The Neverending Story - The Neverending Story Part 23
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The Neverending Story Part 23

'That's not possible,' said Bastian. 'Atreyu would have noticed it, and certainly Falkor would have. But they didn't.'

'We mules,' said Yikka, 'are simple creatures, not in a class with luckdragons. But we do have certain gifts. And one of them is a sense of direction. We never go wrong. That's how I knew for sure that you wanted to visit the Childlike Empress.'

'Moon Child . ..' Bastian murmured. 'Yes, I would like to see her again. She'll tell me what to do.'

Then he stroked the mule's white nose and whispered: 'Thanks, Yikka. Thanks.'

Next morning Atreyu took Bastian aside.

'Listen, Bastian. Falkor and I want to apologize. The advice we gave you was meant well - but it was stupid. We just haven't been getting ahead. Falkor and I talked it over last night. You'll be stuck here and so will we, until you wish for something. It's bound to make you lose some more of your memory, but that can't be helped, there's nothing else you can do. We can only hope that you find the way back before it's too late. It won't do you any good to stay here. You'll just have to think of your next wish and use AURYN's power.'

'Right,' said Bastian. 'Yikka said the same thing. And I already know what my next wish will be. Let's go, I want you all to here it.

They rejoined the others.

'Friends,' said Bastian in a loud voice. 'So far we have been looking in vain for the way,back to my world. Now I've decided to go and see the one person who can help me find it. That one person is the Childlike Empress. Our destination is now the Ivory Tower.'

'Hurrah!' cried the three knights in unison.

But then Falkor's bronze voice rang out: 'Don't do it, Bastian Balthazar Bux. What you wish is impossible. Don't you know that no one can meet the Golden-eyed Commander of Wishes more than once? You will never see her again.'

Bastian clenched his fists.

'Moon Child owes me a lot,' he said angrily. 'I'm sure she won't keep me away.'

'You'll see,' Falkor replied, 'that her decisions are sometimes hard to understand.'

Bastian felt the color rising to his cheeks. 'You and Atreyu,' he said, 'are always giving me advice. You can see where your advice has got us. From now on I'll do the deciding. I've made up my mind, and that's that.'

He took a deep breath and went on a little more calmly: 'Besides, you always speak from your point of view. You two are Fantasticans and I'm a human. How can you be sure that the same rules apply to me as to you? It was different when Atreyu had AURYN. And who else but me is going to give the Gem back to Moon Child? No one can meet her twice, you say. But I've already met her twice. The first time we saw each other for only a moment, when Atreyu went into her chamber, and the second time when the big egg exploded. With me everything is different. I will see her a third time.'

All were silent. The knights because they didn't know what it was all about, Atreyu and Falkor because they were beginning to have doubts.

'Well,' said Atreyu finally, 'maybe you're right. We have no way of knowing how the Childlike Empress will deal with you.'

After that they started out, and before noon they reached the edge of the forest.

Before them lay sloping meadows as far as the eye could see. Soon they came to a winding river and followed its course.

Again Atreyu and Falkor explored the country, describing wide circles around their slow-moving companions. But both were troubled and their flight was not as light and carefree as usual. Looking ahead, they saw that the country changed abruptly at a certain point in the distance. A steep slope led from the plateau to a low-lying, densely wooded plain and the river descended the slope in a mighty waterfall. Knowing that the riders couldn't hope to get that far before the next day, the two scouts turned back.

'Falkor,' Atreyu asked, 'do you suppose the Childlike Empress cares what becomes of Bastian?'

'Maybe not,' said Falkor. 'She draws no distinctions.'

'Then,' said Atreyu, 'she is really a ...'

'Don't say it,' Falkor broke in. 'I know what you mean, but don't say it.'

For a while Atreyu was silent. Then he said: 'But he's my friend, Falkor. We've got to help him. Even against the Childlike Empress's will, if we have to. But how?'

'With luck,' the dragon replied, and for the first time the bronze bell of his voice seemed to have sprung a crack.

