The Neverending Story (11 page)

Atreyu noticed that his own shoulder had been dressed in the same way, not with cloth but with herbs and plant fibers.

Only a few steps away there was a small cave, from which issued a faint beam of light.

Taking care not to move his left arm, Atreyu stood up cautiously and approached the cave. Bending down—for the entrance was very low—he saw a room that looked like an alchemist’s workshop in miniature. At the back an open fire was crackling merrily. Crucibles, retorts, and strangely shaped flasks were scattered all about. Bundles of dried plants were piled on shelves. The little table in the middle of the room and the other furniture seemed to be made of root wood, crudely nailed together.

Atreyu heard a cough, and then he saw a little man sitting in an armchair by the fire. The little man’s hat had been carved from a root and looked like an inverted pipe bowl. The face was as brown and shriveled as the face Atreyu had seen leaning over him when he first woke up. But this one was wearing big eyeglasses, and the features seemed sharper and more anxious. The little man was reading a big book that was lying in his lap.

Then a second little figure, which Atreyu recognized as the one that had bent over him, came waddling out of another room. Now Atreyu saw that this little person was a woman. Apart from her bonnet of leaves, she—like the man in the armchair—was wearing a kind of monk’s robe, which also seemed to be made of withered leaves.

Humming merrily, she rubbed her hands and busied herself with a kettle that was hanging over the fire. Neither of the little people would have reached up to Atreyu’s knee.

Obviously they belonged to the widely ramified family of the gnomes, though to a rather obscure branch.

“Woman!” said the little man testily. “Get out of my light. You are interfering with my research!”

“You and your research!” said the woman. “Who cares about that? The important thing is my health elixir. Those two outside are in urgent need of it.”

“Those two,” said the man irritably, “will be far more in need of my help and advice.”

“Maybe so,” said the little woman. “But not until they are well. Move over, old man!”

Grumbling, the little man moved his chair a short distance from the fire.

Atreyu cleared his throat to call attention to his presence. The two gnomes looked around.

“He’s already well,” said the little man. “Now it’s my turn.”

“Certainly not!” the little woman hissed. “He’ll be well when I say so. It’ll be your turn when I say it’s your turn.”

She turned to Atreyu.

“We would invite you in, but it’s not quite big enough, is it? Just a moment. We shall come out to you.”

Taking a small mortar, she ground something or other into a powder, which she tossed in the kettle. Then she washed her hands, dried them on her robe, and said to the little man: “Stay here until I call you, Engywook. Understand?”

“Yes, Urgl, I understand,” the little man grumbled. “I understand only too well.”

The female gnome came out of the cave and looked up at Atreyu from under knitted brows.

“Well, well. We seem to be getting better, don’t we?”

Atreyu nodded.

The gnome climbed up on a rocky ledge, level with Atreyu’s face, and sat down.

“No pain?” she asked.

“None worth mentioning,” Atreyu answered.

“Nonsense!” the old woman snapped. “Does it hurt or doesn’t it?”

“It still hurts,” said Atreyu, “but it doesn’t matter.”

“Not to you, perhaps, but it does to me! Since when does the patient tell the doctor what matters? What do you know about it? If it’s to get well, it
has
to hurt. If it stopped hurting, your arm would be dead.”

“I’m sorry,” said Atreyu, who felt like a scolded child. “I only wanted to say . . . that is, I wanted to thank you.”

“What for?” said Urgl impatiently. “I’m a healer, after all. I’ve only done my professional duty. Besides, Engywook, that’s my old man, saw the Glory hanging on your neck. So what would you expect?”

“What about Falkor?” Atreyu asked. “How’s he getting along?”

“Falkor? Who’s that?”

“The white luckdragon.”

“Oh. I don’t know yet. Took a little more punishment than you. But then he’s bigger and stronger, so he ought to make it. Why not? Needs a little more rest. Where did you ever pick up that poison? And where have you come from all of a sudden? And where are you going? And who are you in the first place?”

Engywook was standing in the mouth of the cave. He listened as Atreyu answered Urgl’s questions. When Urgl opened her mouth to speak again, he shouted: “Hold your tongue, woman! Now it’s my turn.”

Removing his pipe-bowl hat, he scratched his bald head, and said: “Don’t let her tone bother you, Atreyu. Old Urgl is a little crude, but she means no harm. My name is Engywook. We are the well-known Gnomics. Ever hear of us?”

“No,” Atreyu confessed. Engywook seemed rather offended.

“Oh well,” he said. “Apparently you don’t move in scientific circles, or someone would undoubtedly have told you that you couldn’t find a better adviser than yours truly if you’re looking for Uyulala in the Southern Oracle. You’ve come to the right address, my boy.”

“Don’t give yourself airs,” Urgl broke in. Then she climbed down from her ledge and, grumbling to herself, vanished into the cave.

Engywook ignored her comment.

“I can explain everything,” he went on. “I’ve studied the question all my life. Inside and out. I set up my observatory just for that. I’m in the last stage of a great scientific work on the Oracle. “The Riddle of Uyulala, solved by Professor Engywook.”

