Chapter 21: Just Play Along

Meggie was able to hold back her tears, but only just, as she was led back down the corridor by Orpheus's guard. The dark halls seemed to press in from both sides, and the ceiling felt as if it was collapsing. She felt dizzy, and when she stumbled, the guard pulled her up sharply. He was keeping a wary eye on her, and she realized that he had been one of the two guards with Fulvio when she and her companions had tried to escape.

She didn't know what to make of her conversation with Orpheus. All she had done was use Mo's little trick of slightly changing the names while reading aloud, but she hadn't even been sure it would work. She had felt the magic of her voice when she read – something had happened, she was sure. Was it possible that she had protected Mo and Dustfinger, and they had not been touched by the dreadful words? Were they still back in Inkworld, safe, unaware of their children's' peril, assuming they would be back in another week? She had resigned herself so much to the fact that they were doomed, that it was an almost unbelievable relief to think that they might be safe, despite her own peril and that of her companions if it proved to be true.

And if the words had worked, as she had supposed, and Mo was here and headed for the castle, then what? Maybe Darius hadn't got back in time, and Mo was wandering aimlessly with no idea where his children might be. Or maybe he was outside the castle this instant, planning with Dustfinger about how to rescue them.

But that was not Mo. It was Dustfinger, perhaps, but not Mo. He was not one to sit outside and plan while his children where locked up. She knew he would turn himself in to rescue them, just as soon as he arrived at the castle. It was what she dreaded. If Mo was here, they would have seen him by now, as Orpheus had said. No, Mo could not be here yet.

And Orpheus had said that he could not write about them. She didn't know much about the subtleties of writing personally, but she had been around Fenoglio enough to understand the basic principles. The magic didn't work unless you used words from the book. Orpheus knew that – he'd been the one to figure it out. But to make the magic work, you also had to know where the people were. Mo had learned that when he had tried to read Resa back out of Inkworld. Of course, he couldn't do anything to her when he assumed she was in the book but was really here. That was it – Mo and Dustfinger weren't in a world that Orpheus expected.

She stumbled again, and the man – Aldo, she seemed to remember was his name – kept her from falling by holding her arm. Her legs seemed leaden, and she was so weary. She wanted to lie down and sleep, even if it had to be on the cold, dungeon floor.

It took a few seconds for her to return to her previous train of thought. Yes, Orpheus was assuming they were in a world which they weren't in, and that was why he couldn't write about them. Well, which world did he think they were in? This world? He would have at first assumed that, but apparently that wasn't the case. He had tried to write about them here, and it hadn't worked. They weren't in this world. Inkworld, then? That was were they'd be if her voice hadn't worked. But Orpheus had clearly tried writing about them there, as well, and nothing had happened. They weren't in Inkworld. Where else could they be? What was she missing?

As these confused thoughts tumbled through her mind, she and Aldo had descended several flights of stairs and arrived in the dungeon corridor. A guard was standing outside her cell, and he slipped a key in the lock when he saw them approaching. However, he didn't immediately open the door, but glanced at Aldo.

"You just missed one of the guards from the south wall. He told me to tell you that they found Fulvio – he just came in the gate. You wanted to see him, right?"

Aldo kept a tight hold of Meggie's arm. "That's right, although it's Orpheus who wants some words with him. Hmph, I wouldn't want to be in his skin – I have a feeling he's going to get a piece of Orpheus's mind for his delays, and not a very nice piece, at that."

The guard swung the door open. "Well, you'll find him in the courtyard, unless he's wandered off and got himself lost again."

A moment later Aldo had shoved her in, and the door shut with a boom behind her.

The faint light from the window slit high in the wall and the low red light of the torch were not enough to see by after the brightness of Orpheus's study. As her sight adjusted to the dimness, she heard her companions moving in the dark, standing and coming towards her.

"Well, what did that dreadful book-mangler want?" Elinor's voice came from a shadowy form to her right.