That evening the company chose a deserted log cabin on the riverbank as their night lodging. For Falkor, of course, it was too small, and he preferred to sleep on the air. The horses and Yikka also had to stay outside.

During the evening meal Atreyu told the others about the waterfall and the abrupt change in the country. Then he added casually: 'By the way, we're being followed.'

The three knights exchanged glances.

'Oho!' cried Hykrion, giving his black moustache a martial twirl. 'How many are they?'

'I counted seven behind us,' said Atreyu. 'But even if they ride all night they can't be here before morning.'

'Are they armed?' asked Hysbald.

'I couldn't tell,' said Atreyu, 'but there are more coming from other directions. I saw six in the west, nine in the east, and twelve or thirteen are coming from up ahead.'

'We'll wait and see what they want,' said Hydorn. 'Thirty-five or thirty-six men would hardly frighten the three of us - much less Sir Bastian and Atreyu.'

Ordinarily Bastian ungirt the sword Sikanda before lying down to sleep. But that night he kept it on and slept with his hand on the hilt. In his dreams he saw Moon Child smiling at him and her smile seemed full of promise. If there was any more to the dream, he forgot it by the time he woke up, but his vision encouraged-him in his hope of seeing her again.

Glancing out of the door of the cabin, he saw seven blurred shapes through the mist that had risen from the river. Two were on foot, the others mounted on different sorts of steeds. Bastian quietly awakened his companions.

The knights unsheathed their swords, and together they stepped out of the cabin. When the figures waiting outside caught sight of Bastian, the riders dismounted and all seven went down on their left knees, bowed their heads and cried out: 'Hail and welcome to Bastian Balthazar Bux, the Savior of Fantastical'

The newcomers were a weird-looking lot. One of the two who had come on foot had an uncommonly long neck and a head with four faces, one pointed in each of the four directions. The first was merry, the second angry, the third sad, and the fourth sleepy. All were rigid and unchanging, but he was able at any time to face forward with the one expressing his momentary mood. This individual was a four-quarter troll, sometimes known as a moody-woody.

The second pedestrian was what is known in Fantastica as a head-footer. His head was connected directly with his long, thin legs, there being neither neck nor trunk. Headfooters are always on the go and have no fixed residence. As a rule, they roam about in swarms of many hundreds, but from time to time one runs across a loner. They feed on herbs and grasses. The one that was kneeling to Bastian looked young and red-cheeked.

The three creatures riding on horses no larger than goats were a gnome, a shadowscamp, and a blondycat. The gnome had a golden circlet around his head and was obviously a prince. The shadow-scamp was hard to recognize, because to all intents and purposes he consisted only of a shadow cast by no one. The blondycat had a catlike face and long golden-blond curls that clothed her like a coat. Her whole body was covered with equally blond shaggy fur. She was no bigger than a five-year-old child.

Another, who was riding on an ox, came from the land of the Sassafranians, who are born old and die when they have grown (that is, dwindled) to infancy. This one had a long white beard, a bald head, and a heavily wrinkled face. By Sassafranian standards, he was a youngster, about Bastian's age.

A blue djinn had come on a camel. He was tall and thin and was wearing an enormous turban. His shape was human, but his bare torso with its bulging muscles seemed to be made of some glossy blue metal. Instead of a nose and mouth, he had a huge, hooked eagle's beak.

'Who are you and what do you want?' Hykrion asked rather brusquely. Despite the ceremonious greeting, he wasn't quite convinced of the visitors' friendly intentions. He still had his hand on his sword hilt.

The four-quarter troll, who up until then had been keeping his sleepy face foremost, now switched to the merry one. Ignoring Hykrion, he addressed himself to Bastian: 'Your Lordship,' he declared, 'we are princes from many different parts of Fantastica, and we have all come to welcome you and ask for your help. The news of your presence has flown from country to country, the wind and the clouds speak your name, the waves of the sea proclaim your glory, and every last brooklet is celebrating your power.'

