CHAPTER NINETEEN: Search and Destroy

"Ah, the searchers have found something at last!" Captain Margo sprang up at once from the cushioned massage table where she had been resting after a brisk morning work-out.

"The searchers? Huh?" Arwen Evenstar was not so quick to rouse herself when the female guards came into the ladies' bath chamber dragging a heavy wooden crate. All week long, Queen Zuleika's soldiers had been searching the vast network of caverns beneath the royal palace, yet so far they had not uncovered a single trace of the frog-creatures, or the dread pirate Ling Kray.

Things were quiet. And that was just how Arwen wanted it.

"Hey, look at this!" Hastily clad in a fluffy white robe, Margo pointed to the peculiar jugs of greenish liquid that filled the weathered old wooden crate. The other girls crowded around the big open box in astonishment, many only half-dressed.

"I'll bet its poison!"

"Maybe its perfume!"

"Is it wine?"

"Should we open a jug and try it?"

"What if it's a trick?"

"I know what it is." Arwen came forward slowly, clad in a bathing robe that was similar to Margo's but a bit frillier, with a pretty flower design. It was vital to remain calm, and not appear too eager or excited about the discovery.

"Well, do enlighten us with your elf-wisdom," Margo teased. The beautiful red-head smiled to show she was only joking.

Arwen blew the dust off the nearest jug. "This is liquor made by the frog-creatures of the swampland far to the south. They call it gliss-taglorp-slorp, the Happiness Drink."

"Then there are frog-creatures in the caverns below!" Margo's aggressive nature came to the surface at once. "We should go right back down there and . . ."

"But how do you know this liquor wasn't just left in the caverns years ago?" Arwen caught the other girl's sleeve. "After all, you've been patrolling down there for days and so far all you've discovered is one ancient crate filled with liquor. We don't even know if this lot is still good to drink!"

"We should try it," whispered one of the girls.

"Yes, try it!" All of them began giggling and chattering.

"Silence!" Though she was friendly and cheerful with her fellow soldiers, Margo was still very much in command. "None of you will drink until we know it is safe. Those frog-things down below are monsters and they are dangerous!"

"That's not true!" Arwen blushed as she caught herself giving too much away. "I mean, when the pirate Ling Kray captured me, he took me to one of their camps. The frog-children never did me any harm. I think they're very gentle creatures!"

Sweet, friendly Margo gave her a surprisingly sharp look. It was a suspicious look, seeming to turn Arwen inside out. "You haven't seen any of them lately, have you?" she asked.

"Of course not," Arwen assured her, fighting a flutter of pure panic. She couldn't let anyone find out she had been visiting the caverns in secret, let alone that Ling Kray was still alive. "I just remember the pirates trading with them, and being surprised at how tasty all the frog-food and liquor really was."

"Well, we'll try a little, but only if you taste it first!" Margo laughed, and the rest of her guards joined in. "Now some of you haul that heavy crate up to my chambers, and the rest can see about getting us some bread and cheese, along with a platter of smoked meat for the noon meal!"

Arwen wanted the surface dwellers to trust the creatures of the caverns. There was no harm in drinking a little gliss-taglorp-slorp, was there? Everyone was very noisy and cheerful as they lounged on soft cushions in Margo's private chambers. The laughing girls passed huge platters of meat and cheese back and forth, along with big golden goblets of the Happiness Drink.

"This is almost as good as dining with the frog-children, isn't it?" Margo asked, after all the eating and drinking was done. "You must have liked them a lot to remember so much!"

"They're gentle creatures," Arwen muttered. She felt very sleepy, especially lying beside Captain Margo on a heap of cushions. "Why don't you girls ever invite any men to your feasts?" she asked, rubbing her sleepy blue eyes.

Arwen had not meant to start any trouble. But immediately the girls grew angry.

"We're not slaves to men!"

"We're the sacred sisterhood!"

"We're pure warriors and true servants of the queen!"

"Now girls, the Lady Arwen is our guest! She just doesn't understand." Captain Margo laughed, and clapped her hands. A couple of giggling young girls ran forward and presented themselves. They were twins, blonde and baby-faced, very different from the slim, tanned, athletic young woman warriors who made up the rest of the royal guard.

"Lola and Nola will now give us a song about beautiful women and no-good men." Margo gave a little laugh. "Act it out, girls, so the Lady Arwen can really get the picture."

Arwen's droopy eyes flew open wide in astonishment as the twins began to dance and sing. Lola and Nola were fabulous dancers, wriggling and jiggling in a way that made her blush. But the song they sang was even more outrageous:

That no-good man says you're sweet, sweet, sweet

He'll even bow down and kiss your feet,

But wake up, sister, and then you'll know,

He just wants to stick it where the sun don't glow!

Arwen laughed and laughed. But it seemed to her that Margo and her friends were trapped in a vow they didn't understand, imprisoned in childhood forever. The girls seemed happy. Lola and Nola were wiggling for all they were worth. But by the end of the song Arwen actually felt rather sad. Her heart was heavy. And her eyes were too.

"And now something a bit more . . . soothing." At Margo's command, a lovely young girl with slanted black eyes and bronzed skin drew forth a harp and began to pluck it gently. Arwen lay back on the cushions and closed her eyes. She listened to the music, and thought of all that had happened to her since she first met Ling Kray.

"All right, girls. Time to go to work!" Margo rose from her cushions and began buckling her sword belt. The other girls stood too, though some were sleepy and openly yawning.

"What about the elvish female?" One of them asked, pulling on her helmet. "Shouldn't we carry her back to her room?"

"No need," Margo replied. "She looks quite comfortable here in my chambers." The beautiful red-haired captain looked down at the elf-maiden, lying fast asleep on the cushions. "I'll take care of her later, when we get back from stomping out those filthy cavern-frogs. Come on, girls. Down to the caverns, to search and destroy!"

"Gentle creatures." Arwen frowned, but she didn't actually hear the captain's cruel words. She was just talking in her sleep. When the deadly girl soldiers left the chamber she didn't even hear the door shut softly behind them.