She felt a small, warm hand slip into hers. She put her arm around Miranda, and slowly walked to the wall, leaning back against it, then slid down to the floor, Dustfinger's daughter still beside her. It felt so good to relax. Another warm body settled on the other side of her, and she heard Alvino's quiet breathing. Elinor sat on the other side of Alvino with a groan. "He didn't do anything dreadful to you, did he, Meggie?" she said, concern evident in her voice. "Are you all right? I swear, if he harmed or threatened you in any way, I'll…" Her voice trailed off, clearly unable to think of a reasonable threat when she was the one locked in a cell. "Well, goodness sake, Meggie, are you all right?" she repeated after a moment.

"Yes. Yes, I'm all right," Meggie replied wearily, leaning her head back against the wall. Her vision had almost completely adjusted to the gloom again. She could make out the individual stones of the wall. "He just wanted to talk."

"Oh, I'm sure he did," Elinor snorted. "I've never seen a man so completely in love with his own voice before. Well, what did he want to talk about?"

"Mo and Dustfinger." She felt Miranda's hand tighten around hers, and Alvino shifted uncomfortably.

"Are they here?" Miranda whispered.

Meggie squeezed her hand. "No, I don't think so. But I don't think they're back in Inkworld either." She proceeded to tell them of her conversation with Orpheus, the deal he had offered her, and her thoughts on the way back to the dungeon.

There was general outrage towards Orpheus's cruel deal. "Meggie, don't tell him anything about Mo!" Alvino said stubbornly.

"Please, don't give away my father," Miranda begged. "I'll stay here – I don't mind that much, if my father's all right."

"You did the right thing, Meggie," Elinor said. "Don't tell that foul book-mangler anything, whether it helps him or not. How dare he make such a ghastly offer? How could he think any of us would trade in a relative or a friend for freedom that we might or might not get? I don't doubt that he would have taken your information and kept us all locked up after all. I wouldn't trust a word that comes out of that man's mouth, as beautiful as he can make his words sound. A real snake, that one."

Meggie felt slightly better when she knew all her companions thought the same as her. "I don't know how much good my information would have done him, anyway," she said. "I know what I did, and I still don't know what to make of the situation."

"Well, don't tell him anything anyway," Elinor said. "I'm sure he'd be able to use it for his own nefarious purposes. And if he knew you tried to ruin his grand schemes, he'd probably just get angry with all of us, and throw us into a deeper, darker dungeon for all eternity."

"Please, don't talk like that, Elinor," Meggie said as Miranda began to whimper slightly. "We don't need to think about things like that. I'm still not giving up hope that Mo and Dustfinger are on their way to help us. But I don't know what to think of the situation. It would seem that they aren't in this world or Inkworld."

"There are other worlds, aren't there?" Elinor said. "Why couldn't they be in another world?"

Meggie frowned, but it was Alvino who answered his aunt first. "Why would they be in another world? We're in this world, not another one. If Meggie's voice worked and they know we're in danger, why would they go somewhere else instead of here? And if Meggie's voice didn't work, why would they leave Inkworld?"

"My father wouldn't leave Inkworld unless he absolutely had to," Miranda whispered.

They were silent for a while, each struggling with his or her own thoughts. Finally, Elinor took in a deep breath. "You said he's trying to write about both of them, Meggie?"

"Yes," Meggie answered, frowning slightly and unsure of where Elinor was going with the question.

Elinor was grimacing with concentration. "What if that's the problem, that he's trying to write about both of them at once? What if they aren't in Inkworld or this world? What would happen if one of them were here and one of them were in Inkworld?"

Meggie considered the idea. "I think you're right," she said after a minute. "I don't think Orpheus could write about them both and make the magic happen, if they weren't in the same world. But why?" she asked, looking at Elinor. "Why would one be here and one still be in Inkworld?"

Elinor was lost for an answer, but Alvino once again wasn't. "It was the way you read it, Meggie!" he said excitedly. "You said you used Mo's trick when reading their names. Well, maybe you did it well enough with Mo that it didn't work on him, and it would have helped that he's not the Bluejay as much he was when Orpheus was in Inkworld, and that the Bluejay was a later, added character. Dustfinger's one of the real characters though, and maybe you didn't change his name as much. It makes sense that you would have been more concerned about changing Mo's name."

