like small suns winking at him. It had a quill clasped in one hand, and by its side was a stack of books all with the name “Mulrox” neatly printed along the spine.
Mulrox flushed.
“Now you recognize me,” she said.
He did. There was no mistaking the vision of himself he had spent so much time obsessing over, wishing and hoping for: a famous poet, loved and respected.
“I am your Tabiyeh. The-absolute-best-idea-you-ever-had. First among logosophilos.”
She had done all this. Why? Why had she tried to kill them? To chase him down? To bring him here?
“Why?” Mulrox said.
“You were too weak to do it alone. Too scared. You needed me.”
Mulrox stood there, dumbstruck.
“I knew you would come around,” Tabiyeh whispered. “I’ve waited so long. You weren’t ready before. You couldn’t understand what it would take, but I’ve been ensuring our legacy.” Tabiyeh took a couple of tentative steps toward him.
Mulrox sagged. “And the malcognitos?”
“You know better than anyone that we cannot be taken seriously with all those bad ideas popping up everywhere. You are a genius, Mulrox. And genius is perfection. We don’t make mistakes; we are merely misunderstood.”
Mulrox felt as though his legs were fixed in place. Like he couldn’t move. He knew he should do something, anything, but all thoughts had drained from his body.
“It’s time,” Tabiyeh said.
She floated away from the red door and stopped in front of one of the portals. She waited as the grinders ushered Mulrox to her.
He did his best to inch away from her as he looked out through the shimmering surface. Through the portal, Mulrox could see Ulgorprog’s town square alive with movement. It was packed to the brim with ogres. Swathes of crimson and gold flags fluttered and snapped over the rooftops. In front of the Slobber and Snore stood the most immense stage he had ever seen.
The Behemoth was today. Of course it was. It had all been leading up to this. And here he was, helpless to stop it.
Tabiyeh took hold of his hand.
It was then that Mulrox heard a squishy, floppy sort of sound.
KERSPLAT.
And then another.
KERSPLUNKITY-SPLAT.
Tabiyeh heard it too. Her face twitched, but she did not turn.
A gurgle escaped the darkness.
“What is that?” she demanded.
Out from the shadows darted a small black shape. It flew over the heads of the grinders, rocketing toward Tabiyeh.
A bright pink streak shot out and wrapped around the logosophilo’s head.
Tabiyeh grabbed her face, shrieking as grinders scattered this way and that.
Mulrox saw his moment and tore away from his captors.
The black streak flew by again. This time, its pink tongue slapped against a wall of grinders, then the floor.
“Geraldine!” Mulrox rushed toward her. “You’re better!”
To the side, he saw a grinder go flying and Groxor’s green shoulders towering up over the creatures once more.
“No,” Groxor said. “She’s not.” He had struggled free of his captors.
At the sound of their voices, the toad turned toward them. She croaked and then her tongue rocketed out toward the two ogres.
Mulrox dove to the ground, watching as the tongue soared overhead. He rolled to his feet and came face-to-face with a grinder. He stumbled backward as the creature brandished a whirling saw blade at him. He raised his hands to shield his face. As the blade was about to descend, a hunk of wood shattered across the grinder’s back, stopping it midswing.
Mulrox looked up. It was Rodenia. She was darting from one spot to the next, hurling pieces of Geraldine’s busted cage at their attackers.
“Mulrox!” Groxor shouted. He swung a massive arm and knocked over a grinder. “Go! Go get Yahgurkin.”
Mulrox flew toward t
he door as fast as he could.
“Stop them!” Tabiyeh was shrieking. “Stop!”
There were grinders pouring in from all sides now.
He looked to over his shoulder and spotted one swinging a mallet straight at Groxor’s side.
“Watch out!” Mulrox shouted.
Groxor dove to the side, missing the mallet, but as he moved to stand upright, he stumbled. Before he could recover, a grinder had latched onto his arm and was pulling him off-balance. Groxor went down.
Mulrox gasped. He wanted to stop, but he had to keep going. He leapt over a grinder that was driving for his ankles. He dodged as another went for his arm.
An angry chittering erupted to his right, and he saw Rodenia hanging upside down, her tail clenched in a grinder’s tongs. He winced as the squirrelmonk scrabbled at the metal arm.
He was almost there.
A loud, pitiful croak stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned.
Tabiyeh was standing at the portal, Geraldine squeezed between her hands covered in the white powder.
“Mulrox,” Tabiyeh said. She was breathing heavily now and had to gasp out words between breaths. She held up Geraldine. “The three of us are going now.”
Even from across the room, Mulrox could see Geraldine’s eyes smoldering with rage. This was not the crazed toad from the cave. Somehow the malcognitus was gone. She looked up at him, her eyes clear, and held his gaze for a long moment.
No. He couldn’t. She had to know he would stay with her. Tabiyeh was ruthless.
The toad gave a fierce shake of the head.
She was right. He tried to send her a look that conveyed all the love and admiration that was bursting from him.
She nodded.
Mulrox darted for the red door, tears streaming down his face.
“Fool!” Tabiyeh shrieked.
He grabbed the door and pulled. It screeched open, revealing a set of stairs that spiraled down into the darkness below. He risked one look behind him and watched in horror as Tabiyeh leapt through the portal, Geraldine still clasped tightly in her hands. There was no helping it now. Mulrox straightened his shoulders and plunged down the stairs.
Mulrox and the Malcognitos Page 29