Ripper called to the bounty hunters.
"Form a ring, my daisies!" she shouted. "And do try to look at least a little fierce?"
The hunters made a human chain around the tree. Banger and Ripper paced in front of them, the first line of defense. X was surprised-and moved-that so many of his fellow bounty hunters had come to his aid.
Prisoners spilled forward in greater numbers. The chance to scrap with a bounty hunter or two was too tempting to pass up, and they all wanted to try their luck at getting through to X. The human chain may have been intended as a protective measure, but it took on the air of a challenge.
Banger alone trounced half a dozen men, but soon the prisoners attacked him two at a time. Ripper came to his aid repeatedly, jumping on their backs, gouging at their eyes, and trying to tear their fingers off with her teeth. (She actually succeeded once, tossing the finger at her dazed victim's chest and exclaiming, "Oh, don't weep, you infant! Your nanny can sew it back on!") Soon, the prisoners grew bored of losing. They attacked the tree in one vicious mass, surging past Banger and Ripper and assaulting the chain of bounty hunters with rocks and branches.
X strained at the rope, but it only cut deeper into his skin. A handful of men were raining down blows on him now: A bearded giant crashed a rock against the side of his skull. A tiny pink worm of a man jabbed him with a stick over and over in the very place that Stan had stabbed him with the scissors. X was losing consciousness when he heard a voice so furious and commanding that it could only belong to a lord.
"Enough! The next man to deliver a blow will receive a hundred back from me!"
It was Regent, the princely lord. A hush fell over the plain. Exhausted, Banger put his hands on his knees and tried to steady his breathing. Ripper wiped blood from her mouth, looking irked that she could not detach any more fingers.
As Regent approached X, the bounty hunters disbanded and sank back into the crowd. The lord wore his royal blue robe, but no jewels or bangles. He had stolen nothing from his charges. He alone of all the lords seemed to remember that he had once been a prisoner himself.
Regent shouted for the guards to drive the mob back up to the cells. The prisoners complained loudly, but knew better than to resist. Only Banger and Ripper remained. They would not abandon their friend, and the guards let them be.
Regent tore away the rope that bound X and, when his bruised body fell forward, caught him and eased him to the ground.
"I am sorry for the evil done to you," he said. "Dervish is a villain for engineering this torture, and he will shortly have a conversation with my fists."
"You have my thanks," said X. "Yet I broke the laws of this place, and was deserving of punishment."
The lord shook his head.
"You were not deserving of this," he said. "Never of this."
From behind them there came a wordless holler.
It could only be Dervish.
Banger saw him and groaned: "This guy sucks."
Ripper turned to Regent.
"Say the word," she said, "and I will relieve this crazed lord of his fingers."
"Do nothing," he told her. "I shall settle the matter myself."
Immediately upon his arrival, Dervish began berating Regent.
"How DARE you set my prisoner free?" he said. "How dare you even call yourself a lord? Do you really imagine yourself my equal, you filthy creature?"
Without a word, Regent struck Dervish across the mouth, sending him flying onto the rocky plain.
The prisoners, still rumbling up the staircases, stopped to watch the confrontation. Soon, a dozen other lords streamed in from the tunnels, moving so quickly they seemed to fly.
"I told your little friend that your bones would soon swim in his soup," said Dervish. "And now I shall drink it down myself."
Ripper laughed at the threat.
"Please," she said to Regent. "His fingers? May I?"
"Your proposal has its merits," he said. "But no."
The other lords poured in around X now, men and women in a riot of wildly colored garments and gems. Up on the steps, the prisoners were stunned to see so many lords roosting in one place, like brightly feathered birds. Even the guards were mesmerized.
The cavern grew silent as the lords took in the strange scene before them. Regent stood in front of X, protectively. When Dervish tried to stand, he nudged him back to the ground with the heel of his boot, causing the prisoners and guards-and even some of the lords-to titter. X was relieved to find that his champion had such standing, yet feared that humiliation would only strengthen Dervish's resolve. He wanted no enemies here, no celebrity-no scrutiny of any kind that might endanger his return to the Overworld and to Zoe.
The lords broke into debate about what was to be done. They murmured in low voices so the prisoners could not hear.
Dervish was outraged at the delay. He pointed at Regent and shouted, "Strike down this rough beast!"
The lords ignored him.
"Why do you tarry, fools?" he screamed. "I will have satisfaction!"
Regent cleared his throat, and addressed the lords, not caring if the prisoners on the steps listened.
"This man has been most horribly abused," he said, motioning toward X. "Did he violate our laws? He did. Did his actions cry out for punishment? They did. But he did not deserve the horrors that this hateful forgery of a man"-now he was pointing at Dervish-"devised for him. I would defend any soul against such abuses, and this man is not just any soul."
X had no idea what Regent meant by that last statement, and was shocked to hear other lords murmur their assent.
Dervish finally stood. He screwed up his face, as if he had a bitter taste in his mouth.
"What could you possibly mean by such nonsense?" he said. "If X here-you do realize, by the way, that he has given himself a name, which is an outrage all its own-if this troglodyte before me is better than the basest of souls, I should like to hear why."
"You know very well why," said Regent. "Do not pretend to be even more slow-witted than you are. Your stupidity is already a towering achievement."
"Well, if I know why he's so special and you know why he's so special," Dervish goaded him, "then why not simply speak it aloud?"
"Because, as you are certainly aware, the law of the Lowlands forbids it," Regent said coolly. "Yet you seem quite blustery today. Perhaps you would like to educate everyone yourself."
"You think I am too frightened?" said Dervish. He gestured at the lords, who were drawing closer and flashing him looks of warning. "You think I am scared of them? They are weak. They cannot so much as scratch their asses unless it is voted upon and approved on high!"
X could not hold his silence.
"What can be so shocking about me that no one dares speak of it?" he said.
Dervish looked ready to answer. The lords threatened him with their eyes.
"This disgrace you call Regent believes you are special," Dervish said, "because he believes your mother was special."
At this, the lords swarmed forward and began dragging Dervish away. He struggled and kicked, outraged that they dared to touch him.
"Who was my mother?" cried X, to anyone who would answer.
He looked at Regent.
"Who was my mother?" he said. "Please."
Regent looked at him regretfully, but did not speak.
Dervish made himself heard a final time.
"She was nothing and no one, just as your father was," he screamed. "Your father was less than dirt. Your mother was a traitor-and a whore."
Then his voice was muffled and lost.
X needed to know more. His chest was heaving. He found himself near tears.
Regent must have pitied him, for he took his arm and began walking him slowly toward the great stone steps.
"Does he speak the truth about my parents?" X asked him.
"That desiccated mouse has no idea who your father was," Regent said quietly. "I can assure you, however, that your mother was no whore. She is now a prisoner in a secret corner of this place-but, once, she was a true friend to me. Dervish is correct when he says that she is the reason I believe there is hope for you yet."
He paused, and all the world seemed to pause with him.
"Your mother was a lord."
eleven
X woke with his head on Ripper's lap, as she tended to his wounds. He was shocked to find her in his cell, with no guards in attendance. He'd never known two prisoners to be left together for even an instant. Regent must have made it possible.
Ripper sat with her legs folded under her, the ruined golden gown spilling everywhere. Beside her, there was a stone bowl filled with healing water. She dabbed at X's face with a cloth, humming a dreamy tune as she worked. A crude metal lantern threw her silhouette against the wall.
Something about the shadow and the song awakened a memory in X.
"You have ministered to me before," he said. "When I was a child. You sang that very song."
Ripper submerged the cloth, then twisted it over the bowl.