"So the magic didn't work on Mo completely, and he's still back in Inkworld, but Dustfinger's here," Meggie said slowly, trying to work out what her brother was saying. "It would explain why Orpheus is having trouble writing about them, and it would explain why nothing's been seen of them yet. Dustfinger's good at staying hidden and scheming. He wouldn't give himself in like Mo would – he'd try to rescue us first."

Miranda's face was shining with new hope. "Then he might be outside the castle this very instant planning on how to rescue us. He's really good at those sorts of things. He'll save us."

Meggie smiled at the young girl, pleased to see hope on a face that had been so sad these last few days. "Yes, maybe so." A new thought came to her, something she had considered unimportant until now. "When I was in Orpheus's study, he was talking to his guard about a deer the men had spotted outside the castle walls. They had been shooting at it, and Fulvio went out with some others to chase it down, but apparently it just vanished, and Fulvio and another man went missing."

She looked around at them. "You remember the fire animals Dustfinger could make, don't you? It seemed a little odd to me that a deer would just run up to the walls of a castle where a bunch of men were standing. What if it was one of Dustfinger's animals, and he was using it as a decoy? That would explain why it vanished."

Miranda clapped her hands together. "Then maybe the plan's already in motion, and he'll be here any moment to save us."

"And he could have gotten rid of that awful Fulvio and the other man," Elinor added. "I never would have thought I'd be so eager to see that matchstick-eater if I'd lived a thousand years. And I won't miss seeing Fulvio again."

"I don't know if Dustfinger had anything to do with Fulvio disappearing," Meggie said. "Apparently, he's back – I heard the guards talking about it before they stuck me back in here."

Elinor sighed. "Oh well, I guess I can't ask for everything."

The initial excitement about the prospect of being rescued faded as Dustfinger made no immediate signs of appearing. Other than talk and sleep, there was very little to do. The day wore on, and the light from the window slit slowly began to dim. Meggie drifted between sleep, dreams, and waking, vaguely aware sometimes of her three companions talking or of faint sounds around her like the crackle of the torch. She saw Mo's face – he was smiling at her. "Shall we pretend we're looking for treasure, like Allan Quatermain or the Bastable children? What do you think we'll find, Meggie?"

She smiled, a child of six or seven in her dreams once again, and put her arms around his neck. "I think we'll find gold."

He grinned and held her. "Gold? We always find gold? What about rubies, or a big diamond?"

"No, gold," she insisted. "Yellow's my favorite color."

"Of course, I'd forgotten that!" Mo said. "Well, gold it is then. Where do you think we should start looking?"

She didn't answer, but laid her head on his chest and slipped away from him to other visions. Her mother, Resa, laughing her musical laugh, wrote with her fingers in the air. It's so beautiful there in Inkworld, her fingers said. A baby's face gazed up at her from her arms. His hair was dark as moleskin, and Mo and Resa were smiling. It was raining, and a wet, scarred face was staring at her from the doorway. Fenoglio was scribbling, and her heart was racing as she clutched her mother's note to her breast. Then she was sitting on a bed in her husband's arms, and he was rocking her gently. "Everything's going to be all right. This is wonderful news."

She slipped her arms around him and pressed her cheek to his shoulder. "Are you sure?" she whispered.

"Of course," he laughed. "It happens all the time, you know."

"It just feels so strange all the same," she answered.

He tipped her face up with his fingertips and smiled fondly down at her. "I love you so much, Meggie." He bowed his head and kissed her, and she kissed him back, but there seemed to be rain falling on her hair, and Doria's eyes had turned dark with long lashes like a girl.

When she opened her eyes, there was no light except for the dimly flickering torch. She drew her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees. The sound of heavy breathing told her that the others were asleep.

Not all of them though. Something brushed her arm, and she looked over to see Alvino's face in the faint light. "Are you awake, Meggie?" he whispered.

"Yes," she answered him quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess," he said. "Meggie, I'm sorry."

She touched his arm. "Why?"

He huddled down next to her. "This is all my fault. If I'd just been happy and stayed in Inkworld, none of this would have ever happened."

