The Glass Word Read Free Page A

pieces,” he got out with difficulty, in Merle’s language, but with an accent that sounded as if his tongue were swollen; perhaps it actually was.
    â€œSay nothing.”
The voice of the Queen sounded imploring.
“Let Vermithrax deal with it.”
    But Junipa—, Merle began.
    â€œHe knows what to do.”
    Merle’s eyes fastened on Junipa’s face. The girl’s fear seemed to freeze on her features. Only the mirror eyes remained cold and detached.
    â€œDon’t come any nearer,” said the sphinx. “She will die.”
    Vermithrax’s lion tail thrashed slowly from one side to the other, back and forth, again and again. A shrill squeal sounded as he extended his claws and the points scratched on the fuselage.
    The sphinx’s situation was hopeless. In a fight he wouldn’t have been able to do anything against Vermithrax. And yet he armed himself in his own way: He held Junipa in his grip and used her like a shield. Her feet were dangling twenty inches off the surface.
    Merle noticed that the sphinx was not standing securely. He had bent his right foreleg just enough that the ball of the paw no longer touched the snow. He was in pain and in despair. That made him unpredictable.
    Merle forgot the cold, the icy wind, even her fear.“Nothing’s going to happen to you,” she said to Junipa, not certain whether her voice would reach her friend. Junipa looked as if with each breath she was pulling back into herself a little deeper.
    Vermithrax took a step toward the sphinx, who evaded him, grasping his hostage tightly.
    â€œStay where you are,” he said in a strained voice. The glow of the obsidian lion was mirrored in his eyes. He didn’t understand who or what was standing there before him: a mighty winged lion, who shone like freshly wrought iron—never before had the sphinx seen such a creature.
    This time Vermithrax obeyed the demand and halted. “What is your name, sphinx?” he asked in a growl.
    â€œSimphater.”
    â€œGood, Simphater, then consider. If you harm a hair of the girl, I will kill you. You know that I can do it. So quickly that you won’t even feel it. But also slowly, if you make me angry.”
    Simphater blinked. Blood was running into his left eye, but he hadn’t a hand free to wipe it away. “Stay where you are!”
    â€œYou already said that.”
    Merle saw how every sinew and muscle in the sphinx’s arms strained. He changed his grip, grabbed Junipa by both her upper arms, and held her out in the air.
    He’s going to tear her apart, she thought in a panic. He’ll simply break her in two!
    â€œNo,”
said the Queen without any real conviction.
    He’s going to kill her. The pain is driving him mad.
    â€œSphinxes can tolerate much more pain than you humans.”
    Vermithrax radiated endless patience. “Simphater, you’re a soldier, and I won’t try to lie to you. You know that I can’t let you go. Nevertheless, I have no interest in your death. You can fly this bark, and we want to get away from here. That’s very convenient, don’t you think?”
    â€œWhy the bark?” said Simphater with irritation. “We fought up there. You can fly. You don’t need me.”
    â€œI don’t. But the girls. A flight on my back in this cold would kill them in a few minutes.”
    Simphater’s blurry eyes wandered over Merle and the lion, then hovered over the dazzling white of the endless snow fields. “Did
you
do that?”
    Vermithrax raised an eyebrow. “What?”
    â€œThe ice. It doesn’t snow in this desert … it never did before.”
    â€œNot we,” said Vermithrax. “But we know who is responsible for it. And he is a powerful friend.”
    Again the sphinx blinked. He seemed to be weighing whether Vermithrax was lying to him. Was the lion just trying to make him unsure? His tail switched back and forth,