Treasures of Fantasy - Margaret Weis [85]
Skylan tweaked his nose between his thumb and finger. “And I hope you are smarter than you smell.”
Keeper swung his arm. He could move quickly for an ogre. Skylan had no time to duck the huge fist that smashed into his jaw. He crashed backward into the flowering bush, snapping twigs and limbs. The thick foliage broke his fall and he sagged forward onto his hands and knees, spitting blood. He remained on the ground a moment, shaking his head groggily.
Keeper shook his head and opened his mouth to make another disparaging comment. Skylan leaped to his feet and drove his elbow deep into the ogre’s gut.
Keeper doubled over with a groan.
Dimly, through the buzzing in his ears, Skylan heard lilting, girlish laughter.
“Hah! Keeper, he got you good! He’s my champion!” Chloe called out. “My Skylan is going to be the best player in the city!”
The crippled girl had been moved from her bed to a couch in the atrium.
Skylan felt his skin burn in embarrassment. He glared at the ogre, expecting to see Keeper sneer in derision.
To his surprise, Keeper was eyeing Skylan with more respect. The ogre turned to the girl and made a clumsy bow.
“I will train this one and the others to be worthy of you, Mistress Chloe.”
“I know you will, Keeper,” said Chloe, smiling. “And though he is my new champion, you will still be my friend.”
The face paint made it difficult to tell, but Skylan could have sworn the ogre’s plump cheeks flushed in pleasure.
“And now, my dear,” said Acronis, going over to her, bending over her fondly, “you have had quite enough excitement for one day. Back to your bed.”
“Oh, but Papa, I want to watch!” Chloe protested.
“Perhaps tomorrow.” Acronis motioned to a fat, pasty-faced fellow with numerous chins. “Kakos, take Mistress Chloe to her bed.”
“Kakos, I am sure I heard a leg of lamb calling your name. You’d best go to the kitchen to see if you can find it,” said Chloe. She gestured at Skylan. “My new champion will carry me.”
“Absolutely not,” said Acronis, frowning. “Kakos, do as you are told.”
“Kakos, if you touch me with those clammy hands of yours I will give Cook orders that you are to be fed nothing but bread and water for a week,” Chloe countered.
Kakos, caught between his master and his diminutive mistress, did not know which to obey. Wringing his hands, he appeared to be on the verge of tears.
“He is covered in blood,” said Acronis in a low voice, remonstrating with his daughter.
“He can wash off in the fountain,” Chloe ordered, and she lay back on the couch and folded her hands in her lap. She obviously considered the matter settled.
Skylan thought nothing more could add to his shame. He could not look at the ogre. He was certain Acronis would never accede to his daughter’s demand and that was his only comfort.
“Get him cleaned up,” said Acronis.
Zahakis, his jaw tight with disapproval, hauled Skylan over to a pool. A statue of a boar spewed water from its mouth.
“Wash,” said Zahakis grimly, and when Skylan didn’t move fast enough, the Tribune roughly thrust his head under water and held him there just a bit too long.
When Zahakis finally released, Skylan, half-drowned, gasped and snorted and rose dizzily to his feet. He stood there dripping. The slave, Rosa, came running to him with a towel and mopped him dry, dabbing carefully at his bruised jaw and split lip.
“Remember the apple,” said Zahakis, and he shoved Skylan over to where Chloe reclined demurely on her couch, her useless legs covered with a silken cloth.
Skylan stood next to the girl, who was thin and frail, fragile as a baby bird, and did not know what to do with her. He was terrified that he would hurt her just by touching her. He stared down at her in helpless confusion, not knowing what to do.
Chloe looked up at him, unafraid, and laughed at his discomfiture. “I won’t break. I’m stronger than I look.” She reached up her arms to him, trusting as a child.
He awkwardly slid one arm around her back and his other arm beneath the lifeless legs and gathered her up,