Bastian cast a glance at Atreyu, but Atreyu looked at the troll unsmilingly and almost severely.

'We know,' the blue djinn broke in, and his voice sounded like the rasping cry of an eagle, 'we know that you created Perilin, the Night Forest, and Goab, the Desert of Colors. We know you have eaten and drunk the fire of the Many-Colored Death and bathed in it, something that no one else in Fantastica could have done and still lived. We know that you passed through the Temple of a Thousand Doors, and we know what happened in the Silver City of Amarganth. We know, my lord, that there is nothing you cannot do. When you make a wish, your wishes come to pass. And so we invite you to come and stay with us and favor us with a story of our own. For none of our nations has a story.'

Bastian thought it over, then shook his head. 'I can't do what you ask of me just yet. I'll help you later on. But first I must go to the Childlike Empress. I hope you will join us and help me to find the Ivory Tower.'

The creatures didn't seem at all disappointed. After brief deliberation they agreed to accompany Bastian on his journey. Whereupon the procession, which by now had the look of a small caravan, started out again.

Throughout the day they were joined by new adherents, not only those Atreyu had sighted the day before, but many more. There were goat-legged fauns and gigantic night-hobs, there were elves and kobolds, beetle riders and three-legses, a man-sized rooster in jackboots, a stag with golden antlers who walked erect and wore a Prince Albert. Many of the new arrivals bore no resemblance whatsoever to human beings. There were helmeted copper ants, strangely shaped wandering rocks, flute birds, who made music with their long beaks, and there were three so-called puddlers, who moved by dissolving into a puddle at every step and resuming their usual form a little farther on. But perhaps the most startling of all was a twee, whose fore- and hindquarters had a way of running about independently of one another. Except for its red and white stripes it looked rather like a hippopotamus.

Soon the procession numbered at least a hundred. And all had come to welcome Bastian, the Savior of Fantastica, and beg him for a story of their own. But the original seven told the others that they would first have to go to the Ivory Tower, and all were agreed.

Hykrion, Hysbald, and Hydorn rode with Bastian in the lead of the now rather impressive procession.

Toward evening they came to a waterfall. Leaving the plateau, they made their way down a winding mountain trail, at the end of which they found themselves in a forest of tree-sized orchids with enormous spotted blossoms. These blossoms looked so frightening that when the travelers stopped for the night, they decided to post sentries.

Bastian and Atreyu gathered some of the deep, soft moss that lay all about and made themselves a comfortable bed. Falkor protected the two friends by lying down in a circle around them. The air was warm and heavy with the strange and none too pleasant scent of the orchids. That scent seemed fraught with evil.

XX.

The Seeing Hand

HE dewdrops on the orchids glistened in the morning sun as the caravan started out again. The night had been uneventful except that more and more emissaries kept trailing in. The procession now numbered close to three hundred.

The farther they went into the orchid forest, the stranger grew the shapes and colors of the flowers. And soon Hykrion, Hysbald, and Hydorn discovered that the fears which had led them to post sentries had not been entirely groundless. For many of the orchids were carnivorous and big enough to swallow a whole calf. True, they could not move of their own volition - it hadn't been really necessary to post sentries - but if something or someone touched them, they snapped shut like traps. And several times when a blossom seized the hand, foot, or mount of a fellow traveler the knights were obliged to draw their swords and hack the blossom to pieces.

Throughout the ride Bastian was besieged by all sorts of fantastic creatures who tried to attract his attention or at least get a look at him. But Bastian rode on in withdrawn silence. A new wish had come to him, and for the first time it was one that made him seem standoffish and almost sullen.

He felt that despite their reconciliation Atreyu and Falkor were treating him like a child, that they felt responsible for him and thought he had to be led by the nose. But come to think of it, hadn't they been that way from the start? Oh yes, they were friendly enough, but they seemed to feel superior to him for some reason, to regard him as a harmless innocent who needed protecting. And that didn't suit him at all. He wasn't innocent, he wasn't harmless, and he'd soon show them. He wanted to be dangerous, dangerous and feared. Feared by all - including Atreyu and Falkor.