That’s the title. Sounds all right, doesn’t it? To be published in the very near future.

Unfortunately a few details are still lacking. You can help me, my boy.”

“An observatory?” asked Atreyu, who had never heard the word.

Engywook nodded and, beaming with pride, motioned Atreyu to follow him.

A narrow path twined its way upward between great stone blocks. In some places where the grade was especially steep, tiny steps had been cut out of the stone. Of course, they were much too small for Atreyu’s feet and he simply stepped over them. Even so, he had a hard time keeping up with the gnome.

“Bright moonlight tonight,” said Engywook. “You’ll see them all right.”

“See who?” Atreyu asked. “Uyulala?”

Engywook only frowned and shook his head.

At last they came to the top of the hill. The ground was flat, but on one side there was a natural stone parapet. In the middle of this wall there was a hole, obviously the work of gnomian hands. And behind the hole, on a stand made of root wood, stood a small telescope.

Engywook looked through the telescope and made a slight adjustment by turning some screws. Then he nodded with satisfaction and invited Atreyu to look. To put himself on a level with it, Atreyu had to lie down on the ground and prop himself on his elbows.

The telescope was aimed at the great stone arch, or more specifically at the lower part of the left pillar. And beside this pillar, as Atreyu now saw, an enormous sphinx was sitting motionless in the moonlight. The forepaws, on which she was propped, were those of a lion, the hindquarters were those of a bull; on her back she bore the wings of an eagle, and her face was that of a human woman—in form at any rate, for the expression was far from human. I was hard to tell whether this face was smiling or whether it expressed deep grief or utter indifference. After looking at it for some time, Atreyu seemed to see abysmal wickedness and cruelty, but a moment later he had to correct his impression, for he found only unruffled calm.

“Don’t bother!” he heard the gnome’s deep voice in his ear. “You won’t solve it. It’s the same with everyone. I’ve observed it all my life and I haven’t found the answer.

Now for the other one.”

He turned one of the screws. The image passed the opening of the arch, through which one saw only the empty plain. Then the right-hand pillar came into Atreyu’s view.

And there, in the same posture, sat a second sphinx. The enormous body shimmered like liquid silver in the moonlight. She seemed to be staring fixedly at the first, just as the first was gazing fixedly at her.

“Are they statues?” asked Atreyu, unable to avert his eyes.

“Oh no!” said Engywook with a giggle. “They are real live sphinxes—very much alive! You’ve seen enough for now. Come, we’ll go down. I’ll explain everything.”

And he held his hand in front of the telescope, so that Atreyu could see no more.

Neither spoke on the way back.

  alkor was still sound asleep when Engywook brought Atreyu back to the gnomes’ cave. In the meantime Urgl had moved the little table into the open and put on all sorts of sweets and fruit and herb jellies.

There were also little drinking cups and a pitcher of fragrant herb tea. The table was lit by two tiny oil lamps.

“Sit down!” Urgl commanded. “Atreyu must eat and drink something to give him strength. Medicine alone is not enough.”

“Thank you,” said Atreyu. “I’m feeling fine already.”

“No back talk!” Urgl snapped. “As long as you’re here, you’ll do as you’re told. The poison in your body has been neutralized. So there’s no reason to hurry, my boy. You’ve all the time you need. Just take it easy.”

“It’s not on my account,” said Atreyu. “But the Childlike Empress is dying. Even now, every hour may count.”

“Rubbish!” the old woman grumbled. “Haste makes waste. Sit down! Eat! Drink!”

“Better give in,” Engywook whispered. “I know the woman from A to Z. When she wants something, she gets it. Besides, you and I have a lot to talk about.”

Atreyu squatted cross-legged at the tiny table and fell to. Every bite and every swallow made him feel as if warm, golden life were flowing into his veins. Only then did he notice how weak he had been.

Bastion’s mouth watered. It seemed to him that he could smell the aroma of the gnomes’ meal. He sniffed the air, but of course it was only imagination.

His stomach growled audibly. In the end he couldn’t stand it any longer. He took his apple and the rest of his sandwich out of his satchel and ate them both. After that, though far from full, he felt a little better.

Then he realized that this was his last meal. The word “last” terrified him. He tried not to think of it.

“Where do you get all these good things?” Atreyu asked Urgl.

“Ah, sonny,” she said. “It takes lots of running around to find the right plants. But he—this knuckleheaded Engywook of mine—insists on living here because of his all-important studies. Where the food is to come from is the least of his worries.”

“Woman,” said Engywook with dignity, “how would you know what’s important and what isn’t? Be off with you now, and let us talk.”

Mumbling and grumbling, Urgl withdrew into the little cave and a moment later Atreyu heard a great clatter of pots and pans.

“Don’t mind her,” said Engywook under his breath. “She’s a good old soul, she just needs something to grumble about now and then. Listen to me, Atreyu. I’m going to let you in on a few things you need to know about the Southern Oracle. It’s not easy to get to Uyulala. In fact, it’s rather difficult. But I don’t want to give you a scientific lecture. Maybe it will be better if you ask questions. I tend to lose myself in details. Just fire away.”