"Nonsense," she said. "We don't know that. Orpheus would have found some other way of making his plans work, I'm sure. And you can't say that you alone caused all this. We've all played a part, whether big or small. You could say it's my fault for reading Orpheus into Inkworld or Dustfinger's fault for going to Orpheus to read him back or Mo's fault for reading aloud from Inkheart in the first place or Fenoglio's fault for writing it. Or maybe that was all just fate. No, the only person truly at fault for this is Orpheus, and he'll get what's coming to him, the same way Capricorn did, and Basta, and the Adderhead."

Alvino fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "Were you ever frightened, Meggie? When Capricorn had you locked up or the Adderhead?"

She gave him a playful shove. "Of course, I was. I was frightened out of my wits, because then I didn't know how it was going to turn out. It was only afterwards that I could look back and realize that Mo and Resa and Elinor and everyone else weren't going to let anything bad happen to me. This will be the same way, and twelve years from now, it'll make a good story to tell our children."

Alvino made a face at her. "I'm not going to have any children. I'd have to get married."

Meggie folded her arms and looked down her nose at him. "Really? You might have different opinions about that in a few years. I was only a year older than you when I met Doria."

"Yeah, well, you're a girl," Alvino retorted. "Girls like that sort of thing."

"What about Miranda?" Meggie teased. "Don't you think she's pretty?"

Alvino turned his head away and muttered something under his breath. "I'm not going to marry her – she's like another sister. It would be like marrying you."

Meggie decided to release him from the embarrassing topic. It had served its purpose of lightening the mood. She relaxed again, leaning her head on the wall, but Alvino soon stirred once more. "Do you think Miranda's father is really out there?"

The window slit was just a lighter shade of black in the black wall, but when she stared at it, she thought she could make out stars, but it was probably just her imagination. She sighed. "I don't know. I learned a long time ago that he's not easy to predict. If he was still the way he was when I first knew him, I would say there wasn't a chance, but he's changed since then."

He dropped the hem of his shirt and mirrored her position, leaning back against the wall. "I really wish he'd hurry up. I'm so bored." He sighed heavily. "This hasn't been a very fun vacation." There was a long silence, then he spoke in a whisper. "I want to go home."

Meggie closed her eyes. "So do I."

~o~o~

Breakfast always came slightly before dawn. They would hear the guards moving outside in the passage and usually talking in muffled voices. The door would open, and a man in the lyre uniform of Orpheus would set a tray and a pitcher of water on the ground. The tray usually held decent enough food, bread, slices of cheese, some fruit, but there wasn't much to go around for four people. The last real meal they had had was Orpheus's feast a week ago.

All four prisoners woke early with growling stomachs on the morning of their seventh day of imprisonment. They sat dejectedly on the floor, staring at the door, and faintly hoping that there would be extra food.

Meggie thought about the interview with Orpheus that was scheduled at noon of that day. She had made up her mind that he would get nothing out of her, either about her trick or the reason that Orpheus's words would not work as they had figured it out. But even though her mind was at rest about her answer, she knew Orpheus would not take that answer well, and she was dreading the consequences her refusal would bring. She almost wished he would fetch her early, so she could just get it over with.

Her wish was surprisingly granted. They heard the key in the lock and the sound of the guard's voice saying something that was too muffled by the door to understand. They all looked up, and Meggie heard Elinor's mutter of "at last." The door opened, but it was not the usual tray-bearing guard who stood in the doorway – it was Fulvio.

Orpheus's second-in-command wore a grim expression, and he had a long cut across his forehead that looked fairly fresh. There were dark circles under his eyes as if he had not slept well the previous night. A ring of keys dangled from his hand.

He scowled at them and made a jerking movement with his head, indicating that they should come. Hesitantly, they stood, not sure what was going on.

"Well, come on, let's go," he snapped. "Do I look like I'm in the mood to stand around all day? Orpheus wants to see all of you right away."

Meggie's stomach twisted. Although she had wistfully hoped that the time would be shortened, now that it appeared that it actually had been, she felt ill. She couldn't see any way this would end well, and she had harbored a faint hope that Dustfinger would make an appearance before she had to deal with Orpheus. I've been in worse situations than this, remember? she told herself. It's not like he's going to force me to read a monster like the Shadow out of a book to eat my mother and aunt.