The blue djinn - his name, incidentally, was Ilwan - elbowed his way through the crush around Bastian, crossed his arms over his chest, and bowed.

Bastian stopped.

'What is it, Ilwan? Speak!'

'My lord,' said the djinn in his eagle's voice. 'I've been listening m on the conversations of our new traveling companions. Some of them claim to know this part of the country and their teeth are chattering with fear.'

'What are they afraid of?'

'This forest of carnivorous orchids, my lord, belongs to Xayide, the wickedest and most powerful sorceress in all Fantastica. She lives in Horok Castle, also known as the Seeing Hand.'

'Tell the scaredy-cats not to worry,' said Bastian, 'I'm here to protect them.'

Ilwan bowed and left him.

A little later Falkor and Atreyu, who had flown far ahead, returned to Bastian. The procession had stopped for the noon-day meal.

I don't know what to make of it,' said Atreyu. 'Three or four hours' journey from here, in the middle of the orchid forest, we saw a building that looks like a big hand jutting out of the ground. There's something sinister about it, and it's directly in our line of march.'

Bastian told them what he had heard from Ilwan.

'If that's the case,' said Atreyu, '^wouldn't it be more sensible to change our direction?'

'No,' said Bastian.

'But there's no reason why we should, tangle with this Xayide. I think we should steer clear of her.'

'There is a reason,' said Bastian.

'What reason?'

'Because I feel like it,' said Bastian.

Atreyu looked at him openmouthed. The conversation stopped there because Fantasticans were crowding in from all sides to get a look at Bastian. But when the meal was over, Atreyu rejoined Bastian. Trying to make it sound casual, he suggested: 'How about taking a ride with Falkor and me?'

Bastian realized that Atreyu wanted a private talk with him. They hoisted themselves up on Falkor's back, Atreyu in front, Bastian behind him, and the dragon took off. It was the first time the two friends had flown together.

Once they were airborne, Atreyu said: 'It's been hard seeing you alone these days. But we have to talk things over, Bastian.'

'Just as I thought,' said Bastian with a smile. 'What's on your mind?'

Atreyu began hesitantly. 'Have we come to this place and are we heading where we are because of some new wish of yours?'

T imagine so,' said Bastian rather coldly.

'That's what Falkor and I have been thinking,' said Atreyu. 'What kind of wish is it?'

Bastian made no answer.

'Don't get me wrong,' said Atreyu. 'It's not that we're afraid of anything or anyone. But we're your friends, and we worry about you.'

'No need to,' said Bastian still more coldly.

Falkor twisted his neck and looked back at them.

'Atreyu,' he said, 'has a sensible suggestion. I advise you to listen to him, Bastian Balthazar Bux.'

'Some more of your good advice?' said Bastian with a sardonic smile.

'No, Bastian,' said Atreyu. 'No advice. A suggestion. You may not like it at first. But think it over before you turn it down. We want to help you, and we've been wondering how. The whole trouble is the way the Childlike Empress's amulet affects you. Without AURYN's power you can't wish yourself ahead, but with AURYN's power you're losing yourself and forgetting where you want to go. Pretty soon, unless we do something about it, you won't have any idea where you're going.'

'We've already been through that,' said Bastian. 'So what?'

'When I was wearing the Gem,' said Atreyu, 'it was entirely different. It guided me and it didn't take anything away from me. Maybe because I'm not a human and I have no memory of the human world to lose. In other words, it helped me and did me no harm. So here's what I suggest: Let me have AURYN and trust me to guide you. What do you say?'

Bastian replied instantly: I say no!'

Again Falkor looked back.

'Couldn't you at least think it over for a moment?'

'No!' said Bastian.

For the first time Atreyu grew angry.

'Bastian,' he said, 'think sensibly! You can't go on like this! Haven't you noticed that you've changed completely? You're not yourself anymore.'