Back To The Divide by Elizabeth Kay Page A

best magical mind he'd ever encountered? Was Leona a historical figure or was she still alive?
    "Are you just going to sit there reading, human?" demanded Socrates, dropping a dead leaf. "I thought I was going to have some interesting company for a change."
    Felix grinned. "Is Leona a real person?" he asked.
    "She's a riddle-paw."
    "What's that?"
    Socrates described Leona, and Felix realized that Leona was almost certainly a sphinx. This was definitely worth investigating; an accomplished sorceress was precisely what he needed.
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    "Why do you want a sorceress, anyway?" asked Socrates.
    Felix told him everything. His visit to Betony's world the previous year, the need to find the reverse-marble hex, the japegrin takeover in Andria, and the disappearance of the king and queen.
    "Hmm," said Socrates, rearranging a petal, "you've got a couple of root-tangling problems there, haven't you? But Leona's supposed to be very clever; she probably knows a royalty location spell."
    "And the marble thing?"
    "Worth a try."
    "It's not very clear from the book where she lives."
    "That's because she doesn't live in one place. She chooses a town and terrorizes it for a while."
    "So she could be anywhere?" said Felix, feeling depressed.
    "Oh, I know the general area," said the plant. "Well, more or less. I originally came from a king's garden, you know, in a city west of here. The fruit trees used to talk about her. It's a long way, though. You'd have to fly."
    No problem, thought Felix. I'll speak to Ironclaw tomorrow.
    "He didn't get very much done, did he?" said Thornbeak, surveying the small area of rock that Ramson had cleaned. She pecked at it, and another shower of dirt fell off. "I'm not sleeping on this until it's decent, Ironclaw."
    "I haven't got time for housework," said Ironclaw. "My
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    dirt-board was ruined by a japegrin, and I've got to make another one."
    "Can't you sort out the old one?"
    "No," snapped Ironclaw.
    "Let's see it, then."
    They flew over to the little hollow in the rocks. Ironclaw's beak dropped open. The dirt-board had been restored to its former glory, but it was covered with calculations.
    "I see," said Thornbeak.
    Ironclaw wasn't listening. He put his head on one side and studied the figures. After a moment or two he saw a mistake. "Granitelegs," he said. "He never could get the hang of probability. The second half of all this is rubbish."
    "You said the dirt-board had been ruined."
    "Granitelegs must have reversed the spell," said Ironclaw. "Well, this is excellent." He started to erase some of the numbers.
    "Hold on," said Thornbeak, "you can't just rub out all his work."
    "Why not? It's no good."
    "Granitelegs has done you a favor," said Thornbeak. "The least you can do is give him a chance to copy down the correct part."
    Ironclaw glared at her. "But I've got something really important I want to work on."
    "What?"
    "It's a present. For you."
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    Thornbeak looked skeptical. "What is it, exactly? A distribution graph for prey animals? I'm not doing all the hunting, Ironclaw, however easy you try and make it for me."
    "It's a cataloging system for the books in the library."
    Thornbeak stared at him. "But I can't use the library anymore."
    This obviously hadn't entered Ironclaw's head.
    "Oh, never mind," said Thornbeak. "Tell me about it."
    Ironclaw told her.
    "That's really sweet of you," said Thornbeak, when he'd finished. "And if the library is ever open again, I shall get it up and running. It's a splendid solution. Let's have lunch."
    Ironclaw watched as Thornbeak sliced up a haunch with her beak. She could even do that elegantly. She was quite a hen -- and her hindquarters were still the most attractive he'd ever seen.
    They were just finishing their meal when Felix and Betony appeared over the ridge. Betony was wearing her old tunic and trousers, which she'd washed. She'd left Agrimony's dress behind; it was totally impractical.
    "We've got a result," said Felix.
    Ironclaw looked astonished. "I