They stepped out into the hall, and their guard closed the door behind them and re-locked it. "Do you want me to come with you, Fulvio? They've already tried to escape once."

Fulvio took hold of Meggie's arm firmly, and Meggie could see a knife glinting in his belt. "I can deal with an old woman and two children, and I'll keep a close eye on this one. She's the ringleader."

"Why do all of us have to go?" Elinor complained as they started up the corridor past the dark rows of cell doors. "Heavens, my legs and back ache. Your master could have the decency to provide us with a few cots, or at least a straw mattress or two, if he's really as good a reader as he feigns."

Fulvio shot her a distasteful look. "You're all coming because that's what Orpheus wanted. Apparently, Miss Silvertongue here made a deal with him and decided to drag the rest of you into it. So, Orpheus wants some words with all of you, so if the girl doesn't talk, maybe one of you others will."

His grip wasn't overly tight on her arm, but Meggie felt angry at him for even touching her. She watched him closely, and suddenly remembered what she had overheard about his disappearance. The cut on his brow was easy to see. "I heard you and your men couldn't even bring down a deer yesterday," she said coldly. "Where'd you get that cut? Did you walk into a tree and go unconscious or something? Or did someone attack you and beat you over the head?"

It was a vague hope that he might say something about Dustfinger as much as a taunt, and she was curious about the cut. However, she didn't actually expect an answer, so she wasn't disappointed. He didn't look at her, but frowned deeply, and she saw his eyes squint as if with anger.

That was all he did for a few seconds. Elinor, Alvino, and Miranda were walking in front of them where Fulvio could keep an eye on them. Meggie was the only one who saw what happened next, and a moment after it happened, she wasn't sure it had. Fulvio reached up and brushed his dark hair back from his face, a normal enough movement, but Meggie was looking directly at him, and she saw that his fingers left a trail of red sparks that vanished a moment after his fingers passed. Her heart leapt.

He cast her a look out of the corner of his eye, and she read the look as if it had been written words. Don't say anything. Just play along. She bit her lip to keep all the questions piling up in her mind from spilling out.

They met several of Orpheus's soldiers on the way up. None of them stopped Fulvio, although many cast him curious glances, and some made snide remarks about stags and Orpheus's temper. Apparently, Fulvio had received a good deal of the reader's derision, as Aldo had predicted.

When they arrived at the ground level, instead of continuing up to Orpheus's study, Fulvio steered them towards the main entrance. Elinor looked back at him. "I thought you said we were going up to meet Orpheus," she snapped. "Why are we going outside?"

"I didn't say where he wanted to meet you though, now did I?" Fulvio shot back. "I should think prisoners would be grateful for a chance at fresh air after seven days in a cell."

Elinor turned away, grumbling. Meggie saw Fulvio shake his head slightly, and she thought she heard the faintest hint of a familiar exasperated sigh.

Everyone squinted as they stepped out of the dark interior of the castle into the morning light. The sun had just risen above the trees on the eastern slope, and to the eyes of prisoners who had received little light for a week, it was blinding. It took even Meggie's eyes a minute to adjust to the sudden brightness, even though she had been out of the cell more recently than her companions. A cool breeze tugged her yellow hair, and the light and fresh air lifted her already rising heart until it was soaring. The castle's main gate was in view, and a friend was leading them towards it. They were going to escape.

But the gate was closed. She looked at Fulvio, who had slackened his grip on her arm since they stepped into the courtyard, and saw that he was gazing up at the wall top. "The gate, Gaspare," he called up.

Meggie saw several figures on the wall top, dark silhouettes against the rising sun and several moved towards the pulley that would open the gate in response to Fulvio's call. They began to heave on it, and the door slowly opened. Meggie bit her lip as she watched the agonizingly slow movement that gradually revealed the outside world of trees and freedom. She couldn't believe they were going to make it, that it was going to be so easy.

Elinor was complaining again. "Heavens above, what is this? Are we going for a stroll in the forest with that raving book-mangler? I'm in no mood to play his little games. I just want to get this whole messy business over and done with."

One of the men on the walls had evidently overheard Elinor's loud comments. He leaned over the wall and called down to Fulvio. "Hey Fulvio, where are you going with those prisoners? Orpheus hasn't been down here or at least I haven't see him."

