Страница 14 из 69
Hank thought of the American Indians who had died from the diseases contracted from the whites. He thought of the Polynesians who had been struck down by tuberculosis, smallpox, scarlet fever, and syphilis when the whites came.
"I don't think they'd be wiped out, Your Witchness," he said. "But the results might be horrible. Devastating. However... you said that there was something here which now keeps diseases away. Why wouldn't that apply to new diseases? Why would your people be infected? Wouldn't they be unaffected?"
"I told you that the ancients suffered from these. It was only after a hundred or so years, if the chronology is right, that the plagues disappeared. There seems to be a certain time required for whatever the agent is that fights disease to assert itself. By the time that it did its work, the diseases would kill us by the hundreds of thousands.
"In any event, I would not want even one to die from these things you Earthpeople carry around as nonchalantly as you do your handkerchiefs."
"Pardon me, The Highest, but that's an exaggeration. We're not indifferent..."
"No?"
"Anyway, what can I do about an, uh, invasion?"
"You're the only one who can interpret for us. We may need you as a go-between. I intend to have some of my people learn English, and I wish to do so, too. Just now, we have more to deal with than Earthpeople."
She frowned and bit her lip.
Hank waited.
"First, though, the Earth problem. There is more than disease to it. Even if there were none, you people would destroy our society. You'd bring in your religions, your customs, your institutions. You'd change us for the worse.
"And we have so much gold and silver, so many precious stones. Your greed would ravish the land. But, in order to make your piracy lawful, to make the robbery accord with your images of yourself as honest and lawful and Godfearing, you'd find a pretext for declaring war on us. You'd send in your armies and conquer us. Then you'd start the rape."
Hank, his face red, cried, "That's not so, Glinda! It wouldn't be that way! You make us sound like savages, but—"
"Yes? Be honest. Isn't that the way your people have always been? By that, I don't mean just your nation. Hank. I mean all the nations. Haven't they always done just such things if they happened to be powerful enough to do it? And haven't those that weren't powerful enough wished that they could?"
"You seem to know much about Earth!" Hank said. "Very strange for someone who hasn't been there!"
"I didn't say I hadn't," Glinda said.
"When? Where?"
"I'll tell you at another time. Perhaps. Now, Hank, the other crisis. There hasn't been a war here for thirty years. It seems that one is unavoidable now, though. Your mother undoubtedly told you that she was visited by the Witch of the North, Helwedo, shortly after she came here."
"That was in Baum's Wizard, too," Hank said. "But he didn't mention her name. My mother didn't tell him that."
"Helwedo was then near a thousand years old."
Hank rolled his eyes. He wanted to ask her how some people could live so long, but this was not the time. When would it be? Events were racing like Barney Oldfield. Like Alice and the Red Queen.
"Helwedo heard about Dorothy's arrival from one of her hawk spies, and she came immediately to see your mother."
The Witch was indeed a witch. She had appeared before Dorothy with a bang of suddenly displaced air, a phenomenon which Dorothy had forgotten to tell Baum. Helwedo had some means of transportation unknown on Earth, unless the witches of old there had had some such power. He did not believe that they did. Maybe "magic" was possible here. Not there.
"Helwedo encouraged Dorothy to wear the dead Witch of the East's silver shoes."
Glinda paused, then said, "At least, they looked as if they were of silver. Real silver would never have stood up under all the walking and ru
I'll bet, Hank thought, that Helwedo told you about Dorothy. Or perhaps one of your bird spies did. I'd mortgage my ass to Rockefeller to get enough to place a bet on that.
It was then that he began to suspect that Glinda may have been subtly guiding Dorothy all through her quests. But he did not have time to dwell on that subject. He had to concentrate on Glinda's words.
"Ten years ago, Helwedo, the Witch of the North, the queen of the Gillikins, died suddenly. I did my best, but I could not prevent a young witch named Erakna from seizing power. Erakna the Uneatable. She is so clever that she even hid from me that she was a red witch until it was too late.
"I felt sorry for the Gillikins. They were as oppressed as the Munchkins had been under the East Witch and the Winkies under the West Witch. But I bid my time, and Erakna made no moves against me. In fact, she sent word that she had no ambitions beyond the borders of her nation. She would be content to stay there and rule. I did not believe her. No red witch can be believed."
Can the white witches? Hank thought.
"However, she had her troubles. Revolts, increasing raids by the Natawey from the mountains, a struggle with another red witch. But she seems to have put down all opposition now, and the ambition she's kept like a hungry wolf in a cage has slipped out now.
"For the past year we've had some border incidents with the Gillikins. Erakna says that the troublemakers are outlaws, but I know that the incidents were instigated by her. Also, she has taxed her subjects heavily to build up a big standing army, and they're holding maneuvers now on the borders of Winkieland and Ozland. It's evident that she's ready to invade."
"I'm sorry to hear that," he said. "But...?"
"What does that have to do with you? You'll find out. I want to confer with the Scarecrow and the Woodman. Very soon. I could send messages by hawk, but I prefer to see them personally. Andaugi bi andaugi. Face to face."
"You want me to fly up there and get them?"
Glinda smiled. "Very good. Lamblo's lover is not only a handsome giant, he is intelligent."
Hank blushed.
Glinda laughed again and said, "How long will it be before you can leave in your flying machine?"
Hank told her what had to be done. The engine of the Je
"A hawk who knows the way will ride with you," she said.
"Is there likely to be trouble on the way?"
"There is. Erakna, I'm sure, knows about you. That you're working for me is enough excuse for her to attack you. However, she may not have an opportunity."
Glinda sent for a female hawk named Ot, a purple-and-bronze feathered bird he had seen before. Hank made sure that they understood exactly what he required. They discussed the distances between the supply depots, the purity of the grain alcohol, and many other requirements.
Lunch time came. Food and drink were brought in. Ot only fed once a day, and she passed up lunch. Hank asked her what she ate. In that weird gramophone-like voice, she said, "When I'm among the tame ones, nuts and insects. These are prepared for me in a meatlike consistency. But when I'm in the wilds, I eat mice, rats, rabbits, and anything not too big to fight back."
That answered several questions. One of them had been whether or not sentiency extended to the insects.
Hank concluded that he could take off for Winkie country in ten days. Glinda told Ot that there was no need to spend more time with them. The hawk launched herself from the chair and flew through the open door.
"Why, Glinda," Hank said, "don't you just transport the Scarecrow and Woodman here? If Helwedo could whiz from one place to another in practically nothing flat, you must be able to do so. And if you can do that for yourself, why not others?"