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Or do you seriously claihtful owner of every copy of his books?" Puffed-up, lio, the creator of everything around Orpheus himself, even the air he breathed!

"Are you after lio squeezed his feet into his worn old boots "Why? So that you can go telling this poor boy you’ll bring Dustfinger back from the White Wohtened his lips Dustfinger’s marten blinked sleepily on his shoulder -- or was this a different animal?

"What nonsense you talk!" Orpheus sounded distinctly peeved -- he took offense very easily "Do I look as if I have any trouble finding servants? I have six uard, a cook, and the boy You know very well it’s not just for the boy I want to bring Dustfinger back He belongs in this story It’s not half as good without hiht without stars-- ‘A forest without trees?" Fenoglioto lio still had left

"You’re drunk, old man!" Orpheus spat His voice could sound very unpleasant

"Drunk or not, I still know a hundred times more about words than you do You trade at second hand You unravel whatever you can find and knit it up again as if a story were a pair of old socks! So don’t you tell ht to play in this one Perhaps you reo with the White Wo here to lecture me about my own story? Take a look at that, why don’t you?" Furiously, he pointed to the shi fairies’ nest above his bed "Rainbow-colored fairies! Ever since they built their horrible nest up there I’ve had thedreams! And they steal the blue fairies’ stocks of winter provisions!"

"So?" Orpheus shrugged his plump shoulders "They look pretty, all the saht it was so tedious for all fairies to be blue"

"Did you, indeed?" Fenoglio’s voice rose to such volume that one of the colorful fairies interrupted her constant chatter and peered out of her gaudy nest "Then write your oorld! This one’swith it I ad you here was far and away the worst of theernails They were bitten to the quick "I’ly soft voice "All that stuff about ‘you wrote me here,’ ‘she readand writing around here now The only one The words don’t obey you any time since they did, and you know it!"

"They’ll obeyI’ll write will be a return ticket for you!"

"Oh yes? And who’s going to read these fabulous words? As far as I’m aware, you need someone to read thelio cahted eyes blinked at him in annoyance "I’ll ask Morti, even if he goes by another name these days Ask the boy! If it weren’t for Morti"

"Mortih with so that you don’t knohat’s going on in this world of yours? He’s not doing any reading now The bookbinder prefers to play the outlaw these days -- the role you created especially for hirunt, probably hastly fellow! Had Fenoglio himself written hilio scrutinized the muscleman for a moment, irritated, and then turned back to his master

"I did not make it especially for him!" he said "It’s the other way around: I used Mortimer as my pattern for the character, and from all I hear, he plays his part well

But that doesn’t ue Not to hter"

"Oh yes? And do you knohere he is?" Orpheus asked alain, while his bodyguard had set to work on as left of Fenoglio’s breakfast

"Indeed I do He’s colio fell abruptly silent as the boy suddenly came up and clapped his hand over the oldthe lad’s nalio, he said to himself, that’s why

"No one knohere the Bluejay is!" How reproachfully Farid’s black eyes were looking at Fenoglio! "No one!"

Of course Daotten that Orpheus turned green with jealousy whenever he heard Mortimer’s name, or that he went in and out of the Milksop’s castle all the tiue

But Orpheus smiled "Don’t look so alar here Bold of hi co him? Because that’s how he’ll meet his end, like all heroes We both know that, don’t we? Don’t worry, I don’t intend to hand hiallows Others will do that No, I just want to talk to him about the White Women

There aren’twith them; that’s why I really would like a ith hi rumors about such survivors"

"I’ll tell hilio brusquely "But I can’t think that he ant to talk to you After all, I don’t SUppose he’d ever haveto read him here for Mortola Rosenquartz!" He strode to the door with as nity as was possible in his shabby boots "I have souests out, and lio stumbled down the staircase to the yard almost as fast as he had on the day when Basta had paid hiates already! Suppose Orpheus found him there when he went to the castle to tell the Milksop what he had heard? The Bluejay was the Governor’s ht up with him halfway downstairs Farid Yes, that was the na senile, for sure

"Is Silvertongue really co here?" he whispered breathlessly "Don’t worry, Orpheus won’t give hierous for hiie with hi down at the of the Inkworld "If the old fool doesn’t tell Mortimer I want to speak to hiht Fenoglio 0 ye gods of words, give theet this daive Orpheus a suitably cutting answer, but not even his tongue could find the right words now, and the boy impatiently hauled him away