Meggie froze for a moment, but she had no reason to worry. Fulvio lifted his face and scowled at the man. "Which one of us is Orpheus's right-hand man, you or me? Orpheus told me he wanted to see them in the valley. Why do you think it's your business or mine why he wants it that way? And there are other ways out of this castle than by the main gate, especially for an enchanter."

The man made no reply, but shrugged and turned back to the pulley. The gate was open now, but Fulvio didn't move towards it yet. Instead, he hollered up at the wall top again. "Gaspare, get down here and help me with these prisoners. They've made a break for it before, and I don't want to lose track of them in the trees."

One of the men on the wall top detached himself from the others and hurried down the wall steps. Meggie glanced at Fulvio nervously. Why would he want one of the other guards to come with him? Had she been mistaken? Had the sparks in his hair been nothing but her frantic imagination desperate for rescue? She remembered Gaspare, too, the one who had been burned during their escape attempt. He was certainly not going to be friendly towards them.

The man named Gaspare hurried up and stopped in front of them, breathing rather heavily from the effort of opening the gate. It took all of Meggie's self control not to make any sound or sign of recognition. For a moment, she thought her eyes were playing cruel tricks on her, but she looked again and saw that it had been no mistake. It was her mother who was standing before them, dressed in one of Orpheus's uniforms. Her long, dark-gold hair had been cut to above her shoulders, and dressed in masculine clothes, she resembled a young man. She even held herself like a man. It surprised Meggie, but then she remembered that this was not the first time Resa had had to use this disguise, and that she'd gotten very good at it.

Alvino had also recognized their new escort. His eyes went wide and his mouth opened slightly, but with an incredible amount of self-control, he managed to shut it again without making a sound. He turned and looked back at Meggie with a shocked expression, but she just shook her head imperceptibly. He turned back around, but she could see his shoulders shaking.

Resa took hold of Alvino's arm, the same way Fulvio was holding Meggie, and looked into Fulvio's eyes, a grim, determined expression on her face. "Where are we going, Fulvio? Where does Orpheus want them?"

She did a good job of deepening her voice. Meggie wasn't sure she would have recognized it, if she hadn't recognized her mother first. Fulvio answered her quietly. "Just outside the castle in the forest." He shouted up to the men on the wall top then. "This shouldn't take too long – not more than a couple hours I should think. Close the gates after us, but be ready to open them again when we come back. Now, come on, let's go," he said to the prisoners, giving Miranda a slight push with his free hand.

Miranda had been looking curiously at Resa since she joined them, but clearly hadn't recognized her yet. The girl's brow was furrowed as if trying to summon a distant memory, but when Fulvio pushed her, she turned around to glare at him. Meggie couldn't see Fulvio's face, but as Miranda looked into it, her glare melted away, and hope mingled with relief and joy glistened in her eyes. Meggie knew then that the sparks had not been imagined.

Fulvio glanced up at the wall, then back at Miranda, his message clear. She understood, and allowed the dull, depressed look of a prisoner to settle back over her features, but hope remained in her eyes.

Elinor was now the only one who didn't realize they were being rescued. She hadn't bothered to take a close look at "Gaspare" as she was still muttering indignantly to herself. The other three, however, allowed their two escorts to herd them towards the gate, outwardly prisoners, but inwardly tasting freedom already.

They passed through the gate, and Meggie looked up at the trees that covered the eastern slope of the valley. It would be so easy to slip into those trees and be almost instantly lost from sight from the castle wall. They would all get away safely and hopefully never see Orpheus again. It was too good to be true, simply too good.

It was. They had only taken a few steps past the gate, when a voice calling Fulvio's name halted them. Meggie turned around, her heart beating so hard that her chest hurt. Oh please, she thought. Please, no.

he man, whom Meggie identified as Aldo from the previous day, stopped in the gateway, breathing hard as if he had been running, and looked at Fulvio quizzically. There were five other men, three with shotguns, standing beside him. "What are you doing with those prisoners, Fulvio?" he asked. "Orpheus sent me down to tell you he wants to see all of them in his study immediately."