Page 82 of Made

“I thank ye again,” said Kagan. “That is truly generous of you.”

“Indeed, it is,” the sphinx replied.

“Will the passage accommodate one as grand as you?” Kagan ventured further.

She laughed softly. “You have little experience with the world, I see. The passage will expand or contract to accommodate the one or ones demanding entry.”

Kagan turned to his brothers with a triumphant smile. “We did it. Let’s go.”

With little else to do, Esme had been staring at clouds, imagining people coming to her shop and seeing it dark with the CLOSED sign on the door. She wondered if everyone in Hallow Hill knew she’d been taken. She wondered if they’d really care if she never returned. Her reverie of blues was interrupted by a saffron bursting into her space.

“Come,” was all she said.

Esme got to her feet and followed the “sister” away from the place where she’d been imprisoned by invisible walls just a moment before. She hurried behind the Cardinal to the pavilion, where others were rushing in from every direction to see the commotion firsthand. Palatial hallways momentarily appeared out of nowhere and vanished immediately when one or more Cardinals stepped onto the gathering space. It was dazzling. It was dizzying.

Esmerelda steadied herself, trusting, or rather hoping, that she was on solid ground and looked around.

When the sphinx had said the portal would accommodate her bulk, the brothers thought that meant it would enlarge itself. They were wrong. Instead, the rip in the curtain that separated dimensions reoriented the size of the sphinx so that she was no taller than the sephalia. She stood proudly in the middle of the pavilion, facing Araxinthe, holding the pieces of her broken egg, defiantly twitching her snake-like tail.

Naturally, Esme’s gaze went straight to Kagan, who’d spied her the moment she’d been brought in. She was so relieved to see him alive that she almost collapsed into tears. She didn’t, but her eyes spoke volumes, and Kagan got the message. She was very glad to see him.

“The sephalian has persevered and triumphed over your challenge,” said the sphinx. She placed the pieces of her broken egg on the floor in front of her. “Here is the egg you require. According to your parameters, no harm has befallen me or my eggs.”

“But the egg is broken,” said Araxinthe.

“You should be relieved that I had a broken egg to give this new species. How dare you involve me and my family in one of your power games! For this offense, I should take one of your baldies and make her my slave.”

The crowd of onlookers responded with a collective gasp.

“Dorianis,” Araxinthe said as if nothing about the morning was unusual. “Hello.”

“Don’t hello me, Araxinthe. This is cause for complaint to the Powers That Be.”

The sphinx knew that would rattle Araxinthe because the Cardinals considered themselves rivals of the Powers That Be. That, of course, was a misunderstanding infused with haughtiness and misplaced conceit because no one rivals the Powers That Be. Thinking so was an offense in itself.

“You said yourself that no harm’s been done, Dorianis.”

“The truth of that is more to my credit than yours. The hero has returned. Do you accept that he has successfully completed the first test?”

Araxinthe looked upon the sphinx with a slight hint of confusion. “We do. But just out of curiosity, why is that your business?”

“If Cardinals are not keeping their promises, it’s everybody’s business, isn’t it?”

“You think we’re not to be trusted?”

“Said the overseer who sent someone to steal one of my eggs.”

Araxinthe suddenly found the nails on her right hand fascinating, much like the way the sphinx had examined the claws on her own right paw earlier that day. Studiously avoiding a venue full of eyes trained on her, waiting for her response, she said, “I take your point. Perhaps that was not well-considered.”

“I don’t like your use of the word ‘perhaps’.” The sphinx was an intellectual creature who loved language and could be quite pedantic about the misplacement or misuse of words.

“What do you want?” Araxinthe said, as she was beginning to accept that she wasn’t likely to get off easy. She wasready to skip to the conclusion of the incident so that everyone would go back to work and forget her misstep.

“First, your word that the lion’s first challenge is his victory. Second, your word that you will never again think to involve me, or mine, inanythingwithout my prior knowledge and approval. Make this declaration here, now, in front of all, and I will accept it. But I warn you, Overseer, if you break your oath, you will find that you’re not the only one with connections.”

Esme saw that the saffrons and even the guards exchanged looks. They weren’t accustomed to seeing their Grand Hiney publicly chastised.

“The sephalian’s first challenge is won,” she said, and, as she did, a very loud and invisible bell that sounded curiously like a 1950s high school rang out. It was startling enough to make Esme jump. “As to your part in this, forgive my mistake. There was a time when you loved being at the center of tragedies befalling travelers.” She said this with a forced smile, which meant she was trying to be diplomatic but lacked sincerity. “But there’s no point in arguing. Your feelings are your feelings. We will not send anyone your way.”

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